FARMS. 9 



them. Having built all the wall he desires, Mr. Adams, some 

 years ago, established a stone " depot" in a favorable location, 

 where he has deposited, literally, thousands of loads of stone, 

 the product, mainly, of his manner of ploughing. 



Mr. Adams' forte lies in the manufacture of soil, so to speak. 

 An unproductive spot is a continual eyesore to him. If he dis- 

 covers anything of the kind on any one of his acres, he straight- 

 way leaves the ninety and nine and devotes himself to the barren 

 fraction until it becomes fitted for the companionship of its 

 associates, and worthy of its owner. So far does he carry this 

 passion, that he has actually dug out the bottom of a pond, and 

 then what lay below it, all for the purpose of rendering the tops 

 of ledges, whereon it was spread, productive. In so doing he 

 has obtained satisfactory success, but we cannot help thinking, at 

 too great a cost. We do not believe that the -end quite justifies 

 the means. It might be for his interest if his limits could be 

 circumscribed, and the barren spots left out in the cold, only 

 that his occupation would be gone. "We like his method of 

 thoroughly doing whatever he undertakes. There are no bushes, 

 briars or weeds allowed to grow near to or in the corners of his 

 walls, but everything is kept clean. He believes such crojis to 

 be unprofitable, inasmuch as they are expensive to raise, and 

 bring but a poor price in the market. 



"We consider it great praise to be able to say of this farm, that 

 we could find nothing from first to last that we should be 

 ashamed to exhibit if we owned it. There are very few farms 

 of that kind. The greatest want that we discovered was that of 

 a good mowing machine. Mr. Adams has not had encouraging 

 success in consequence of using poor machines, and has come to 

 speak with satisfaction of his mowers upon legs, that are always 

 in order. We believe, however, that no man growing twenty or 

 more acres of grass can afford, for a single season, in these 

 times, to cut his grass by hand. To say nothing of the increased 

 cost, the deterioration in value of the grass, consequent upon its 

 standing a few days, and in some cases weeks, after the moment 

 of its greatest value arrives, would sometimes pay for a machine 

 in one hay season. 



The buildings are well arranged, with facilities for conven- 

 iently carrying on the ordinary operations, with a good cellar 

 under the barn for saving manure. Water was in plentiful 



2 



