1847. 



GENESEE FARMER. 



167 



Farming on Thirty-five Acres of Land. 



J. G. Chadsey, of Wickford, R. I., states to 

 the officers of the Rliode Island Society for the 

 encouragement of Domestic Industry, that seve- 

 ral yeai-s ago he purchased thirty-five acres of 

 poor land, for which, it being near the village, 

 fie paid the large sum of three thousand and fifty 

 dollars. Only twenty-five acres of it are "|till- 

 ageable, including three acres of meadow not 

 plowed. The remainder is made up of hills and 

 holes, rnarsh and beach, with a small sti-ip of 

 wood-land." The arable land is described as un- 

 even, with a gravelly soil, much encumbered 

 with small stones, [t had been much worn down 

 by repeated croppings without manure. He let 

 it on shares, but got such poor returns that he 

 was sick of his purchase. Finding that' he could 

 neither sell nor rent it, he came to the conclu- 

 sion to try farming himself, though he had "done 

 nothing at it for nearly fort]) years ;^'' but as a 

 " substitute for experience," he says he took an 

 ^'' agricultural pajjer.'^ He began cultivating it 

 hinjself in 1840. He divided the tillage-land into 

 six fields, " from three to four acres each, a new 

 one to be taken up every year, and after taking 

 off three crops, let it lie three years in grass." 

 About two were appropriated to root crops and 

 garden vegetables, which are plowed every year. 



His success has been such, that land, which 

 seven years ago would not rent for four per cent., 

 now pays twenty per cent., after deducting all ex- 

 penses. He makes the following statement in 

 regard to the products and profits of his farm for 

 the year 1846 : 



10 acres mowing, 19 tons hay, at $12, - $228 00 



3 acres corn, 124.^ bushels sound, at 80 cts., and 9 



bushels offal, at 40 cts., 103 20 



Corn fodder, $25, and pumpkins, $4,50, 29 50 



3| acres rye, 77 bushels, at 80 cts., and straw sold, 



$24,81, 8G 41 



2| acres potatoes, 348 bushels, at 37^ cts., and 50 



bushels small, at 20 cts., 140 50 



367 bushels onions, at 50 cts., $183 50 



836 do. carrots, nearly all sold at 19 cts.,. 1.58 84 



48 do. parsneps, do., at 33 J cts., 16 00 



6 pounds onion seed, and 3 pounds carrot 



seed, 8 00 



Peppers and sage sold, 41,88 



Produce of 1 acre and 125 square rods 408 22 



Half an acre summer vegetables, mostly 



used in family— sold,.. 7 69 



Salt grass sold, standing, 24 00 



Milk sold, 47 39 



R«nt received for two gardens, 6 50 



Milk, butler, and summer vegetables used in family, 35 00 



$1116 41 



Expenses.— Paid for labor, $182 62 



Board of labor, 90 00 



Molasses for drink, 20 gallons, at 30 cts., 6 §0 

 Manure purchased, and materials for the 



same, 81 46 



Seeds of dilTerent kinds, 28 77 



Wear and tear of farming utensils, 25 00 



Taxes, ]1 81 



Labor done by myself, 50 00 



Cost of Cultivation 475 66 



Cost of land, $L050 ; profits 20i per cent, for use- 



except the " little" he does himself. He states 

 that he made 917 pounds pork, and bQO pounds 

 beef, which are not included in the account, as 

 they were fattened on part of the produce before 

 estimated. His stock, he says, consists of two 

 cows and a horse. He buys manure from the 

 village. With the horse he does all the " team 

 work," except breaking up the land. His pro- 

 ducts for the year 1845, amounted to .^913 ; his 

 expenses were $368 ; profits $555. — Alb. Cul. 



Yield of Butter. — I noticed in the Cultiva- 

 tor for 184G, p. 157, an account of the yield of 

 butter from a dairy of ten cows, being an aver- 

 age of 2111 lbs. to each cow. I kept in 1845 

 four native cows, which constituted my whole 

 dairy. Three of them were of middling quality 

 as milkers, and the fourth one was below mid- 

 dling. From these four cows I fattened two calves 

 killed at four weeks old, and reared two other 

 calves on the milk of the cows. We made dur- 

 ing the season 1056 lbs. of butter, besides fur- 

 nishing milk for a family of eight persons. This 

 would be an average of 264 lbs. to each cow. — 

 The cows were kept as follows : In winter they 

 were fed upon hay, generally three times a day,, 

 in some of the coldest weather five times a day. 

 The hay, in the coldest weather, was not always 

 of the best quality. They ran when they pleas- 

 ed to a large stack of wheat straw in the yard. 

 They were not stabled, but had an open shed for 

 shelter, and no extra feed was given them except 

 a slop once a day after calving, till turned to grass, 

 of mill-shorts. My pasture was good. It con- 

 sisted of about five acres ; the feed a beautiful 

 mixture of early clover, timothy, and some of the 

 finer grasses. It had a light top-dressing of plas- 

 ter early in spring. The cows were kept in this 

 pasture, with the exception of a few days, till late 

 in the fall, though the drouth was such that our 

 mowing fields produced but little after-feed. The 

 pasture had a good running brook crossing one 

 corner. Other stock was turned in and with- 

 drawn as occasion required, to keep the feed 

 about right. I would not pretend that this dairy 

 product cannot be beat, but I think it is a good 

 yield considering the feed, and thai the covra 

 were small, and not high bred. — J. Wilson in 

 Albany Cultivator. 



Exportation op Apples. — Elihu Burritt 



urges the attention of the people of Maine to the 

 raising of apples for foreign market, stating that 

 apples which in Maine are made into cider, or 

 fed to hogs, will command a dollar a bushel in 

 England. The cost of sending them he estimates 

 at twenty cents per bushel. 



of land, _ $G40 75 



Mr. Chadsey states that he hires all his help 'of white-wash 



Thatch on the roofs of houses, may be ren- 

 dered incombustible by a common flame, by 

 coating it over with a mixture of white-wash and 

 alum. One lb, of alum will suffice for 5 gallons 



