1870. 



NEW ENGLAND FAR:VIER. 



621 



It became necessary to have a new house, 

 and after due preparation a commof^ious one, 

 ■with wood-phed and horse barn attached, was 

 erected in 1862. It was thoroughly built, well 

 linished and painted throughout. Shortly after 

 tLid the estate became so desirable that $10,000 

 was offered for it, but Mr. B. considered this 

 his home and refused to sell. Help was freely 

 hired, liberal wages were paid, and workmen 

 well treated. The soil, by successive manur- 

 ivgs and good management, became more fer- 

 tile, and wheat began to he raised with good 

 success. As many as 25 bushels per acre 

 were harvested, 70 of oats, 300 of potatoes, 

 70 of corn and 900 of turnips. 



More barn room becoming necessary, one 

 was built in 1868, 92 feet long, 48 feet wide, 

 with a cellar under the whole, for muck and 

 manure. The stable above the cellar was the 

 length of the back side and one end, 140 feet 

 lon^, making room for about 40 cattle fast- 

 ened in stanchion. At present the farm can 

 keep this amount of stock, beside horses for 

 team, and a few colts. 



In 1869 another purchase was made, for 

 $2500, of two lots, 220 acres of very fine 

 woodland and natural meadow, south of the 

 farm first purchased, making 440 acres of 

 choice land. The old debts are all paid up. 

 And all this has been done mostly by straight, 

 practical farming and dairying, with no blood 

 stock, CO injustice to hired help, no stinginess 

 in neighborly deal, and no mf an or unchristian 

 action. A few dollars have bean added to 

 the income by buying hops, and in each of the 

 falls 1867 and 1868, about 500 turkeys were 

 bought, fattened, dressed, and bold, making 

 a good profit. 



Last fall Mr. B. represented the town in the 

 legislature of the State. In the winter, with 

 his usual energy, he decided to increase his 

 income bv getting lumber from his own wood- 

 land. With two men that he hired by the 

 year to cut the logs, and with his one span of 

 horses that do his farm work, he went at it, 

 and the following amount of sawed lumber 

 was the result of the winter's work : — 10,000 

 feet No. 1 clapboard, worth $20 per m ; 

 7.000 feet floor boards, worth $25 per m. ; 

 26,000 feet railroad fence boards, worth $11 

 per m. ; 18,000 feet pine (not yet sold,) 

 worth $25 per m. ; 4.000 feet poor fence 

 boards worth $8 per m. ; in all, 65,000 feet, 

 average Worth per m. $18. The sawing 

 was done ibr ^2 50 per thousand. The prin- 

 cipal part of this was immediately sent to 

 marfeet, but some is not sold. 



The present summer he has commenced to 

 buy butter for Messrs. English, Simpson & 

 Co., Faneuil Hall Square, Boston, and each 

 week buys from one to two and a half tons, 

 as they order. 



The lessons that I draw from this instance 

 of successful firming, where a man's property 

 has increased from a few hundreds to over 

 $15,0U0, are fir&t, that a worn out farm can- 



not at once be made fertile evpn by good 

 farming, and a heavy dressing of manure, but 

 that a continued course of good treatment is 

 necessary to restore fertility and strength to 

 the whole mass of surface soil. 



In the second place, I learn that it is not 

 "economy" that makes farmers rich, but a 

 big income. I know some meanly economical 

 farmers that are poor. In this case good 

 wages are paid; labor saving implements 

 used, and help enough employed to prevent 

 the necessity of forced over work ; food in 

 abundance and variety is furnished; good 

 household furniture provided, with all needed 

 conveniences ; and such freedom from har- 

 rassing, soul-corroding anxiety, that visitors 

 say "if this is farming, I should like to be a 

 farmer." 



And, in the third place, I am taught that 

 strict honesty, perfect fairness, and eve* lib- 

 erality in all business and neighborly transac- 

 tions are compatible with success m fanning, 

 whatever may be thought to be the restalt of 

 the exerci.-ie of their virtu*»s on individual 

 prosperity in other professions and occupa- 

 tions. " Z. E. Jameson. 



Irasburg, Vt.^ Aug., 1870. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 ON FATTENING SWINE. 



Mr. Editor: — I wish to give your North- 

 field, Vt., correspondent, of Aug. 15, the 

 result of my experience in fattening hogs. 



I regard apples boiled and mashed, with 

 a half "bushel of meal to a barrel of apples, 

 added while hot, and slightly fermented, ad 

 much better than pumpkms or potatoes. 

 Apples fed in this way make firmer and 

 sweeter pork than any feed I ever tried. I 

 prefer apples to potatoes for keeping store 

 hogs; they consume more in quantity, but 

 will thrive' better on them than on potatoes. 



Twelve and thirteen years since, I each 

 year wintered a fall pig, let them run with my 

 cows through the summer, giving them only 

 the slops made by our family ; giving all the 

 fkimmed milk to my calves. When apples 

 began to fall off, they had free access to 

 them ; which lasted them until cold weather, 

 without any other feed. When my cows were 

 taken to the barn, the hogs were confined in 

 the barn yard, a good sized one, with a warm 

 shed, and fed on corn-meal mixed in a stiff 

 cold mush, twice a day only. After a while 

 they had as much as they would eat, and the 

 hens immediately finished what was left. 

 They never lost their appetite, nor pined be- 

 tween meals ; being fed regularly, with nothing 

 but water in reach between meals. The feed- 

 ing-trough was in the open yard, well re- 

 moved from their bed. They kept clean and 

 in a wholesome atmosphere, but would fre- 

 quently root through the frozen ground ani 

 he with the navtl in contact with the fresh 

 earth, to rid themselves of an excess of elec- 



