1861. 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMEE. 



261 



THE FRONT YARD 



Is set in blue grass and more or Ifiss planted to 

 evergreens and small flowering shrubs and plants. 



THE FISH POND, 



Near the northeast corner of the farm is a 

 small rush pord ; this is being carted out and the 

 muck gpread upon the upland, and thus far with 

 valuablf: lesults. Ih's pond, when thoroughly 

 cleaned out, will form a valuable fish pond, and 

 at the ei!.ie time supply water for the stock. — 

 The subsoil at this point being a rather tenacious 

 clay, is well adapted to mole draining and wil 

 thus t'upply water to the pond in sufficientquan- 

 tity for the above purposes. The farm is divided 

 into three fields, and this season wil afford no 

 pasture, and the stock is pastured on an adjoin- 

 ing farm. 



The Barn cost about eight hundred dollars, 

 and i- divided into stables, granaries, toolhouse, 

 carriage house and threshing floor. The hay and 

 grain is stored overhead. For a farm of this 

 size it is exceedingly convenient. The house cost 

 about filtet n hundaed dollars, is of wood, with a 

 good stone cellar with cement fioor ; the well and 

 cistern are supplied with excellent pun.ps, and 

 everything is ana' g d for comfort ai.d conve- 

 nience, and we have no doubt that three women 

 in tt)is house can accomplish more than four on 

 the average ol our farms. The style of the fur- 

 niture and of the living is that of the wealthy 

 class ot our city families, and this from the twen- 

 ty-five acre farm. 



The Stock consists of four brood mares that 

 do tiie work and this season raised three colts; 

 these are bred from the best horses, and of course 

 bring a high price ; in fact, is one of the main 

 i points fiom which the profits are drawn. One 

 I cow is all of the horned stock, but this is none of 

 I your cheap kind, she is 3. milker of the fivst 

 order, and supplies the family with an abundance 

 of milk and butter. Eleven head of aged pork- 

 ers are this season deprived of their usual pas- 

 ture and deppnd on weeds and corn for forage, 

 but thpy appear to have a good time, judging from 

 the aniount of fat they carry. They inclu (e 

 Berkshire and Graziers from the stock of Mr. 

 Crowder, of Sangamon county, with two or three 

 of the Polands. The quantity of poultry is small, 

 much less than would prove profitable. The 

 fences are of board and post, "with some young 

 hedge too young to turn out. On the farm are 

 several hundred rods of underdrain, part of it 

 mole and part made of boards and filled in with 



earth Wherever these drains occur we can see 

 a marked difF^rence in the crops. No weeds are 

 allowed to grow on any part of the farm, and 

 now after five years the seed seems almost ex- 

 hausted, and the crops are easily tilled, though 

 one hundred loads of manure is hauled from the 

 city and used f >r top dressing in addition to that 

 made. With the aid of one hand for six months 

 Mr. B. has done the farm work. Last year his 

 sales amounted to over seven hundred dollars ; 

 this was for colts, pork and farm prouucts sold 

 not estimated. ^ 



The farm cost originally forty dollars an acre, 

 partially improved, and the improvements must 

 have cost about one hundred and twenty dollars 

 per acre more, and the stock, tools and furniture 

 another thousand, making an outlay of about 

 five thousand uollars. The farm is three miles 

 from the center of the city of Bloomington, and 

 of course just in the suburbs ; in fact, Mr. B. is 

 a snburban farmer, with an abundance of means 

 aside from his fsrm, and of course is ur.der no 

 obligation to do more than he pleases, or to make 

 his living exclusively from his well tilled acres. 

 He was formerly a large farmer in Ohio, and of 

 course a slave to his hundreds of acres ; inured 

 to a %rm life he would be lost in any other em- 

 ployment, nor could he be satisfied to rust out in 

 inglorious ease. He therefore wisely selected the 

 number of acres that he could till with his own 

 hands, and without making his wife a kitchen 

 drudge, as is the case on most large farms. Wq 

 do not hold this farm up as a pattern for ihe fai»» 

 mer of limited means, but to show that there is 

 more real profit and enjoyment on a small well 

 tilled fariu than on the largeip ones. The near- 

 ness of market and the judicious selection of the 

 crop have had much to do with the success, so of 

 a liberal supply of dlanure from the city thathag 

 only cost the hauling. 



A forty acre farm would more nearly puit onr 

 views of a small farm outside of the city. This 

 would afford pastuf-age, and for the majority 

 of small farmers with large families be more de- 

 sirable. We cannot close with this farm without 

 remarking that we have never seen a farm of its 

 size managed with the same economy of labor 

 nor so many of the comforts and convenience fot 

 a family of five persons so ample and so well ar- 

 ranged, procured by their own labor as in this 

 case. Truly the smtll farmer is the independent 

 farmer, while the " large farmer " and his familj- 

 are the slaves to theer broad acres. 



As Mr. B, will make a report of the croups and" 

 mode of farming to the Secretary of thd State: 



