37 



quantity of our hay very much, and, at the same time, furnished a 

 good place of deposit for useless stones. 



We have a cellar under our barn, which is used, partly, as a 

 place for tying up cows, and partly for a sty and manure. Ma- 

 nure is composted here and in the adjoining yard. What is 

 accumulated through the Fall and Winter is used in Spring upon 

 any cultivated crops. 



Corn we usually plant on land newly broken up, allowing for it 

 from eight to ten cords of manure, per acre, — two-thirds of which 

 is ploughed in and one-third put in the hill. 



Special fertilizers we have never used in any way ; nor plaster 

 or any other manure on pasture land. We have plenty of water 

 and shade in our pastures, and consider both of great advantage. 

 We have no wood-land. We practice the rotation of crops, but 

 not by any particular system. We usually plant, first, corn, then 

 potatoes, or peas, or cabbages, as circumstances indicate to be best. 

 Sometimes we plant corn again, the third year ; having regard, 

 however, to the prospect of the market. And, often, the ground 

 is occupied with cabbages the second year, using for them about 

 the same quantity of manure as for corn. Generally, we plant 

 potatoes the third year ; putting them into the ground earlv, say 

 in April, and using from six to ten cords of manure in the same 

 way as for corn. We sometimes sprout them and set out in May 

 after the danger from the frost is over. This year, however, they 

 were cut down by late frost and very much injured. We dig and 

 market potatoes early and then sow down the laud to grass, mix- 

 ing therewith a small quantity of flat turnip seed. 



The land, having been well manured and cultivated for three 

 years, is sown down without additional manure. Two hundred 

 bushels of turnips may thus be taken from an acre of land without 

 any injury to the grass crop. We pull and cut them, leaving the 

 tops spread evenly on the ground, and think the tops are fully 

 equal to any exhaustion of the soil by the roots. 



We use three pecks of redtop and half a bushel of herdsgrass 

 seed for an acre of land. Herdsgrass and redtop are, in our 

 judgment, the most valuable grasses in this region, whether for 

 the market or home consumption. Coarse herdsgrass will sell 

 most readily in market, for the feed of horses ; and fine sorts, 

 grown on fields which have been laid down longer, are most valu- 

 able for home use. 



We commonly use the manure we have composted through 

 Summer, for the top dressing of mowing lands in the Fall. We 

 seldom repeat this operation, however, because when grass begins 

 to fail, we think it preferable to break up the land again and go 

 through another course of rotation croj)S. 



We usually feed oft' our mowing lots late in the Fall, but do not 



