rs 



t have made several additions to my first purchase, and the 

 farm now contains about sixty acres, all of which (with the 

 exception of sixteen acres of woodland) is in a hij^h state 

 of fertility, and with a litMe additional draining and manuring, 

 will compare favorably with any similar number of acres in the 

 county. 



I have built a barn and cellar 56 by 38 feet, with sheds', 

 carriage-house, piggery, poultry yards, &c., attached, which has 

 cost about $1,700 ; I have entirely remodeled and repaired my 

 dwelling-house, at an expense of about $2,500 ; 1 have built a 

 small greenhouse, with a cellar and well, for raising foreign 

 varieties of grapes, which has cost about $160 ; I have made 

 200 rods of substantial stone wall, and have dug 350 rods of 

 drains ; I have set out about 300 fruit trees, comprising the 

 choicest varieties of apples, pears, peaches, plums, cherries and 

 appricots ; I have hauled at least 500 loads of sand a distance 

 of a mile and a quarter, which has been spread upon the land, 

 and is now thoroughly incorporated with the soil, and has 

 changed the character of it, preventing it from baking or crack- 

 ing during severe droughts, and causing the crops to start 

 much earlier in the spring; I have paid out in cash for ma- 

 nures about $500, and have made various other minor improve- 

 ments on the farm. 



But, as I have before stated, I do not enter my farm for a 

 premium on account of its magnitude, or as being a model 

 farm on a small scale ; neither do I claim any superior mode 

 of cultivation, but simply on the ground that I have taken it 

 in a miserably dilapidated and worn-out condition, and have put 

 it in such a state that it will compare favorably with a majority 

 of the farms in our county. 



The following statement will show the comparative cond' 

 tion of the farm when purchased, and as it now is : 



Produce of Elm Vale Farm in 1841, say about five tons of 

 hay, wojth ^75 00 



