FARMS. 73 



;plow again aiiJ go on as before. This would rotpire the farm to be 

 fenced off into fields. The other was soiling, by which I could save 

 manure and dispense with cross fences. I chose the latter, to be 

 adopted as soon as I could get my land into shape to warrant it. L 

 have tried it the past season and like it. Here let me say, I think 

 that on our dairy or milk farms, in this section where tlie greater part 

 of the land can be plowed, soiling will be practised at no distant time. 



Writers on soiling have recommended green corn to be fed exclu- 

 sively in its season. I believe this to be a mistake. So far as ray 

 experience goes, cattle cannot be well kept for any length of time on 

 corn alone. 1 would feed p3r day, three times green corn, once dry 

 bay, once green oats, clover or cabbage, according to sea.son. Next 

 spring I shall begin to feed rye as soon as it is a foot high, then pas- 

 ture while feed is good, then feed oats, corn, cob, &c., in the barn. 



I have at present for stock, ten cows, seven heifers and calves, two 

 oxen, a horse, about a dozen swine, &c. I raise my best heiftpr calves 

 using Ayrshire to cross with Native. Have been using Essex swine 

 to cross with Native ; find them fiw ahead of anything ever had before. 

 I raise potatoes, cabbages, winter v/heat, rye, oats and corn for fodder, 

 and a supply of garden truck for family use. Wheat in 1870 yielded 

 thirty bushels per acre ; in 1871 got winter-killed, cut it for hay. 



This farm, like many others, had numerous stone walls running in 

 every direction, without regard to order or shape of fields, of double 

 and treble thickness, and lined with brush and briers. As soiling was 

 my object, I have taken every opportunity to remove these and have 

 nearly all the inside ones cleared off. I have cleared nine acres of old 

 pasture, at a cost for plowing and getting out and drawing off stone, 

 of from $lo to $100 per acre. I have now about thirty acres that I 

 can cultivate. Believe in having land in such shape that it can be 

 thoroughly stirred ; first drained, either naturally or artificially, then 

 thoroughly cultivated ; then we get full benefit of our manure. Drain- 

 age, manure, thorough cultivation, are the three great things. I ha ve 

 made plans to drain my swamp and commenced, but no results y et, 

 only a beginning. I shall use tile ; have used stone to drain portions 

 of upland, but it is too expensive, and withal unsatisfactory. 



My gro.ss receipts for 1870, were $2748.34 ; for 1871, $27".C».S2. 

 Paid for labor, 1870, $70G.62 ; for 1871, $920.71. 



Finally, gentlemen, to fix up a run down farm, with poor buddmgs, 

 without capital to start with, is up hill work, but to remove an old 

 wall, to clear up a field of brush, to dig and blast out stone and make 

 everything smooth, to drain a swamp producing nothing but brush, 

 frogs, niosr|uitoes, snakes and all sorts of filth and slime, to make it 

 produce three tons good hay per acre each year, has for me a peculiar 

 charm which can be found in no other department of labor, and besides, 

 iit must pay in the long run. 



I am truly yours, 



ALDEN DERBY. 



