114 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



in life, and to this he was the more inclined, as he found within 

 himself a growing attachment to Miss Betsy Fletcher, the 

 daughter of a widow who lived in the vicinity of 'Squire Jones. 



About this time, there was for sale a small farm of about 

 thirty acres, with a tolerably good house, and a small barn upon 

 it, some two miles from the centre of his native town. This he 

 purchased for twelve hundred dollars, paying down five hun- 

 dred, and mortgaging the farm for the balance. The remain- 

 ing three hundred and fifty, he expended in the purchase of a 

 yoke of oxen, horse, two cows, a cart, plough, harness and 

 tools, and went to work upon his farm in the month of March. 



The farm was most of it good land, but had been rather 

 severely worked. The fences were out of repair, and he set 

 himself at work to put them in a safe condition, for he had 

 observed, that among farmers, good fences are not only neces- 

 sary for the security of the crops, but also for the preservation 

 of good neighborhood. In the process of preparing his fences, 

 he cut down a good many straggling trees, and collected stumps 

 and roots, and brush sufficient for his year's supply of wood. 

 He next scraped together what manure was to be found on the 

 place. Finding the hearth of an old coal pit on the field of a 

 neighbor, who was willing to give it to any one who would 

 remove it, he carted some dozen loads of it to his barnyard 

 and mixed it with the manure he had collected together. 



He then prepared a patch for a garden, and planted some 

 peas, and beans, and sweet corn, and a bed of beets, carrots, 

 parsnips, and onions, and a few hills of cucumbers, and squashes, 

 and melons. 



He had learned while living at Dorchester, how to cultivate 

 a garden, and that it was the most profitable part of the farm. 

 He then ploughed four acres of his best land in a thorough 

 manner. He ploughed it so deep, that one of his neighbors 

 who observed the operation, told him he would spoil his soil, 

 and get no crop. But he had picked up the idea, that when a 

 soil had been pretty well exhausted on the surface, it would be 

 well to bring up a stratum from below, that had not been 

 exposed to the atmosphere, and in which elements had accumu- 

 lated that might afibrd nutriment to his crops. Then he carted 

 on his manure, and as he had but a small supply, he distributed 

 it in the hills, and planted one acre of potatoes, two acres and a 



