7 



AMOS GOULD'S STATEMENT. 



To the Committee of the Essex Agricultural Society on Farms, 



Gentlemen— My farm is situated in Ipswich, near Topsfield, 

 and contains in the whole about three hundred acres of land. I 

 cultivate annually about eight acres with corn and potatoes ; — about 

 six acres with English grain. I have annually about twenty acres 

 of English mowing, and about thirty-five acres of mcjadow and salt 

 marsh. I have about eighteen acres of wood land, and about two 

 hundred acres of pasture land. 



The stock on my farm usually consists of one horse, between 

 twenty and thirty head of horned cattle through the year ; in the 

 summer, I take in from fifteen to twenty head of cattle to pasture — 

 twenty sheep through the year,— and about the same number taken 

 in to pasture in the summer. 



This farm I purchased about nineneen years since ; it then con- 

 tained about one hundred acres — the other parts I have added to it 

 at different purchases made since. At the time I purchased, it had 

 been tenanted for many years, and was entirely run out — the fences 

 were in a bad condition, and it did not yield more than three tons 

 of English, and twenty tons of meadow and salt hay, in a year. 



Since that time I have been gradually endeavouring to improve 

 the farm, by such means as were in my power ; and these were my 

 own labour, and the produce of my land. What I have, I have 

 earned myself, and what I possess, I own without any incumbrance, 

 or claims from any one to my knowledge. 



I have made upon the farm seven hundred rods of good and per* 

 mauent stone walls. I have set out and planted, seven hundred 

 apple trees, many of which are now in a thrifty and bearing condi- 

 tion. I have ditched and drained several acres of the wet meadow 

 lands, and raised the same ; so that this is now my most productive 

 grass land. I have added to, and enlarged my buildings, so that 

 they are now convenient for the purposes of my farm. 



Manure. I make from eighty to one hundred loads of manure 

 annually, in my barn yard, and hog pen, by hauling in loam, and 

 other materials collected from ditches, and about the farm. This, 

 together with the droppings from the cattle, make about 150 loads 

 in a year ; I mix the two kinds together, before I use it upon the 

 land, — thinking that more benefit is obtained by thus applying it. 



