252 



NEW ENGLAin) FARMER. 



May 



bushels to the acre ; corn, 65 ; oats, 70. Af- 

 ter my crops are off in the fall I plough again, 

 running two or three inches deeper. In the 

 spring sow to oats, from one and a half to two 

 bushels to the acre, and get a good catch of 

 grass. 



I have top-dresse'i mowing lands with thirty 

 loads to the acre, on both wet and dry land, 

 but do not receive as much benefit as when 

 ploughed in. Ashes, I think, are best har- 

 rowed in for hoed crops. I usually cut two 

 crops of grass a year for two or three years, 

 then one crop a year or two longer. 



I think manure that has not been leached 

 lasts much longer in the soil. I have doubled 

 the productiveness of my farm in the twelve 

 years I have been on it, with but very little 

 manure except what I have made. 



It may be interesting to some of your read- 

 ers to know how much stock I keep on what 

 grows on the twenty-eight acres that have 

 been cultivated, on an average, during the past 

 fourteen years, besides selling some corn, oats 

 and potatoes. I have 135 sheep, eight head 

 of cattle, mostly grown, three horses, and, ex- 

 cepting flour, as I do not raise wheat, I may 

 say a family of eight persons. Now, brother 

 farmers, house your manure, cut your hay 

 ealier, cultivate your land better, for a few 

 years, and note the result. C. F. Lincolk. 



Woodstock, Vt., March, 1870. 



Remarks. — In connection with this valua- 

 ble statement of the writer's mode of making, 

 housing and applying manure, and of his gen- 

 eral farm management, it may not be improper 

 for us to say that the first premium on farms 

 was awarded to him last fall by the agricultu- 

 tural society of Windsor County, and that in 

 making their award the Committee said, "Mr. 

 Lincoln has doubled the productive capacity 

 of his farm in about ten years, and that with- 

 out the aid of imported fertilizers, except to 

 a very limited degree. This has been accom- 

 plished by a judicious rotation of crops, and 

 by utilizing every available source of manure, 

 and keeping it well housed till applied to the 

 land." 



CELLAR "WALLS. 



A correspondent of the New England 

 Homestead adopted the following method of 

 constructing the cellar walls of two houses with 

 perfect success : — 



A trench fifteen inches wide and two feet 

 deep was dug, to receive a trench wall on which 

 the underpinning was to be laid. The trench 

 was filled to a level with the ground with 

 rough or cobble stones, packed in as close as 

 might be. After this, the cellar was dug, 

 leaving a space inside the trench of four inches 

 wide on the top. This space or shelf was 

 filled up in a slanting direction, until it 

 reached the underpinning. It should be done 

 with moist earth, just before pointing, and 

 made compact with the back of a shovel. If 

 the cellar is seven feet deep, the wall should 

 slant inwards about two and a half feet from 

 the underpinning, and should b& made smooth 

 and true with a shovel or trowel ; at least this 

 is my method. 



As I wished to use an ox shovel, I left one 

 end open and stoned it up, as there was no 

 chance for making a trench then. After the 

 houses were built, the cellar was lined 

 throughout, sides and bottom, with hydraulic 

 cement. I used but one coat, though, for the 

 bottom, perhaps two would be better. 



The advantage of this method, are : 1st In 

 building an ordinary sized house, in the Con- 

 necticut River Valley, where stones are costly, 

 it saves at least a hundred dollars ; 2d, it is 

 proof against rats ; 3d, it is clean, warm and 

 dry; 4th, there is no heaving of the walls. 

 The builder of my first house was somewhat 

 sceptical on this point, and afcer it had stood 

 one winter, he examined carefully every foot 

 of the foundation, and not finding a single 

 crack in the whole, be frankly acknowledge its 

 excellence. I presume that very coarsei 

 gravel would answer the same purpose as 

 small stones, in filling the trench. 



I ought perhaps, to add that in order to 

 take advantage of this method, the site for the 

 house should be tolerably level, and the 

 ground sandy or sandy loam. I think ii would 

 not answer when the soil is clay or when there 

 are springs. t. g. n. 



