75 



1852, when we purchased it. A more dilapidated, neglected, 

 and exhausted Sahara could not well be found. 



To give minute details of every renovating process could 

 not have been intended by the requisitions. We will, there- 

 fore, only cite a few operations. Weeds were exterminateil 

 in time by not allowing any to mature. Grass was cut early 

 for the best hay, particularly if it contained " white weed^" 

 which being propagated by seed was thus yearly lessened. 

 "Dog grass," and other noxious perennials were completely 

 eradicated from arable portions by thorough digging up and 

 securins; their roots. All annual weeds were uniformly rak- 

 ed up, but were never saved for manure. AVe were conse- 

 quently soon troubled by succession, only from seeds wafted 

 from the premises of our otherwise good neighbors, or depos- 

 ited by the numerous birds. Moreover, we seldom used any 

 manure besides wood ashes — the best nutriment, by the way, 

 for all vegetation, and free from weed seeds. 



Tilling the soil was early, frequent, superficial or deep, ac- 

 cording to circumstances. Trenched or drained and subsoiled 

 land can be worked quite early in the spring, and does not re- 

 quire to be often repeated during the season, and vice versa- 

 Continual growth and successful crops, notwithstanding drought, 

 are also sure and gratifying, as well as the annual saving of la- 

 bor. Properly prepared soil, planted, and free from weeds, 

 receives, therefore, but little subsequent stirring, and that 

 chiefly for hilling. We plant potatoes, corn, etc., in drill 

 rows, the former six or eight inches apart in the furrows, and 

 at the usual time of hoeing form the continuous hill row, and 

 turn back the same soil in the fall, with the plough, thus ob- 

 taining more produce with given land and labor. 



Of the buildings — the house was not made by modern 

 hands, but in 1776 ; is fifty feet square, with white oak frame, 

 high studded, and filled in with bricks, and having been mod- 

 ernized inside and out, is now faultless. We built a barn 

 same size, the most economical form and most convenient for 

 interior arrangements. The ample cellar is a substitute for out- 



