155 
THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
and at the foot ot the hill, is an extensive poultry 
yard, well stocked with every variety of domes- 
tic fowls, with a pond for the accommodaiion of 
the aquatic tribes, in the rear ot the house, at 
the N. E. angles, are carriage houses, stable,- 
and other outbuildings, and a little further back, 
a J.rrgeand well constructed barn. 
Fro'.n the piazza of the house^ beyond the belt 
of trees, and on rising ground, in a westerly di- 
rection, the eye rests upon extensive fields of 
grain, roots, &c. ; southerly, a sheep pasture, in 
which we saw the Leicester sheep, and further 
to the east, woodland. 
The house of the head farmer is seen to the 
east, as the visitor enters the avenue to ihe man- 
sion’, and b.aek of it e.xtensive ranges ot cattle- 
yards, pigyerv and sheds, and another fine large 
barn, now in the process of building, ; nd nearly 
finished. There is no cellar under the barn, but 
Mr. Webster has hit upon a method to save 
every drop of the liquid manure, and in tliebest 
possible way. The planks conriposin? the floor 
of the cattle’s quarters, or byre, as the Scoich 
call it, are laid with an opening between them 
of aboufone half inch, and so arransed as tq 
be easily taken up. The idea is to place about 
two feet of loam, or other earth, under the floor; 
this will absorb all the liquid part of the manure 
as it runs down through the openings, and in the 
spring will be converted into the finest manure, 
when it is to be removed, and replaced by fresh 
mould. Instead of ha vins the upper part of the 
barn lisht, he has purposely had it finished with 
crevices between the boards above'ihe byres, to 
admit the air; but the byres are made tight by 
battens nailed on the inside. Instead ol losinc 
all the room over the drive-way, as is the case in 
b.ar.ns yenerallv, there is a flooring over two-, 
third.s the !eng h, leaving room for a larse load 
of h-ay on the floor below, a door be'in? provided 
for the oxen to yo out at the end of the drive- 
way, while room is thus'raade for at least 20 
tons of hay more than if the barn was finished j 
in the usual way, Bvres are arranged on each 
side of the drive-wav, and yards are being 
made on each siife of the ham, so that the 
stronger cattle mav be kept bv themselves, and 
prevented from injuring the weaker. The yaf'ds 
are so arranged as to receive the sun, and pro- 
tected by sheds from cold winds. In addition to 
the two large barns we have mentioned, we no- 
ticed others at distant points from the mansion. 
Mn.nnrcs end. Crops . — We have already re- 
marked that fish and other sea manures were 
extensively used on Mr. Wehs'er’s farm. Of 
the beneficial effects of fish and kelp on corn and 
grass, we were an eye-witness. A field of corn 
of 15 acres, had been divided into four sections, 
and manured as follows : 1st section with fish; 
21, kelp; 3d, stable manure; 4th, guano. On 
the three first sections, the manures were spread 
upon the sward and turned under; the section 
where the guano was applied,, was turned over 
without manure, and the corn dressed xvith the 
guano soon after it had appeared above ground, 
and a second dressing given at the last hoeing, 
at the rate of 300 lbs. to the acre. Forty loads 
to the acre of stable manure, were applied to the 
section dressed, with that 'ubstance : the quan- 
tity ot kelp applied was indefinite, the ground 
having been well covered with it, without 
counting the load=. Fish were applied at the 
rate of 10 loads,- of 13 bar’^els each, to the acre. 
Taking the field as a whole, it gave the appear- 
ance of a remarkable heavy crop. The section 
manured with kelp, took the lead; that v;ilh 
fish, next; that with stable manure, next; and 
the section with guano, behind the whole. The 
quality of the soil of the different sections was 
nearltfecqual, excepting th.al which wasgunnoed, 
which ha.d the appearance of inferiority. The 
corn on this section, we were informed hy the 
foreman, locked very nnnro nising in the fore 
part of the season, but was now evidently gain., 
ing more rapidly than that on either of the other 
sections, and he said it was impossible to make 
a just comparison until after harvest. 
On a mowing fi-^ld, we saw the e.flects of fish 
t’uat had been applied since the grass was cut. 
The contrast between that portion of the-field 
I which had been fislted” and that which had 
1 not was very striking, in the deep green luxu- 
! riant growth of the afiermath on the one, and 
I ru-sset-brown, dead-like appearance of the 
I other. Eat who can describe ihe odor which 
I came from that field ! All the old fl.sh-oil stores 
on Long iVhart comliined, would not produce 
the like, or any approach to it: and then the 
swarms of large green flies that covered the fen- 
ces and trees l’ The plague of flies in Egypt, 
could hardly have exceeded them, in numbers. 
The decaying fish furnished them a rich feast, 
i Luckily, this' section of the farm is reino/efrom 
j any human dwelling. But however unpleasant 
! this vile smell from the rotting fish may be to a 
I stranger, a person soon becomes accu.stomed to 
i it, and as the unpleasant gasses arising. from the 
j decomposition of the fish, are said not to be in- 
I juricus to health, and as this manure 'vill double 
i or treble his crops, the farmer should not be de- 
! termd from using it by the disagreeable charac- 
i ter c'f the smell. 
I We noticed a small patch of corn in anmher 
I place, that bad been manured with guano in the 
! hill, and afterwards received a fish to each hill 
I as a top-dressing: the corn was of the deepest 
I green, and of the most luxuriant growth. 
We have often heard it asserted that fish ma- 
nure, after exciting the land to produce ohe or 
I two heavy crop.®, leaves it in an exhausted state, 
j This opinion is at variance with what we wit- 
! r.es.sed on a pasture that had been “ fished” lour 
I years since. "We compared it with a pasture 
I adji-ifning, bo' h 01 iginaily ol the same qualit}'' 
].of sni', or differing but little. The pasture that 
i bad been “fished,” was thickly coated w'lh fine 
grass, and notwithstanding the, drought, still 
produced the best of feed. The neighboring 
pasture was dried np, mossy, and apparently of 
little value. Another pasture was shown to us, 
which had been manured with fish nine or ten 
years since, and before the anplication was al- 
most worthless: it ha.s since produced excellent 
feed, and is now in good heart. These fesnlts 
wmmld reem to show' that fish manure is not so 
evanescent as it has been represented by writers 
and others. 
Mr. Web-sler sa id he considered one load of 
flsh w’as equal to three loads of stable manure, 
and afterwards appealed to his bead farmer, for 
kis opinion upon (he subject, who thougiit a 
load of fish equal in value to five loads ot stable 
manure. 
Sea w'ced is used in the piggery .and barn 
vard.s, and every means of iiicreasing manure 
from these sources, appear to be availed' of. 
Leached ashes has been used to some extent, 
and proves a valuable manure on the light soils 
which compose a part of Mr. Webster’s farm. 
On a ten acre lot of very light land, 3000 bushels 
of English turnips were raised la-l season, with 
no other manure than leached aslv's, and at an 
expense of only 73,dollars. Aboiit four acres of 
the same lot w'ere sown down to clover, and the 
balance wfith oats, for the purpose of plowing 
in w’hen .green. In enrich the soil. A very light 
dressing of^gu-ino was given these fie! fs. The 
oafs were so promising, that Mr. Webster al- 
tered his mind with regard to their disposition, 
and concluded to let them stand and mature; 
and on this very light soil, with no other manu- 
ring than leached ashes last year and a small 
quantity of guano this, we now’ beheld. readyTor 
the cradle, a heavy crop ot oats. The clover 
on the other part of the ficF! covered the ground, 
and w’assoonfo be plow’ed in, as was also the 
stubble of the oats, for seeding down to rye. 
Atractoflen acres, of the same qualitvof 
soil,- was covered w'ith a vigorous -growth of 
1 buckw’heaf, which the plowmen were engaged 
j in turning under, prepatatorv to rye. Another 
I large strip was devoted to beans, and four or 
five acres to ruta bags, sown broadcast, and not 
.sufficitniiy advanced in growth to enab’p ns to 
form an opinion of the probable result of the 
harvest. A lot of three or four acres was de- 
voted to mangold-wmrtzel and sugar beets. In 
some parts of the field, the crop had been thinned 
by the worms, and causes attributed to the .sea- 
.son or the seed — but the plants generally w'ere 
thick enough to ensure a heavy yield. Another 
barge section was devoted to English turnips, 
w’hich, of course, had not yet begun to make 
much show. 
Fifteen or twenty acres ol the farm are devo- 
ted to roots, which are fed to the stock in win- 
ter. Last autumn and winter, a lot was fed off 
the ground by sheep, according to the English 
practice. 
Spring w'heat has generally succeeded w'ell 
on this farm, but the present season has been 
rather unfavorable. Samples that w'e examined 
from the crop stored in the barn, did not indi- 
cate a very heavy yield; the grains did not look 
so plump as samples we have seen from this 
farm. 
The yield of English hay this season, has 
been estimated at abnui 200 tons. The salt hay 
is most!}' let out to farmers back from the shore, 
to cut on shares. The marshes yield about the 
‘sanie quantity ol hay as the uplands. The 
quality of the m.arsh hay varie.s; some of it is 
almost equal in value to good Engli'^h grass, 
while some is fit only for bedding or manute. 
The farm appears to be well stocked with ap- 
ples, pears, peaches, plums, grape.s, &c.-k- 
Among the apples we noticed the High-top 
Sweeting, a variety that may be found on about 
every farm in Plymouth county, and in some 
orchards there appeared to be an overstock of 
this ancient and highly esteemed apple; but 
we are sorry lo say there is hardly a thrifty 
tree to be seen; the variety seems to be on the 
decay. 
The stock on Mr.- Webster’s farm, taking it 
all together, cannot he surpassed by any in the 
State. The lastseasori he wintered ninety head. 
The cows are generally of the Ayrshire breed, 
either fun-blooded or mixed. They originated 
from a cow im boned by the Massachusetts 
Agricultural Society, and a bull imported by 
Mr. Vd. This animal is finely proportion" 
silkv, short-haired, and equal to any creatiT"' t 
the kind we have ever seen. The cows are ai -o 
heauiilnl, and give abundant evidence of their 
superiority in the quantiiv of milk they produce 
— having averaged, in the first of the season, 
20 quarts each per dav. He has eight milch 
CO cs ot 111 is breed. We saw in a pasture at 
snine distanre from the house, 10 two-year old 
heifers of this blood, tiiat could hardlv be ex- 
celled in point of symmetry and general beauty, 
having the glossy hair and admirable mixture 
of colors peculiar to this breed. 
For working f'xer . Mr Webster prefers the 
Devon breed of which he had ten or twelve 
yoke, in excellent order, beside.s steers. He had 
sent a drove of fat oxen to the Brighton market, 
a few days previous to our visit. 
Cf sheep, he has the celebrated South Down 
and Leicester breeds— more esteemed for their 
excellent mutton than fortheir wool. Vv^'ethers 
are purchased at Brighton market, in autumn, 
and kent through the winter on turnips, hay, 
and a little grain, and when fatted in the spiing, 
sold to tire butcher. Thi.s has proved to be good 
husbandry, affording some profit, and increas- 
ing the manure heap. 
The Mackay breed of hogs is now the only 
sort kept on the farm — the Berkshire having 
been tried and discarded. 
We conclude this hastily penned and imper- 
fect account of our most agreeable visit to this 
extensive and well conducted farm, by remark- 
ing, that the interest taken , in Agriculture by 
such men as Mr, Webster, Mr. Clay, Mr. Van 
Boren and Mr. Calhoun — all of whom are en- 
gag.”.-'', and are proud to be, in the culture of the 
earth— i.s a scathing rebuke to those weak- 
minded or wrongly educated person.s, who Fok, 
or affect to look, with contempt upon, and to 
consider as degrading, the noble occupation of 
the farmer. And truly grai.ifyieg i.s it to see 
men of such signal abilitiesand exalted repute, 
thong'n differing in peditic.s, united and ardently 
devoted in the great cause of agriculture — the 
basis of na'ionat we.alih and national prosperity 
— and whose f llnwers constitute alike in peace 
and war the main bulwark of the country’s wel- 
fare and securiiv. 
