1871. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



j'ol 



A GOOD FAKM AND A GOOD FARMER. 



OOD farms, we find, 

 are not always cul- 

 tivated by good 

 farmers. On such 

 farms, the proprie- 

 tors are generally 

 enabled to make a 

 fair living, in virtue 

 of the generosity 

 of the soil itself, 

 rather than from 

 any tpecial skill in their cultivation or manage- 

 ment. 



During our June rambles among the far- 

 mers, it was our good fortune to find upon 

 one of the old estates in Rockingham County, 

 N. H., a whole-hearted, industrious and hberal 

 farmer, owning and managing an excellent 

 farm. There are many such, no doubt, but 

 there are many more who are not such. 



Mr. Warren Brown, of Hampton Falls, 

 N. H., owns and occupies the estate upon 

 which he exercises his skill. He is still a 

 a young man, not having arrived at middle 

 life. The farm contains 300 acres. Of this, 

 175 acres are in pasture and woodland. In 

 salt marsh, 60 acres. In grass for mowing, 

 60 acres. 



The stock of the farm consists of twenty- 

 three cattle, mostly short-horns or grades of 

 that blood ; two horses ; thirty-three swine, 

 plenty of poultry and a fine tiock of South- 

 down sheep. 



The buildings are a nicely-preserved and con- 

 venient old-fashioned house, which gave evi- 

 dence that it had always been in careful hands ; 

 a barn 130 feet long, with an ample shed its 

 whole length on one side for the farra-carts, 

 wagons, rollers, &c., and on the other side sheds 

 for hog-yards, manure, and especially as a de- 

 posit for a large amount of vegetable matter, 

 which is converted into fertilizers for the fields. 

 Besides these principal buildings, there are 

 am{)le wood and carriage houses, granarj-, and 

 a large vinegar and boiler-house. Some 500 

 barrels of cider were stored in the vinegar- 

 house last fall, a considerable portion of which 

 he purchased. 



Mr. Brown stated that his constant and per- 

 sistent effort is to accumulate manure. This 

 is his object ia keeping swine. These are 

 always supplied with muck, rich loam, and 



every sort of vegetable matter which they can 

 work over and make available as a fertilizt-r. 

 The droppings of the stalls are thrown into 

 sheds, where they are worked over and min- 

 gled with each other by the swine. If the 

 pork sells for the cost of keeping, his object 

 is attained with regard to this branch of stock. 



In addition to this source of fertilizing 

 agents, he has purchased and used upon his 

 own farm 8,000 bushels of leached ashes during 

 the past ten years, and has brought into his 

 town and sold to farmers there as much more 

 during the game period! He styles himself 

 "the manure man," firmly believing that pro- 

 fitable farming consists in getting large crops 

 from comparatively small portions of land. 

 As a help in this direction, he has laid abwut 

 15,000 tile ! In pass ng through a large field 

 most luxuriantly clothed with herdsgrass, two 

 or three members of the party remarked that 

 less than ten years ago a portion of it was ft; 11 

 of springs, a stony quagmire, cold, sprinkled 

 with hassocks and coarse water-grasses, and 

 its appearance in every way worthless and dis- 

 agreeable. The water from many acres above, 

 came down upon it from the surface, and 

 through the year was oozing out from the 

 higher portions. This kept the lower portion 

 continually wet, and formed a congenial home 

 for the plants mentioned, and for the croakino- 

 and slippery animals who prefer such sur- 

 roundings ! 



Now the ground was covered with herds- 

 grass just coming into bloom, and so thick as 

 to impede our passage through it! Thanks to 

 the drainage, the ashes and the work of the 

 swine. He had laid stone drains, but did not 

 think them economical. His tile drains work 

 admirablv, and when once well laid be con- 

 siders the work done for many years. 



Butter is made by tlie family. Much of the 

 farm work is done by two pair of stalwart 

 oxen. 



He sells fifty tons of hay yearly, and t'Jnks 

 he will be able to sell a hundred tons anruallv, 

 and at the same time keep his present amouiit 

 of stock, when his practice has been continuird 

 through a few more years. That is, bv the 

 continued use of the leached ashes, in connec- 

 tion with heavy manuring, he will be able to 

 double the present crops. 



This, we think, he will not be able to do on 

 most of the fields over which we passed, but 



