Baltimore County, Md., May, 1858. 
JLoveton. 
In returning from Mr. Carroll’s, we called at the ex¬ 
tensive Dairy farm of Thomas Love, Esq.—a gentle¬ 
man from whose close attention to the operations of his 
establishment and long experience in conducting them, 
much might be learnt by others, while they have at 
the same time enabled him to replace a fortune im¬ 
paired by reverses in other pursuits a number of years 
ago. He farms 530 acres, of which nearly one half is 
permanently in grass. During the thirty years he has 
had the place, the main object with him has been to 
select good cattle for dairy purposes, and raise only 
those which would give the most and best milk ; and, 
during the last sixteen, he has made the sale of milk 
and cream, especially the latter, the chief object, in¬ 
stead of the manufacture of butter. He has now 60 
cows, which is about his usual number of milking ani¬ 
mals, and 20 yearlings. He generally has some fifty 
calves which he wants to dispose of as young as possi¬ 
ble, during the year—for it is but a poor market for 
one’s- milk to spend it in fattening veal for the butcher. 
In reply to some inquiries as to the method employ¬ 
ed in seeding down his Grass lands, and maintaining 
their yield as pastures, Mr. L. gave me a brief account 
of his rotation, which I understand to be as follows : 
Beginning with an old meadow, he would plow it in the 
fall for a corn crop the next season, applying and har¬ 
rowing in stable manure in spring. The land is laid 
off three feet and a half each way by the plow, or 
“checkered,” as it is often called, for the corn, and this 
is thoroughly cultivated during its growth as frequent¬ 
ly as possible, and never less than four times. If strong 
enough to bear a spring crop, the field is put in oats or 
barley the next year, and, after harvest, manured free¬ 
ly with stable manure, or Mr. L. had occasionally tried 
De Burg or some other superphosphate of lime, orPe 
ruvian guano; after the soil is thoroughly pulverized, 
and not later than October 1st, a bushel and a half of 
wheat is drilled and a peck of timothy seed sown 
per acre, and succeeded by the roller, in order to 
render the ground still finer. Through, the winter thin 
spots are top-dressed with stable manure to bring them 
forward, and about the 1st of April six to eight quarts 
of clover are sown to the acre. If rye has been put 
in, instead of wheat as above stated, Mr. L. would sow 
with the clover a bushel of plaster, but on wheat he 
thought its effect was not beneficial—apparently put¬ 
ting off the period of its maturity, and rendering it 
more liable to rust. 
Such a grass field will, on his farm, continue to pro¬ 
duce well, either if mown or pastured, for eight or ten 
years, and it may be rendered perpetual by a dressing 
of manure every third season thereafter. Plaster can 
also be applied at discretion, which will probably be of 
particular service to the clover—a very desirable ele¬ 
ment in hay or pasturage for milking animals. Mr. 
Love has some large milkers, and the average yield for 
them all would probably equal, if not excel, most es¬ 
tablishments of less extent, in which it might be ex¬ 
pected that each animal would receive a correspond- 
ingly greater amount of care. From an inspection 
kindly afforded me of the sales accounts of milk and 
cream, I inferred that the average returns would be in 
the neighborhood of $100 per cow per annum for the 
60 head, and perhaps more rather than less; and, if I 
am not mistaken, at some seasons of the year a por¬ 
tion is converted into butter, which would add some¬ 
what to the above figures. 
The furnaces in the vicinity give considerable occu¬ 
pation to teams of mules and horses, and it seems to be 
found more profitable to hire their labor of farmers 
owning them, than for the furnace proprietors to in¬ 
vest so much capital as would be required in the pos¬ 
session of draft animals enough to do all their work. 
Mr. Love had 18 head of mules constantly employed 
in teaming for the furnaces—a kind of labor in which 
they apparently give better satisfaction than horses. 
A memorandum I made as to the price received for 
this labor, T cannot find—it is sufficient, however, to 
pay a good interest on the cost of the animals, and a 
good price for the food they consume, and is considered 
quite an item in the farm returns. 
Having dined at Clynmalira Manor, and taken tea 
at Loveton, we returned in time for a good night’s 
rest, to 
Hayiields, 
Where we spent most of the next day, riding over the 
premises in the morning with Mr. Merryman and his 
little son, (mounted on as large a horse, and enjoying 
the crops and the views as well as either of us.) 
Mr. M. occupies 108 acres with wheat, 80 with corn, 
and 30 with oats, while 165 are in meadow, and 125 in 
pasture. His hay crop is probably upwards of 200 
tons, and he finds it better to put up a barn in each of 
his fields for the storage either of hay or grain, than 
to haul the whole to one range of buildings. He has 
now no less than eight hay and grain houses in as ma¬ 
ny fields—varying in size from 30 by 20, to 75 by 33 
feet, and containing from 20 to 50 tons. They are well 
constructed frame buildings, with tight roofs, but only 
boarded on the sides sufficiently to protect the timbers 
and braces of the frame. Among the advantages 
gained by this system, are the increased rapidity with 
which the crop can be got in when the weather is 
threatening, and the greatly diminished danger from 
fire. It is also found more economical and serviceable 
than stacking. The buildings are erected near the 
roads, instead of in the middle of the fields, so that the 
contents are reached without hauling over a growing 
crop, and can be taken thence to market as easily as 
if stored on any other part of. the premises, while the 
increased labor of re handling the grain when it comes 
to be threshed, is not nearly as burdensome as it would 
be to draw it a greater distance in the hurry of the 
harvest. 
Mr. Merryman’s views of the importance of protect¬ 
ing his implements and vehicles from the weather, lead 
him to provide abundant means for sheltering them. 
He has an extensive farmery in addition to the scat¬ 
tered houses of which we have spoken, including wagon 
and implement houses, stables and corn lofts, &c., &c. 
Occupying the place, as he did for a number of years, 
under a lease rendering it necessary for him to draw 
heavily upon its resources to meet the obligations in¬ 
curred, he could not expend as much as he would 
have liked on mere embellishments, but having lat¬ 
terly been free from any restraint of the kind, he 
has already inaugurated or had in contemplation 
many improvements. The land has all been thorough¬ 
ly limed, and was considered while in the occupancy of 
