54 



heads of cabbage. I need not tell the practical farmers 

 of your Societj, the practical benefit of these produc- 

 tions. 



When I took my farm it had no select fruit, but 

 chance apple-trees in a natural state had found growth 

 here and there, and were in a thriving condition. From 

 the fruit of these trees I made twelve barrels of cider 

 in 1838. I commenced the next spring, converting 

 these trees into bearers of the various kinds of choice 

 apples, which the market demanded ; and, now, none 

 other are allowed to encumber their branches. I have, 

 also, set out eighty-six new trees, the most of which have 

 come to a bearing state. I have also, planted one hun- 

 dred and seventy-six peach trees, of several varieties ; 

 and have also, cultivated the pear, the cherry, the cur- 

 rant, and the quince, to some extent, so that the income 

 from my fruit for the five last years has amounted to 

 the average sum of $200. 



Before closing my "statement," I will trouble the 

 Committee with a description of the manner by which 

 I reclaimed a piece of hard, swale land, containing about 

 one and a half acres. In substance, the description was 

 given in a statement made to the Committee of another 

 society, in 1850, and printed in the State Transactions 

 of Agricultural Societies of that year. 



It was in 1849 that I enclosed the above named patch 

 with a suitable fence, and put upon it twenty swine, 

 thinking that they, with the implements with which 

 nature had furnished them, might pulverize a soil too 

 wet to be cultivated by the usual process. In this I 

 was not mistaken ; the long-nosed plowmen turned up 

 and turned over the ground with strict fidelity. The 



