FARMS. 135 



I have a small flock of sheep, of the Oxford Down breed, 

 consisting of one ram and sixty ewes and lambs. I consider 

 that I can keep a flock of two hundred and fifty sheep, on a 

 farm like this, to advantage ; and I would here urge upon the 

 farmers of our county to use all their influence, at our next 

 session of the legislature, to have the present dog law carried 

 into force, or to procure another, more stringent, to be passed ; 

 for they must all be aware that the number of useless curs far 

 exceeds the number of sheep in this county. 



My breed of swine is a cross between the Suffolk sow and 

 Essex boar, which I consider the best, for all purposes, I have 

 ever raised. 



I winter, in addition to the above, on an average, about 

 twenty horses, which are fed on hay and carrots. 



My manure is mostly kept in barn-cellars, is thrown over 

 frequently and loam is mixed with it. Large heaps are closely 

 packed up during the autumn and winter, on the fields where 

 it is to be used in the following spring, and kept covered with 

 earth, to prevent the escape of gasses and to protect it from 

 the rain. 



The grass fields are renewed every seven or eight years, and 

 then kept under the plough three years. First year, winter rye, 

 without manure ; second year, corn, with ten cords manure as 

 it comes from the cellars, per acre; third year, roots, with 

 about six cords manure, then seeded down, generally in the 

 spring, with one bushel Timothy and two bushels redtop 

 per acre, well harrowed and rolled with a heavy stone roller — 

 picking off the stones clean, and making it as smooth as possi- 

 ble for the mowing machine. 



My milch cows are fed on rowen, as long as I have it, with 

 one peck of carrots per day ; then good hay and same quantity 

 of roots. If my roots give out, 1 then give six quarts shorts 

 per day — rarely any meal. I milk them, if possible, up to 

 about thirty days of their calving. 



1 grind up all my corn on the cob, with one of the " Little 

 Giant " corn crushers. A man and a pair of horses will grind, 

 easily, fifteen bushels per hour ; and this can be done in stormy 

 weather, when it is impossible to work out of doors. 



Woodland Hill, December 10, 1858. 



