1849. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
365 
ing for the teazels, and protecting them against the 
fluctuations of temperature. The next spring, the 
stalks are cut down, carried from the field, and ad¬ 
ded to the manure heap. The teazels are cut the 
second year, about mid-summer. The stems and 
branches are then thrown into rows and burnt ; and 
the ashes spread over the ground, which, after being 
thoroughly plowed is sowed to wheat, and often 
gives a yield of forty bushels to the acre. The grass 
which follows is usually very heavy. Mr. P. has 
gone over about forty acres in this way, and has 
brought it into a very high state of fertility and pro¬ 
ductiveness. 
He cultivates several kinds of beans, some of 
which are grown among the teazels. We under¬ 
stood they were marketed in Boston, and ultimately 
sent out of the country. 
Mr. P.’s business appears to be conducted with 
great regard to system and neatness , which ought 
to be recognized as the cardinal principles of farm¬ 
ing in general. 
From Waterville we passed over to Vernon. This 
is more particularly known as a grazing and dai¬ 
rying neighborhood, though the soil is in some in¬ 
stances well adapted to grain crops. Many of the 
farmers here have long been distinguished for their 
enterprise and success in various departments of 
husbandry, and a large proportion of the premiums 
of the State Agricultural Society are annually claim¬ 
ed from among them. Several of the officers and 
leading members of the county society reside here; 
and it is not too much to say, that among those who 
have prominently aided in bringing the county of 
Oneida to her present high position in respect to ag¬ 
ricultural improvement, will be found the names of 
Hitchcock, Church, Marshall, Ingersol, 
Case, Wright, and others of this town. 
Besides the interest taken in the state and county 
societies, the people of Vernon have a town organi¬ 
zation, the object of which is the improvement of 
agriculture, horticulture, and domestic manufactures. 
An annual exhibition is held in the month of October. 
We were informed that there is generally on these 
occasions, a large turn-out of live stock, and a libe¬ 
ral display of the products of female labor. 
Our first call here was at the residence of Gen. L. 
T. Marshall. His farm consists of 230 acres. He 
keeps thirty cows; the milk is devoted to making 
cheese, except such portion as is necessary for ma¬ 
king the butter required for the family. The ave¬ 
rage weight of cheese per cow is 400 lbs., and it is 
sold, green, at $6 per hundred. 
Gen. M. has an excellent stock of hogs. They 
were produced from various crosses; but having, 
some time since, obtained the points and qualities de¬ 
sired, he has kept them so without change. They 
are small-boned, but will weigh at sixteen to eighteen 
months old, 300 to 400 lbs. each, and will fatten at 
any age. 
Gen. M. has commenced the culture of fruit, and 
has a fine collection of young trees of Various kinds. 
He is also commencing the cultivation of teazels. 
Mr. S. H. Church has 170 acres in his farm. He 
practices a mixed husbandry—has always raised more 
or less wheat, notwithstanding the casualties to 
which this crop has been exposed in this region, and 
has seldom failed of getting thirty bushels to the 
acre—once or twice as high as fifty bushels per acre. 
Barley has been considerably cultivated, and has 
yielded from forty to fifty bushels per acre-—oats fif¬ 
ty bushels. His wheat sown the present autumn ap¬ 
pears very promising. He attributes his success in 
wheat culture, to the thorough preparation of the 
soil, and sowing clean seed. 
Mr. C. keeps 300 Saxon sheep. The reputation 
of this flock has long been deservedly high; and to 
this and the flock of S. B. Crocker, of Vernon, 
have been awarded many of the premiums on Saxon 
sheep by the State Agricultural Society. We believe 
Mr. Church took nearly all the first premiums in this 
class the present year. The flock shows evidence 
of skill and care in breeding and managment. The 
sheep appear healthy, of very uniform size and shape, 
and very superior quality of wool. The average 
weight of the fleeces for several years, has been two 
and three-fourths pounds, thoroughly washed. H© 
has two years’ clip on hand—that of 1847 sold for 
63 cents per pound. 
Mr. C.’s cattle are a cross of the Devon with 
the common stock-—some being nearly full blood De¬ 
vons. We have spoken of his oxen, exhibited at Sy¬ 
racuse. At Hampton we saw them triedat a cart, with 
a weight of over two tons, and their performance at¬ 
tracted the admiration of all. Without a touch of 
the whip, but merely by the word of the driver, they 
took the load up a steep hill, where the felloes of 
the wheels were nearly buried in the soft ground. 
They appeared to understand exactly how the work 
was to be done, and they performed it with resolu¬ 
tion and courage. 
Mr. C. C. Church has 193 acres of land.. He 
devotes his farm mostly to grass—keeps 30 cows, 
and rears six or eight calves yearly. His cows are 
devoted chiefly to making cheese, and they average 
about 400 lbs. each. He has six full blood Devon 
cows and heifers, obtained from Mr. Hurlbut, of 
Connecticut. Some of them are fine specimens of 
that beautiful breed, and if bred to bulls of the pro¬ 
per quality, will, we venture to say, produce stock 
which will not suffer by any comparisons. 
In Mr. C.’s garden we were pleased to find a 
handsome collection of various kinds of fruit: Sweet 
water, Isabella, and several good kinds of our native 
grapes; plums, pears and peaches. We were in¬ 
formed that most of the peach-trees were from seed 
planted by Mr. Church’s mother—a lady now seven¬ 
ty years of age, still actively interested in all the im¬ 
provements of the day. One of the trees produces 
a peach which is highly deserving of notice, being 
of a quality seldom, equalled. The tree is now five 
years old, and has borne, more or less, two seasons. 
The seed was obtained from Baltimore. The fruit 
ripened this year, about the first of October. We 
hope Mr. C. will take measures to have it brought 
before our pomological associations another year. 
Mr. Ira S. Hitchcock, of Oneida Castle, has a 
farm of 225 acres. The ancient village of the Onei¬ 
da Indians covered a portion of this farm, and in 
one of Mr. H.’s fields, was the residence of the ce¬ 
lebrated chief, Skenandoah. The soil, for the 
most part, may be called an old alluvion, lying on 
the banks of the Oneida creek. It is a friable loam, 
easily cultivated, and naturally good for grain crops. 
The Indians raised their best corn here, and the ca¬ 
pacity of the soil for the production of that grain, is 
still shown by the large crops which Mr. H. annual¬ 
ly obtains. Afield of bis containing nine acres ap¬ 
peared to be considerably the heaviest of any we 
have seen this season. Mr. H. told us that he ge¬ 
nerally had seventy-five bushels to the acre. 
He has been in possession of the farm twelve years. 
"When he bought it, it was generally thought to be 
cC run out.” It bad been plowed about three to four 
inehes deep. His first operation was to break up 
about forty acres of it, six to seven inches deep, 
which was sown to wheat, and yielded twenty-five 
Jbushels to the acre. Excepting for a few years whea 
