53 



stantly increasing from year to year up to the present 

 time, and for the last few years, I have kept from twenty- 

 five to thirty head of horned cattle, — the larger half 

 under two years of age, — and from tAventy to forty 

 horses and colts, A fair estimate of my present stock 

 of hay would not be less than forty tons. My manure 

 has alwavs been thrown into a barn cellar, and there 

 passed the usual process of pulverization, which hogs 

 have an innate propensity to bestow; when a part of it 

 has been spread uncomposted upon the newly turned 

 soil, or under the sod, which I believe is far better, and 

 the rest has been composted and used as a fertilizer for 

 mowing lands. I have, in this way, made and used 

 two hundred loads of top-dressing per year. 



My first grain crop was forty bushels of corn, ten of 

 oats, and eight of wheat. My wheat crop has been so 

 small that I discontinued its cultivation, after a few 

 trials, being satisfied that the soil was uncongenial to 

 its growth. Last year I had two hundred and fifty-one 

 bushels of corn, and one hundred and thirty bushels of 

 oats. This year's crop of oats are yet in the straw ; 

 good judges, however, believe that I cannot have less 

 than two hundred and fifty bushels. And my corn crop 

 never promised better, if it is not cut short by an un- 

 seasonable frost. 



During several of the first years of my husbandry, 

 I paid but little attention to the cultivation of roots. — 

 Of late, however, I have made it a matter of special 

 attention. In 1838 I raised fifty bushels of potatoes; 

 in 1855 I raised one hundred and forty bushels of pota- 

 toes, two tons of carrots, one ton of beets, one hun- 

 dred and forty bushels of flat turnips, and four hundred 



