FARM OF MK. FRENCH. 
213 
FARM OF MR. FRENCH. 
Some of the best cultivated and most profita- 
ble farms in New England are in the vicinity 
of Boston. Among the number is that of Hon. 
Benjamin V. French, in Braintree, Massachu- 
setts, which is considered one of the largest and 
most productive in the county. This farm 
took the second premium last year; and the 
committee, who visited it in the summer season, 
having enjoyed a more favorable opportunity 
of judging of its condition, we give the follow- 
ing condensed account with a few statements 
copied from their report : — 
The farm and outlands contain 185 acres. 
The homestead, about 90 acres, is composed of 
strong soil, originally abounding in rock; much 
of it is thoroughly subdued, drained, and in- 
closed with heavy stone wall. It is situated on 
one side of the Monatiquot River, and is occu- 
pied as follows: — Mowing and orchard united, 
29 acres; tillage and orchard united, 10 acres; 
nurseries and orchard united, 8 acres. The 
outlands consist of salt marsh, fresh meadow, 
swamp for muck, plain pasture, and woodland. 
In his mowing and tillage, his first object has 
been to get rid of surface and spring water, by 
underdrains, drains under walls, and open drains; 
next, to free the soil of stones, and put them in 
deep trenches to receive the wall. The lots to 
be inclosed are intended to be no larger than is 
necessary to require all the stones on the lot. 
As the land is stony, some of the lots are small. 
After the stones are removed, the land is plowed 
deep and cultivated one year. The second year, 
it is subsoiled, and all the stone is then found, 
and removed from the field. The soil is thus 
put into the very best condition for cultivation. 
His grounds are well laid out, and are easy of 
access by broad avenues and gates. Within 
the last thirteen years, he has made and re-laid 
1,351 rods of wall. 
His orchards, generally, appeared to be in a 
healthy condition. He has spared neither 
trouble nor expense in procuring the choicest 
varieties of fruit trees, which he has been plant- 
ing, yearly, since 1818. His collection is large 
and select, including 1,815 apple trees, 764 pear 
trees, 199 cherry trees, 138 plum trees, 445 
peach trees, and 52 orange-quince trees, making 
in all 2,413 standard fruit trees. His nurseries, 
embracing 8 acres, and containing all the ap- 
proved varieties, appeared in fine condition. 
He has about two acres occupied by dwarf- 
pear, apple, cherry and plum trees, the smaller 
fruits, ornamental trees and flowers, which are 
neat and beautiful, affording a rich treat for the 
table, and probably as much profit as any other 
equal portion of his farm. 
He cultivates green crops for summer feed ; 
his cows require something more than pasture 
grass during the hot season. This practice is 
recommended as a matter of economy, espe- 
cially on a milk farm. His root crops, sugar 
beets, mangel wurzels, carrots, ruta bagas, and 
flat turnips, grown principally for his cows, will 
amount to about 2,000 bushels. 
His stock — six horses, twenty cows, six oxen, 
and twenty swine, -was in fine condition. One 
man has the superintendence of his oxen, which 
are very fine ; another, of his horses, and a third, 
his cows. The cattle are provided both with 
food and drink in their stalls ; the cows are there 
milked, and everything so arranged that the 
help about the barns is subjected to the least 
possible inconvenience and trouble. His barn- 
yards and hogpens are supplied with muck, 
which is exposed to the frost and the atmos- 
phere before using. By keeping his stock most 
of the year in the stalls, his amount of fertilising 
matter is greatly increased, tmd he is enabled 
to produce a great portion of his compost on his 
own premises — a great desideratum with every 
agriculturist. 
He has laid about 1,000 feet of blind drains, 
from two and a half to three feet deep, and 
about twenty-four feet apart. He has subsoiled 
10 acres, to the depth of 16 or 20 inches, partly 
over drains and partly not. The deep ; blind 
drains and the subsoil plowing, he has found 
beneficial on stiff and moist lands, and recom- 
mends the practice. 
The comforts about the house are such as 
might be expected of Mr. French. The men 
have a cozy, pleasant room, fitted up as a sitting 
room, for their own use, where they can have a 
fire when necessary, a dining room and sleep- 
ing chambers, all unconnected with the main 
house. Whatever Mr. French undertakes, he 
finishes properly. His farm, as a whole, exhibits 
as much varied husbandry as is usually found 
in one establishment, and does him great credit. 
CULTIVATION OF PEACHES ON LONG ISLAND. 
The peach on Long Island had almost become 
extinct, until within a few years, for the want 
of a sufficient knowledge on its cultivation. 
Well does the writer remember when large 
peach trees were standing around the farms 
producing an abundance of fine fruit. At that 
day, no one thought of selling peaches ; but 
times have changed since. They have become 
a profitable article to cultivate. 
One reason why peaches have not been cul- 
tivated more on this island, late years, is, prob- 
ably, because our farmers do not understand 
the treatment they require. We can grow as 
fine peaches here as they do in New Jersey, 
and with as little labor. Yet, as Providence has 
decreed that " man shall live by the sweat of 
his brow," if we are to have peaches, we must 
work for them. 
Any one who doubts that good peaches can 
be raised here, can visit the orchards of Messrs. 
Carman & Co., at Half-Hollow Hills, in the town 
of Huntington, near the Long-Island Railroad. 
I have been credibly informed that they have 
60 or 70 acres in peach trees only four 5 r ears 
old from the seed, from which they raised from 
2,000 to 3,000 baskets of fine fruit last season. 
In order to have good healthy peach trees, 
the pits, (seeds,) from which the stocks are to 
be raised, must be obtained from trees that are 
young and healthy. Get, also, your buds from 
young, healthy trees, known as good bearers, 
and producing the best varieties of fruit, In- 
sert the first season's growth, say about the first 
