1871. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



525 



RAMBLES AMONG THE FARMERS. 



nouT the middle of June 

 last, we had the great pleas- 

 ure of visiting several far- 

 mers in the eastern portion 

 of New Hampshire. One 

 object in view was, to learn 

 whether farmers do not, as 

 often as persons engaged in 

 other business, succeed in 

 their vocation, and estab- 

 lish permanent and desirable 

 homes. In the Faemer of 

 July 1, we gave an instance, that of the 

 Messrs. Hates, of Portsmouth, where a farm, 

 stock and tools have been accumulated to the 

 value of about $50,000, and entirely aside 

 from speculation or any other business than 

 that of farming. 



There is another style of cultivating the 

 soil, however, which we did not fail to look at 

 and appreciate, — and that is, where means 

 have been secured in other callings, and farm- 

 ing engaged in to gratify- the_taste and make 

 the world more beautified. A notable in- 

 stance of this kind is in the estate of the Hon. 

 Frank Jones, late mayor of the city of 

 Portsmouth. The means, however, which he 

 has so abundantly and judiciously, too, be- 

 stowed upon his farm, were all acquired by 

 his own industry and skill in mechanical and 

 mercantile employments. His head and his 

 hands — not capital left by others — have been 

 the power wliich have brought him affluence 

 and distinction. 



All the buildings, fields, fences, gardens, 

 yards, tools, &c., on the farm afford ex- 

 amples for imitation. Lands that for ages I 

 had been unproductive for want of drainage I 

 and breaking up to the sun and air, were 

 teeming with crops of grass and grain, and | 

 paying a handsome interest at $300 or $400 

 per acre, for agricultural purposes. 



In subduing this land, and making it pro- 

 ductive, he not only gratifies his taste and 

 secures health, but increases the valuation of 

 the town, and in a double ratio the land of his 

 neighbors lying in the vicinity of his own. 

 He is not only a public benefactor in profit- 

 ably producing two spears of grass where only 

 one, — or none, — grew before, but in affording 

 an example of what an acre of land is capable 

 of producing, under proper cultivation. Mr. 



Jones not being at home, we were not able 

 to get details of his methods of culture. 



Our next visit was to the farm of Col. 

 Joshua Pierce, of Portsmouth. His prin- 

 cipal business through a long life has been 

 mercantile. Highly appreciating rural life 

 and its labors and enjoyments, he has given 

 much time and thought to the cultivation of 

 the soil, rearing of stock, and fruit culture. 

 The farm is now a princely estate. It con- 

 sists of 1200 acres of most excellent land. 

 Col. Pierce is now nearly or quite eighty 

 years of age, does not often visit the farm, 

 but trusts its management to his agent, Mr. 

 Walter Scott. Six pairs of oxen were 

 wintered on the farm last winter, none of 

 which were of less girth than six and one-half 

 feet, and so on up to nine feet ! The whole 

 number of cattle wintered was ninety-four 

 head ; eleven horses and twenty-nine sheep. 

 The hay crop last year was sufficient to feed 

 all the stock mentioned above, and 140 tons 

 for the market. This year, Mr. Scott thought 

 the hay crop would be reduced one-half. The 

 Indian com crop last year was 1000 bushels 

 of ears. Some years 1800 bushels have been 

 raised. He is'milking twenty cows this summer, 

 and making butter ; milks and turns out before 

 six in the morning, and milks at six at night. 

 The stock is pure Short-horn. A fine pair 

 of oxen near the barn, that had not been 

 yoked, would weigh nearly 3000 pounds. 



This farm appeared to us as we suppose 

 many of the estates in England would from 

 descriptions of them which we have read. 

 The fields are large, rich and enclosed with 

 substantial fences, and most of the roads 

 through the farm are lined with fine forest 

 trees. A specialty of Col. Pierce has been 

 to plant forest trees over much of the farm, 

 even if they crowded the cultivated crops a 

 little, and to preserve all trees with scrupulous 

 care. 



We had the pleasure of making two more 

 calls within the limits of Portsmouth, upon 

 Messrs. Chas. E. JNIain and Ezra A. Win- 

 chester, fii-m of Main & Winchester, Har- 

 ness Makers in the California trade. One of 

 them is usually in San Francisco. But here, 

 in the beautiful country, made still more 

 beautiful by the means and the good taste 

 which they possess, their families reside ; and 

 here they, even, return as the place where 



