FARMS 



19 



rafford to dispense with their labor in the work of con- 

 verting everything submitted to them into that which 

 is so much wanted in the field. Mr. Hartwell deserves 

 much commendation for the improvements he has made 

 in bringing a rough, rocky and unproductive farm into 

 a very good condition. As this place was entered for 

 premium last year, examined by the Committee, and a 

 full report made, which w^as published in the '^ transac- 

 tions," together with a "statement" by Mr. H., it seems 

 unnecessary for the present Committee to go into 

 details ] and as a gratuity was awarded equal to the 

 second premium, and deeming it not yet entitled to a 

 first, the present Committee decided that their duties 

 with regard to it were finished. 



We then went to Elm Dale fiirm, where we arrived a 

 little before twelve o'clock. After having been most 

 hospitably entertained, we commenced under a scorching 

 sun, the mercury at ninety-five, our walk over the farm, 

 under the guidance of Mr. Pitts and his two sons, 

 eighteen and sixteen years of age, to whom Mr. P. gives 

 credit for most of the work. The farm consists of 

 about seventy acres. The crops now growing are four 

 acres of corn between young apple trees and peach 

 trees, these standing in alternate rows. Corn and 

 apple trees look w^ell; the trees are washed every third 

 year with a solution of potash, one pound to three 

 gallons water. Peach trees suffered from the intensity 

 of the cold of last winter, the thermometer in this 

 vicinity indicating on one morning, twenty-five below 

 zero. One acre of wheat, three-fourths of an acre of 

 potatoes, one-fourth of an acre of cucumbers for the seed, 

 tp,ne acre of carrots, likewise carrots for seed, a quantity 



