226 



NEW ENGLAND FAR:MER. 



:may 



ally sells about twenty tons of good English 

 hay;— last vear at $1.8.5 per 100 lbs., when 

 the sales amoinited to over 8800 ; and three 

 years ago to $1050. 



At tlie time I visited this farm, last fall, the 

 large barn was well tilled, and his stock all 

 looked remarkably well. His cows were most- 

 ly Jersey and Ayrshire grades, with our native 



stock. 



Improving a Meadow. 



The reclamation of a meadow of some eight 

 acres, was one of the fu-st improvements which 

 Mr. Davis attempted after making his pur- 

 chase. At that time it produced about five 

 loads, of some twelve hundred pounds each of 

 hay per year. Being short of manure, he 

 drained and plowed only two acres the first 

 season. Eventually the whole was treated in 

 the same manner. From an acre of this 

 meadow, to which twenty ox-cart loads of 

 compost had been applied the fall previous, 

 4-100 lbs. of hay was harvested. 



Composting Manure. 



With Mr. Davis the sliovel is an important 

 farming tool, and he uses it a good deal. Ev- 

 ery fall he covers his yards deeply with yellow 

 loam or muck. This is plowed in August, 

 and again in October, and carted out and 

 spread. He intends to average twenty ox- 

 cart loads for each cow or hog for top-dress- 

 ing, and believes it pays. His materials are 

 so°situated that a good workman will put in 

 about twenty loads per day, and get out about 

 fifteen and 'spread it. Last year he carted 

 two hundred loads of loam into his cow yard. 

 On his land, most of which is of a clayey soil, 

 loam, of itself, as a top-dressing, increases the 

 growth of grass, but he believes that the in- 

 creased value from composting pays for the 

 extra labor. 



Fattening Pork. 



A part of the ample cellar under the barn is 

 occupied by swine. Last year he fattened 

 eleven hogs. Eight of these when dressed in 

 the fall, weighed 2960 lbs., and were sold at 

 14d cts. per lb., amounting to §429.20. They 

 were but a little more than a year old. For 

 the two previous years, he sold his pork at 20 

 cts. per lb. He fats and kills early in the fall. 

 He does not prefer the largest breed of hogs, 

 but thinks he gets more pounds of pork for the 

 same food, and a better price ibr those of 

 medium size, well f:ittened and sent to market 

 early. He has found the raising of pork very 

 prolitable, be^des allbrding a large amount of 

 dressing lor the i'arm. He tliinks that at pres- 

 ent prices of grain, it would pay to raise pork 

 at ten cents. 



Indian Corn. 



Large fields of corn are also raised upon 

 this farm. Last year there were ten acres 

 planted, which yielded nine hundred bushels, 

 or an average of fifty bushels of shelled corn 

 per acre, besides quite a number of bushels 



of potatoes,- Avhich grew upon the same land. 

 The stover from this corn Mr. Davis estimates 

 will save one ton of hay per acre, or ten tons 

 in all. The corn is all spent upon the farm. 



Peach and Apple Orchards. 

 In place of the noble orchard of about one 

 thousand fruit trees which now occupies a por- 

 tion of the farm, there were a few "seedhngs" 

 and one grafted tree, at the date of his pur- 

 chase. For several years a peach orchard 

 which he planted yielded from three to four 

 hundred bushels per year of this luscious fruit. 

 In common with other peach orchards in this 

 part of the country, this failed after bearing 

 well for about five years. 



Addition to the Farm. 



About eight years ago he made an addition 

 of twenty-five acres to his homestead, at a cost 

 of $1300. Ten acres of this was mowing land 

 and the remainder a bush hill, which he has 

 converted into a good pasture. When Mr. 

 Davis bought this farm, the buildings were 

 worth but little. But as already intimated, he 

 has rebuilt, and they are now quite valuable 

 and very convenient. 



The Secret of Success. 



In answer to a question as to the secret of 

 his success, Mr. Davis said that he did not know 

 as he had any secret, unless it was the lesson 

 which he learned soon after commencing busi- 

 ness for himself, from the loss of a valuable 

 cow by neglect to fill up a hole left on his 

 pi-emises. This impressed him with the im- 

 portance of finishing at once every job that is 

 undertaken, and of careful attention to every 

 part of the work or business on hand. 



I have no hesitation in saying that there are 

 thousands of farms in New England which oiler 

 inducements and opportunities equal or supe- 

 rior to those which induced JNlr. Davis to settle 

 upon this place which he has so greatly im- 

 proved and beautified. Manufacturing and 

 trade, as they absorb capital and employ 

 labor, furnish a ready mai-ket for the pioikic- 

 tions of our New England larms. And when 

 the disastrous lluctuations which render trade 

 and manufacturing so unreliable, are duly con- 

 sidered and better understood, it is to be hoped 

 that the many examples of successful larming 

 which are witnessed in New England will final- 

 ly settle the cjuestion of the profitableness of 

 farming in the affirmative, and tliat many 

 young men will be led to imitate the example 

 "of Mr. Davis, which I have thus imperfectly 

 sketched. w. 



January, 18G7. 



—The Trustees of the Tennsylvania Agricultu- 

 ral College, have decided on the establishment of 

 two experimental and model farms, of 100 acres 

 each, one in the Eastern and one in the Western 

 part of the State. 



