VOI,. XV. NO. y. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL 



51 



MR WEBSTER'S FARM. 



The fact has not till lately heen generally known, 

 that the gentleman who has for many years rep- 

 resented the city of Boston in Congress, adds to 

 the other branches of his extensive acquirements 

 a practical knowledge of Farming. About eight 

 years ago he purchased a farm in Marshfield, 

 county of Plymouth. Part of this farm, and that 

 on which his dwelling house stands, was former- 

 ly the property of a gentleman by the name of 

 Thomas — a descendant from one of the the an- 

 cient families of the Common weath. The dwell- 

 mg house in which Mr Webster resides A'as erect- 

 ed about seventy years ago, and like many of those 

 ' uiU by the men of wealth who lived at that pe- 

 riod, is somewhat more spacious than most of the 

 houses found among the merely agricultural pop- 

 idation. It remains unaltered, except by the ad- 

 I'.ilion of a piazza upon two sides, and a small 

 room for a library attached to one corner. It 

 stands on a small eminence ; on the southerly side 

 IS a hi:l of considerable altitude ; in the opposite 

 direction and to the eastward, it lies open to the 

 sea, from which it is distant about a mile, and sep- 

 arated by marshes. 



The whole extent of Mr Webster's farm is mere 

 lliiin a thousand acres, abou-t eighty of which are 

 in a state of cultivation. ']'he rest is Fiiarsh, pas- 

 ture, and woodland. There are several dwelling 

 houses, besides that occupied by the proprietor, 

 which arc rented to tenants, with portions of land 

 cultivated on shares. 



The general character of the land in this re- 

 gion is dry and sandy, and consequently it is not 

 very productive without liber.d expenditures for 

 labor and manure. The pastures, at this season, 

 look dry and brown — especially those which 

 liave been formerly cultivated. The soil is thin, 

 and Meson sand and gravel — of course it retains 

 but little moisture, and, if manured, soon loses 

 all advantages of that process — the virtues of the 

 manure being, seemingly, evaporated or dried up 

 by the power of the sun. 



On the farm of Mr Webster there is some fine 

 soil, and he is making the most of it. Much of 

 this portion consists of knolls, or eminences, of a 

 few acres in extent, surrounded by marshes or 

 sands. A crop of wheat, the seed of which came 

 from t!ie Black f^ca, has just been gathered in. It 

 looks finely, and is, doubtless, valuable, though we 

 do not know exactly what use is to be made of it. 



Some acres of oats have produced luxuriantly 



probably as good a crop as any in the Common- 

 wealth. Many acres are |)lanted with Indian 

 Corn, which looks well — that is, it looks now as 

 corn sometimes does about the middle of July, 

 and then promises a bountiful reward to the cul- 

 tivator ; but the season has been most unfavora- 

 ble for corn, and all expectations of getting any- 

 thing more from it, than (odder for cattle, must be 

 given up. That which will soonest attract the 

 eye of one who passes over this farm, the present 

 season, is the bean field. There are no less than 

 eight acres of White Beans, which promise to yield 

 largely, and which, probably, if intended for mar- 

 ket, will be the most profitably crop on the farm. 

 Carrrots, Mangel Wurtzel, and potatoes, however 

 will be produced in large quantities, and afford' 

 food for a numerous family of animals, with which 

 the place is well stocked. We are not prepared 

 to give an inventory of the oxen, cows, steers, 

 hetfers, sheep, horses, and swine, but we appre- 

 hend that the report of the next Cattle Show in 



Plymouth coimty, will manifest the liberality with 

 which these animals have been purchased, and the 

 skill which has been exercised in rearing, and in- 

 creasing them. 



The proximity of this farm to the ocean enables 

 the owner to manure it well with kelp and other 

 products of the sea, the virtues of which as ma- 

 nures are well known and appreciated. 



It is a favorite object with Mr Webster to jiro- 

 mote the growth and increase the number and va- 

 riety of forest trees. The forests of young trees, 

 chiefly of oak, are preserved with great care. Ma- 

 ny thousand of other trees natives of the Ameri- 

 can forests, have been transplanted, and, in a few- 

 years will afford evidence of the usefulness of at- 

 tention to this too-much neglected branch of ag- 

 riculturc. 



AV'e have not attempted any great degree of mi^ 

 nutenesa in this description, but only to state the 

 result of personal observation made during a rap- 

 id ride of two or three hours over the premises. 

 We conclude with expressing our sincere hope that 

 the proprietor may here realize his most ardent 

 anticipations, and find a peaceful retreat from the 

 noise and bustle of the world, when he shall have 

 finished a public career of usefulness and honor. 

 — Boston Courier. 



A HINT TO Farmers.— J. Buel, — In the fall 

 of 1835, I gathered about 150 bushels of good 

 sound apples, of different kinds, and put them into 

 niy cellar, for the purpose of feeding them to my 

 stock of cattle and jiigs, to see what effect they 

 would have. When hard weather commenced, J 

 had two cows that gave milk ; I put them into a 

 stable, and commenced feeding the two cows with 

 half a bushel of apples to jach cow per day. I 

 charged the boy that milked them, to see if the 

 cows increased in their milk, and the third day 

 tli« boy says that the cows gave almost double 

 the quantity that they did before I fed them with 

 the apples; and the young woman that had the 

 charge of the milk, says that the butter that was 

 made from the milk of thosa cows at the time of 

 feeding them witO apples, was of a fine flavor, and 

 a fine yellow color. 



I likewise commenced feeding them to my 

 pigs ; I fed about one bushel a day to thirteen pigs, 

 with a small portion of corn, and I now defy the 

 state to bring thirteen as good pigs as luiue, that 

 has had no better keeping. 



I had gathered abo\it two hundred and fifty 

 bushels of good sound apples, and put them into 

 a good bin in my carriage house, with the intent 

 of making them into cider; but before I got ready 

 to make them into cider, the cold weather came 

 on, and my apples froze. I innnediately covered 

 them with blankets, and they remained in that sit- 

 uation till the thaw, in the latter part of Decem- 

 ber ; I then commenced feeding them to my 

 stock of cattle, which consisted of 22 head and 

 two colts, I feed them about ten bushels per day ; 

 I soon found that my cattle would not eat half the' 

 quantity of hay that they did before I commenced 

 feeding them with apples, and when the apples 

 were gone, J could see that my cattle had gained 

 in flesh and looked better, i think that my ap- 

 ples that I have fed out to my stock of cattle this 

 winter, has been to ine more worth than though I 

 had made them into cider and sold it for one dol- 

 lar per barrel. This from yours, &c. 



ELEAZER CADY. 



Canaan, Feb. 16, 1836. 



The Season. — The weather during the past 

 season for the most part has been absolutely sav- 

 age. We learn that in many places last Saturday 

 morning, frost covered vegetation as with a white 

 mantle, though no serious damage was done 

 thereto. English grain, we are told, is very good 

 — wheat in particular. But corn, alas and alack ! 

 unless we have more " genial skies" and breezes 

 from "the sweet sojlh west," will be nearly, if 

 not wholly cut off. Potatoes are said to be unu- 

 sually good and the crop abundant. — Brattlebor- 

 ough Vt. Phainix. 



Large Calves — A " fatted calf" was killed 

 at " Bennett's- Meadow" farm, the residence of the 

 Hon. Samuel C. Allen, in Northfield, which 

 weighed when dressed 161 1-2 pounds. It was 

 eight weeks old and had only had the milk of one 

 cow. 



A calf 12 weeks old of the "Durham Short 

 Horn" beeed, raised in Colcraine, weighed alive, 

 346 pounds, and is the most perfect animal of its 

 age we ever saw. He has been purchased for 

 $20 by Mr Thomas A. Snow, of Beriiardston, 

 who intends to keep him for the purpose of im- 

 proving the stock of oxen and cows. — Correspon- 

 dent of the Greenfield Mercury. 



Cure for the Ringworm. — Take the root of 

 the common yellow or wild dock, wash it clean, 

 bruise it, or cut it in very thin slices, put it into a 

 cup, or other small vessel, and add vinegar suffi- 

 cient to cover it. Let it st.md by a day or two, 

 tlien a|)ply the mixture to the Ringworm, by rubl 

 bing it with a piece of the root, two or three 

 time a day, for a few successive doys. This, it 

 is said will effect an entire cure. 



Berries. — A writer in the New England Far- 

 mer, on the best mode of eradicating the Canada 

 thistle, enutnerates among his jjlagues the barber- 

 ry bush and the blackberry-vine — and desires to 

 know the cost of destroying an acre of his plants 

 of the latter kind.s, and of others of like charac- 

 ter that "infest our low lands." Why this is 

 downright heresy. To us, in these parts, it seems 

 like absolute sacrilege. Barberry bushes and 

 blackberry vines! Such things here would be es- 

 teemed little kW valuable than gold inines. For 

 the last week our entire population have been 

 running raviugly distracted after blackberries at 

 25 cents a quart, and only one in a hundred could 

 obtain a pudding-full, even at that ! Yesterday, 

 we hear, the price had fallen a trifle ; hut if the 

 Chappeqiiiddick vine-dressers do not fiitten upon 

 our extravagance, it's no matter! — JVantucket In- 

 quirer. 



A single kernel of Rye which grew on the farm 

 of Messrs Tisdale & Hewins, of Amherst, Me. 

 produced 2286 kernels ! It had 37 spears, each 

 sjx feet high. — Portland Mvtrtistr. 



The editor of a Michigan paper acknowledges 

 the receipt of a ripe, beautiful and fine flavored 

 apple, measuring nine inches and five eighths cir- 

 cumference. 



A large rattlesnake, having twelve rattles, and 

 suppos(!d to he as many years old, was killed on 

 Sunday of last week on the turnpike between Dcd- 

 ham and Boston. 



A cottage building in Dorchester, near Dr Har- 

 ris's church, occupied by Mr Jones was struck by 

 lightning during the severe thunderstorm on Sat- 

 urday morning, and severely shattered. 



