THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



Ill 



A JUDICIOUSLY MANAGED AND PROFI- 

 TABLE FARM. 



If our readers should derive as much pleasure 

 as we did, in reading the subjoined account of 

 the management and products of a thrifty Yan- 

 kee's farm, they will thank us for having af- 

 forded them the opportunity of perusing it. The 

 productiveness of this farm should go far to 

 prove, how much better it is to cultivate a small 

 farm well, than by attempting the culture of a 

 large one, greatly beyond our means and force, 

 to reap disappointment as the reward of our 

 toils. — American Farmer. 



STEPHEN BRINLEY's FARM. 



Not more than thirty miles from the city of 

 Boston you may have noticed a pretty location — 

 a sloping surface inclining to the south-east — 

 the highest point covered with pines, furs, and 

 other evergreens. At the foot of the slope, on 

 the south, a gentle brook meanders over the 

 washed pebbles, or when more full and generous, 

 it distributes its favors over the green herbage 

 and makes rich a long lawn that yields without 

 culture the winter supplies for a sleek herd of 

 red Devons and a few cosset sheep. 



Mr. Brinley's farm consists of one hundred 

 acres. Eighty of cleared land, ten of wood, 

 and ten of timber land. The twenty acres of 

 forest lie north of his buildings and protect them 

 as well as his herds from the northerly winds. 

 His dwelling house is not so large as to go 

 without repairs, and his barn is large enough to 

 hold his fodder and to shelter his stock. 



The highway runs nearly east and west, and 

 his house is set square with it instead of ranging 

 with a north and south line. As the house 

 stands on the north side of the highway it faces 

 southerly, and you are not tempted in a cold 

 day, to go round to the back side to enter it. 



No evergreens are planted on the south side 

 to screen it from the sun in winter — none are 

 admitted there but such trees as are called de- 

 ciduous, or mannerly enough to doff their caps 

 as soon as they are found to intercept light and 

 warmth which is wanted in the building in 

 short days. But a belt of trees is flourishing 

 on the west and north sides of the building, 

 bidding defiance to wind and snow, and looking 

 as fresh through the whole winter, as in June. 



The barn and out-houses stand easterly from 

 the dwelling-house and on the same side of the 

 way, leaving the south and south-west breezes 

 a free passage, and full authority to w T aft the 

 noxious vapors from the- manure heaps in a di- 

 rection from the sitting rooms, in warm weather, 

 such as accompanies breezes from this quarter. 

 When the winds are north or north-east the ef- 

 fluvia is seldom offensive. 



The principal barn has a deep cellar under 

 the whole, but as it stands up well on the sloping 



land no water stands underneath. The cow- 

 yard is south of the barn and lower than the 

 cellar, sloping enough to shed off all excess of 

 wet into a pit on the eastern side where mate- 

 rials are thrown to become impregnated. Thus 

 no ice is made in the yard to endanger the cat- 

 tle's bones, and no mire-pits formed to catch and 

 hold fast the shoes of the unwary footman. 



A cheap shed runs the whole lengh of the 

 west side of the yard, and another forms the 

 east side. 



The barn cellar is stoned on three sides, leav- 

 ing an opening south. All the cattle lie loose 

 under the barn and sheds ; and when one or 

 more requires different feed or treatment they 

 are put in single pens. 



Racks are made round, that the cattle may 

 eat on either side without fear, as they will ga- 

 ther around a small stack of hay, not being ex- 

 posed to be cornered and hooked, but free to fly 

 off in a tangent when a superior nods at them. 



The cattle have learned their places, and 

 there is no more danger from hooking than 

 when they are yarded in summer, the master 

 cattle having their favorite stands and keeping 

 them the principal part of the eating hours. — 

 Some hay is wasted, as coarse hay always will 

 be, in any mode of feeding; but as the yard is 

 never very wet and as straw and the poor kinds 

 of fodder soon accumulate about the circular 

 racks, very little hay that is valuable will be 

 lost, and the poor kinds will be eaten much bet- 

 ter when exposed in the yard or in open racks 

 than when placed in a close manger before cat- 

 tle that must either starve or eat in a fixed posi- 

 tion — the head confined and the knees worn 

 bare on a hard floor. 



The cellar is warmer in cold weather than 

 the sheds, and in the coldest nights the master 

 cattle choose the warmest part of the cellar, 

 that is, the north end, to lie down in, and it 

 sometimes happens that the underlings will 

 choose to lie close beside them, and you will 

 find a dozen head lying in a small compass. — 

 But in moderate weather you will find the cattle 

 preferring the open sheds to breathe a free air. 



Mr. Brinley finds his cattle will eat coarse 

 fodder better when they run loose than when 

 they are tied to a stanchion ; that they lie more 

 comfortably, much cleaner ; and that the labor 

 of tending them is not half so great ; that the 

 milk is cleaner, and that the manure is much 

 more valuable. For every drop of the urine of 

 the cattle is absorbed by the loam that is carted 

 into the yard and under the barn in autumn. — 

 The solid part too is trod down and mixed with 

 the loam, instead of freezing and thawing as it 

 will when thrown out at the window in the 

 usual manner. 



The whole cellar is not occupied by the cat- 

 tle, for the bay of hay takes fifteen feet of it 

 and runs down six feet below the floor. This 



