238 



THE GENESEE FARMER 



ranning from the edge to the center, not even one 

 head (Stch on the whole farm. The gravel in some 

 places was a foot thick and in others very shallow. 

 Draining and plowing those pieces and incorporating 

 the gravel with the mud, were among the first of my 

 improvements, causing the land to produce two crops 

 every year since. I plow late in the fall, land that 

 has been once fixed, and sow with oats and grass 

 seed the next June, because I cannot spare the feed 

 in the fall. New meadow should always be plowed 

 if possible; if not, gravel; never burn except to get 

 rid of roots, or stumps, or hassocks bogged off, and 

 then gravel or level up with loam. I have seen the 

 bad effect of burning meadows on some of my neigh- 

 bor's farms. Ashes produce great crops for three or 

 four years, and then it is in a worse state (if not 

 heavily manured) than before. Ashes in their effects 

 are precisely like rum, exciting for a short time. 

 Some of the land that I have reclaimed was very 

 miry, requiring the plow to be drawTi with ropes 

 attached to something permanent on hard land; 

 other lots have been graveled in the winter when 

 frozen. 



" Some three acres were completely covered with 

 wood and brush ; the stumps were taken out, the 

 heights were bogged off, and burned, then loam and 

 gravel from an old road spread over it. The last lot 

 that I reclaimed was very near the river; it was cov- 

 ered with alder and skunk-cabbage, and so wet that 

 man or beast could hardly walk on it Now, it is one 

 of the best pieces on the farm. Draining is the foun- 

 dation of all improvement in low land, and requires 

 more judgment than either of the other departments 

 of farm work. Marginal drains must be run — where, 

 and how near together, is the question. I have of 

 that description, with stone laid in the bottom, and 

 covered, between five and six hundred rods, and one 

 hundred rods with joist, and pieces of rails, and boards 

 in the bottom. The first cost of covered drain, is 

 much more than those of open, but after once made, 

 more grass will grow on them than on other parts of 

 the piece; there is no cleaning out to be done, and 

 they will last as long as the present generation. We 

 have in our vicinity hundreds of acres of land, not 

 mud, but black soil, where the water oozes out till 

 June, which, if it was taken ofi^ would produce twice 

 the hay, with the same manure, and that of a much 

 better quality. If stone are scarce there are other 

 materials. Where there is a will there is a way. 



" I have set three hundred and fifty trees of differ- 

 ent varieties, mostly Apple, which are doing well ; 

 except the first hundred; in that lot I was deceived, 

 the seller not giving me the trees I bought, viz: large 

 and well-shaped heads, but sent me crooked trees and 

 without limbs. I soon became discouraged, partly 

 on account of iho poor trees, and on account of en- 

 croachments and distance from home. The land is 

 now laid down to grass, and the few remaining trees 

 will soon die a natural death, I hope. Dear-bought 

 experience has taught me that I had better pay a 

 dollar for a good tree, than to have a poor one for 

 nothing. By a good one, I mean one that has large 

 and fibrous roots, a straight tnink with the top well 

 shaped and trimmed, and high enough to let the team 

 near it Of the whole number, all started but six 

 the first season; some few have died in the hard 



winters, and Peach trees from the effects of the borer. 

 Always mulched them the first year. I believe it no 

 use to undertake to raise fruit without the mind is 

 made up to keep the ground under cultivation at 

 least two years in three. As to manure, it has been 

 my constant effort to make and use as much as possi- 

 ble, from the barn-cellar, yard, hog-pen, vault, sink- 

 drain, &c., always using it the present season. I keep 

 loam constantly in the cellar which is ready to be put 

 to the droppings. It is always thrown over directly 

 after haying, and used either for fall seeding or for a 

 top dressing. I then commence a new pile by wheel- 

 ing loam into the leanto through a door expressly for 

 the purpose, and put it down the trap doors, and by 

 so doing the manure thrown over below can remain 

 for a while. I used as a top dressing last year four 

 hundred loads. Everything collected, up to Novem- 

 ber, is used on grass. I then commence the winter 

 stock by carrying one hundred loads of mud or black 

 earth to the cellar, and throw on to the droppings 

 during the winter as often as once a week. I find it 

 almost impossible to make manure heat in my cellar, 

 and for that reason I carry it to the field to mix. I 

 consider it one man's time for the year to do the work 

 connected with the manure heap. When 1 commenc- 

 ed on the farm little help was hired, but from year to 

 year more help was needed, and for the last three 

 years in summer have had three men and worked out 

 more or less. In this account no credit is given for 

 labor of man and oxen which were kept iu winter 

 drawing wood, stone and gravel, for the benefit of the 

 farm. 



" Receipts in 1852. 



Milk at the car, $1573.75 



Rutabagas and carrots, ; 167.00 



For work off the farm, 211.00 



" apples sold, 49.00 



Calves, 36.00 



$2,036.75 

 " Expenses in part. 



Labor of two men, 235.00 



One man and boy three months, 78.00 



For grass and hay, 97.00 



Expenses for grain, 235.00 



$645.00" 



AGRICULTUEE AND OTHER IMPROVE- 

 MENTS IN CIHLI. 



The Cleveland Herald contains the following in- 

 teresting letter from the United States Consul at 

 Valparaiso: 



" U. S. Consulate, Valparaiso, 1854. 



" Agriculture is carried on here in a very primitive 

 state. Farmers use the crooked stick for a plow, 

 though I one day saw some small Ruggles & Mason's 

 plows landed with a few poor fanning mills. In 

 getting out wheat they thresh with horses, and throw 

 it into the air to clean the chaff, A drag is a thing 

 unknown; and one being furnished on a hacienda, the 

 peon was found with the drag turned upside down, 

 and he sitting among the teeth, riding. An English 

 cart which had been furnished was returned, the 

 workman saying 'it went too fast for his oxen.' 

 They yoke the oxen after the old Spanish fashion, 

 viz : a straight stick, about seven feet long, strapped 

 round the horns. Their oxen are generally fine, long- 

 bodied, straight animals. The drivers walk in front 

 when driving, and when they want them to go ahead, 



