1867. 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



433 



wet. Now behold the contrast! Over this 

 whole field of one hundred and fifty acres, 

 there is a beautiful covering of grass. Mr. 

 Blanchard has ah'eady top-dressed several 

 acres with loam and gravel and intends to im- 

 prove much more in the same manner. A 

 part of the grass is now cut and yields a very 

 heavy crop, — as much as can be well dried 

 upon the ground. 



Other purchasers have also made creditable 

 improvements. About 500 acres, in all, have 

 been cleared, most of which has been enclosed 

 by substantial stone wall. This large tract, 

 varied with hill and valley, now presents a 

 beautiful sight, — a part of it being devoted 

 to mowing, and part resei-ved for cattle, who 

 daintily crop its abundant feed, 



Mr. Blanchard sold his crop of rye and 

 straw on the 100 acres, as soon as harvested, 

 for about $3000 ; and might have obtained 

 several hundred dollars more for the grain had 

 he kept it longer. The cost of improving the 

 150 acres, he estimates as something more 

 than the income of his rye crop. He paid $4 per 

 acre for cutting the brush the first time. The 

 marketable value of the whole would average 

 about $75 per acre. Supposing the whole 

 600 acres now cleared to be brought to the 

 same degree of fertility with that of Mr. 

 Blanchard' s, we have nearly as much added 

 to the value of real estate in the town as was 

 taken from it by the sale of the timber which 

 formerly grew upon it. The taxable valuation 

 was about $10,000, The value of the land as 

 improved, is now nearly equal to this, and 

 will soon be considerably more. 



In this connection I would say that Mr. 

 Blanchard has made improvements on his other 

 land in West Acton, that deserve a passing 

 notice. Nine years ago he cleared and brought 

 under cultivation apiece containing nine acres, 

 which was then very badly overrun with brush. 

 Two acres of it were wet and unfit for culti- 

 vation, — the most of it moderately elevated, 

 with soil of gravelly loam. The next year he 

 set out upon it three hundred apple trees, forty 

 feet apart, with peach trees between, — about 

 1000 trees in all. The apple trees now are of 

 good size, thrifty, and free from borers ; al- 

 though orchards in the vicinity have been very 

 badly injured by them. 



A plan adopted by Mr, Blanchard, and 

 which was practiced by his father, the late 

 Simon Blanchard, for many years, with great 

 success, is to put strong green manure around 

 the trunks, in the fall. He thinks that the 

 borer is destroyed for the want of air ; or, 

 perhaps, being tender at that time of year, is 

 killed by the strength of the manure. He ap- 

 proves also of the method lately recommended 

 in the New England Farmer, of placing a 

 mound of earth around the tree. When the 

 tree has been badly eaten by borers, he re- 

 commends banking up with earth ; and showed 

 some trees, which, having been injured so se- 

 I'iously as to begin to droop, he had saved in 



that way, and which were now flourishing and 

 of good size. This land proved too low for 

 the peach trees. They suffered from the wm- 

 ters. Mr. Blanchard says he would not set 

 another peach orchard on such low land. This 

 year, however, he will have a fair crop of the 

 best varieties of the peach. The lowest part 

 of this_ piece of land has been drained with 

 blind ditches, and yields heavy crops of ex- 

 cellent grass. The whole lot is worth now 

 some five times its former value. Should a 

 fiiyorable year for the apple come round again, 

 this orchard will yield a very handsome return. 



Another young apple orchard of three acres, 

 purchased by Mr. Blanchard three years ago, 

 lor a little less than thi'ee hundred dollars, 

 would now bring readily one thousand dollars ; 

 the increased value being due chiefly to judi- 

 cious cultivation. The trees are now very 

 thrifty over the whole orchard. At the time 

 of pui'chase, a great many of them seemed to 

 be going back into the ground. It was gen- 

 erally thought that they could not be made to 

 grow so as to amount to anything. The land 

 is mellow, with a warm soil, and the crops 

 raised between the trees have paid well for all 

 the expense of cultivation. 



Another tract of land situated near his 

 present residence, purchased by Mr, Blanch- 

 ard, also illustrates the magical effect of the 

 hand of judicious improvement. Twenty-seven 

 acres, with the buildings thereon, were bought 

 two years ago for $1800. A large part of it 

 was moss-bound and unproductive ; and was 

 considered nearly worthless for cultivation, 

 simply because it had lain for years without 

 being tilled ; the rest of it was coming up to 

 young wood. Some of this, having been bro- 

 ken up, was planted this year. Upon it there 

 is one of the most promising fields of corn we 

 have seen this season. This land, thus improv- 

 ed, would readily sell for $100 per acre ; and it 

 is the intention of the owner to cultivate the 

 whole in the same manner. He has sold the 

 house for $900 ; the barn, with less than an 

 acre, would bring $900 more. If we reckon 

 the crops as paying the cost of cultivation, — 

 which Mr, Blanchard estimates they will do, 

 and more, — there is a present gain in this one 

 agricultural enterprise of over $2500. This 

 land, as soon as improved, will be in quick 

 demand for building lots. It is situated in 

 the midst of a thriving village, and the pros- 

 pective value to the owner is very great. 



For the last twenty years, Mr. Blanchard 

 has been engaged in the laborious business of 

 marketing farm produce ; including not only 

 vegetables and fruits, but calves, poultry, &c. 

 The village of West Acton is said to be more 

 largely engaged in this trade than any other 

 interior town in the State, There are large 

 apple houses here, where several thousand 

 barrels of apples are annually stored ; most of 

 which, of late, have been purchased in other 

 States, by the enterprising dealers of this 

 place. 



