Vol. LXVII. No. 3045 
NEW YORK, JUNE 6, 1908. 
WEEKLY, $1.00 PER YEAR. 
SAVING A HAY FARM. 
New England Hillsides Reclaimed. 
On page 145 of The R. N.-Y. for 1007 we printed pictures 
showing how Mr. N. N. Dummer of Rowley, Mass., pro¬ 
ceeded 1o turn a worthless piece of rough land into a grass 
field. At the age of 7S Mr. Dummer began a work which 
most young men would shrink from. Those who have 
never seen a New England hillside and swamp can hardly 
realize what it means to do work of this sort—not only 
so far as clearing the soil is concerned hut the effect upon 
society of changing the worthless land into productive 
fields. Mr. Dummer's son now gives us tlie rest of the 
story. 
In 1886 we owned a pasture, 30 acres of which, 
gently sloping toward a small run or brook, was 
covered with a thickly matted growth of alders, Gray 
birch and rose bushes. T his growth was cut, and 
all not large enough to save for stove wood was 
burned on the spot. The stumps and rocks were re¬ 
moved, leaving a black loam eight to 18 inches in 
depth full of small roots, underneath which was a 
good bottom of clay. This was plowed in narrow 
beds, the dead furrows acting as open drains to the 
hi ook. It was then harrowed and seeded to grass the 
last of August. Careful accounts were kept, and 
enough hay was taken from 12 acres (all that was re¬ 
claimed the first year) in four years to pay all 
the expense of reclaiming. This land has been top- 
diessed each year, and in 1906 one measured acre 
which had been seeded 14 years yielded V/% tons of 
weighed hay. this encouraged Mr. Dummer so much 
that in 1906 he bought a pasture and swamp adjoining 
thG land, and at once commenced turning it over. 
Ibis land had a small hill, and was more rocky, yet 
most of it was of the same nature as his other land, 
dins land was bought November, 1906, and on Novem¬ 
ber, 1907, lie had 21 acres of it in grass; pretty good 
energy and enterprise for a man 78 years of age. 
Some of the farmers told him he would not be able 
to get hay enough to pay for cutting. The hay crop 
averaged over 2]/ 2 tons per acre first cut. The spot 
photographed yielded three tons per acre, while no 
part of it yielded less than two tons. A few birch 
roots started in the early Spring, but the thick grow¬ 
ing grass did not let any of them get above three 
inches in height. The hay is of good quality, and is 
bringing a good price in the barn. The work is being 
continued and is in process on 30 acres more. 
While watching the raising of the frame of the 16- 
sided barn which lie had planned for storing his hay, 
Mr. Dummer had a shock from which he never 
rallied, so that he never saw the completed barn or 
the successful results of his hayfield in which he was 
A BUSY DAY IN THE HAYFIELD. Etc. 219. 
so much interested. The barn which he planned was 
16-sided, 10 feet on a side, 25-foot posts and 52 feet in 
diameter. The roof was self-sustaining. The only 
timbers in the inside are four posts 12 feet apart in 
the center, rising to base of the eight-sided cupola, 35 
feet high. The only picture we have of the barn is 
one taken during its construction. There are two 
doors, one 16 feet high and 12 feet wide in the front 
and one nine feet high in the rear. Instead of using 
gasoline power and a chute to slide the hay from the 
centre to either side as Mr. Dummer had planned, a 
track was put in, taking the hay from load in centre 
and dropping it at eight points, the unloaded team 
driving out at the smaller door. A scaffold is built 
from centre to side of the barn over the smaller door 
so that almost the entire barn can be filled even to 
the centre with hay. The barn will hold somewhat 
over 100 tons of hay. It will cost, shingled on sides 
and complete, $1,500. The barn is lighted by eight 
windows in the cupola, making it the cheapest possible 
construction of barn to hold that amount of hay. 
One thing more in regard to the land. We turn it 
over again in five or six years, this time getting a 
much smoother seed bed. We will find the roots de¬ 
cayed and the soil will work nicely. With top-dress¬ 
ing each year we should be able to get best quality of 
hay for many years. As to fertilizing, we used at time 
of seeding in Fall 800 pounds per acre of grass and 
grain fertilizer (analysis is nitrogen 2.20 per cent to 
3 per cent; phosphoric acid 16 per cent to 18 
per cent, potash actual 12 per cent to 13.50 per cent. 
In the Spring oat top-dressing 250 pounds per acre, 
analysis, nitrogen 8.50 to 9.50 per cent phosphoric 
acid 8 to 9 per cent; potash, 8 to 9.50 per cent. 
We have used no fertilizer in the Fall after the 
seeding, depending only upon the Spring dress¬ 
ing as above. On a section of the land showing 
nearly as well as the other we used barnyard manure 
(horses) in seeding and have top-dressed the moment 
the rowen was cut in the Fall with same manure. Our 
manure is hauled from the barns, put in piles and 
covered with sand. Before used in the manure 
spreader it is thoroughly forked over. I cannot say 
how much is used per acre. The sand we find is a 
decided benefit to our land. One section of our land, 
that first reclaimed, was turned over six years ago 
and fertilized as first described; no manure, only the 
250 pounds of fertilizer each Spring. This last Sum¬ 
mer the Timothy looked like a level field of grain and 
cut over two tons per acre. Joseph n. dummer. 
R. N.-Y.—Mr. Dummer’s eight-sided barn is shown 
in Fig. 220, while Fig. 221 gives a view of part of 
the hayfield. 
