54 NEW HAMPSHIRE AGRICULTURE. 



APPENDIX E. 



THE CONDITION OF THE FIRST MINISTER'S FARM AND 

 BUILDINGS IN 1853. 



When the fourth proprietor of the First Minister's Farm as- 

 sumed its management its condition was not one to be proud 

 of. For about twenty years it had been occupied by tenants. 

 The arable section had yielded successive croppings for one 

 hundred and twenty years. It was annually producing some 

 fifty to sixty tons of English grass. This varied in quality, all 

 the way from the best to the poorest, which could be made to 

 pass under that designation. It also gave medium crops of 

 grain and vegetables on a yearly area of seven or eight acres. 

 In short, for that of a rented farm, the tillage portion was in 

 fair condition, the leases having provided for the return to the 

 farm of a specified amount of manure for each ton of hay sold 

 therefrom, as well as the expenditure upon it of all produced 

 thereon. The tenants had always been honorable men and had 

 fulfilled the stipulations of their covenants. 



There were three pastures upon the farm. The first was a 

 small one, of seven or eight acres, for the occasional use of 

 oxen. The second was a cow pasture of some twenty-five 

 acres. The third was upon the upland, two miles distant from 

 the buildings of the farm. 



The first of these had been cultivated at some previous time 

 and was in fair condition. Much of the second had never felt 

 the pressure of the plow. It consisted of semi-circular ridges 

 and intervening hollows. The former were dry and bore more 

 hardback bushes than grass. The latter were moist, and their 

 herbage was largely mixed with brakes and polypod. The 

 third was an upland pasture of about thirty-six acres, which 

 had been cleared many years before and was somewhat stony 

 but of good soil. It had never been ploughed but produced a 

 fair amount of good feed. It was almost entirely inclosed by 

 a good stone wall, and had been used at one period as a sheep 

 pasture. 1 



1 When sheep husbandry was common in Concord, the owners of flocks had 

 their individual marks for the recognition of their sheep, which were recorded 



