364 
THE CULTIVATOR. _ Nov. 
light loamy character, easy to cultivate, and all 
fertile where it has not been run down by cropping 
without any "returns. Except on such farms the 
wheat crop is good, but still, so far as I eouldlearu, 
is probably as a whole not quite up to what it was 
ten years ago. On- many farms the yield is increas¬ 
ing as it ought to do,- but on many others it is de¬ 
creasing under the influence of poor cultivation. 
I am constrained to observe that this was the most 
weedy district that I visited. The uncommonly wet 
season which we have had, offers an excuse, but 
this can not be allowed weight in comparison with 
neighboring- counties where the farmers have la¬ 
bored under equal disadvantages, and where the 
appearance of things is very different. The road 
sides are in many places perfect nurseries of weeds; 
they are allowed to ripen and shed their seed in 
every direction, over the neighboring fields. The 
Canada thistle I noticed going to seed in great num¬ 
bers. The crop of Indian corn in all this region, 
is remarkably heavy this year; one hardly sees a 
poor field of it in a long days ride. In this end 
of Wayne county I was sorry to S'ee that great 
numbers of the farmers pursued the practice of 
topping their corn, to which a large portion of our 
New England farmers so pertinaciously adhere. 
In the western end of Wayne, in Seneca, and in so 
much of Ontario as I saw, the opposite practice 
of cutting at the bottom is almost universal. 
There is no question whatever, but this is the bet¬ 
ter plan; it has been well ascertained, that the 
grain is of superior quality for being cut early and 
for ripening in the stack, and that the green stalks 
when thus dried, and afterwards cut up, are equal 
to hay when fed to cattle. The advantage then is 
most evidently on the side of cutting at the bottom, 
both as regards fodder and grain; we may even go 
still farther, and say according to the testimony of 
those who have tried both ways, that the labor re¬ 
quired is less. 
The farm of Col. Briggs, which according to my 
recollection is in the town of Galen, and which took 
the first premium in the east end of the county this 
year, is well worthy of attention: the owner was 
not at home, but we drove through the centre of 
the farm and saw many evidences of enterprise and 
skill. The fields are all large, none less than 5.0 
acres, and some I should think much more. This 
is excellent economy, to have the fields as large as 
is consistent with the size of the farm; it saves a 
great amount of money in fencing, and the work 
can be carried on more economically on a large 
scale, as there is a better scope for the introduction 
of machinery. This principle Col. Briggs evident¬ 
ly understands, as we saw that his wheat was all 
put in with the drill, and heard that he adopted all 
the modern inprovements in the way of implements 
and machinery, as eorn shellers, cultivators, reapers, 
&c. 
His farming is all on an extensive plan; we saw 
at least 150 acres of growing wheat, and his crops 
are said to be uniformly good. The land on this 
farm looks as if it was cultivated on an improving 
system. I had not means of ascertaining how 
much stock is kept, or what manures are applied, 
neither of inquiring as to the rotation followed. 
The stone walls which have been extensively built, 
are an innovation upon the old crooked fences which 
struck my eye very agreeably, and imparted an 
air of general neatness. I fear, however, that the 
stones are rather small for a permanent wall. This 
farm on the whole presents a pleasing example of 
industry and skill; having said so much in its praise, 
I may venture to suggest, that any previous re¬ 
marks as to weeds, apply here as well as in other 
cases; they were rather too abundant along the 
fences, and by the road side. 
I was sorry not to have an opportunity to visit 
the farm of Mr. Streeter, rn this part of the county; 
his show of stock at the fair was fine, and I heard 
of him on all sides as a most enterprising and suc¬ 
cessful farmer. The farm of Mr. Jos. Watson, 
President of the Society, has before been publicly 
described, and I wfll therefore only say that it will 
well repay a visit, being for general neatness and 
cleanliness from weeds, in advance of any farm that 
I saw in this section. The machinery in his barn is 
so ingeniously arranged, that it does a great amount 
of work with little trouble, and by the power of 
only two horses, moving with much ease to them¬ 
selves. Much of his work is done by one horse.- 
I was particularly pleased by the appearance of 
his clean corn-field, and by four acres of drained 
swamp, which was formerly impassible to animals. 
It is now by means of a few drains, firm and dry, 
and this year is under crop for the first time with 
broom corn. The growth is gigantic, much of it 
being fully 13 feet. Under this swamp lies a bed 
of marl, an analysis of which is now being made in 
my laboratory. Yours truly, John P. Norton. 
She fjovticulfnrat department 
Village Door Yards. 
It is often a cause of regret that so very few of 
our ornamental grounds approach in finish the high¬ 
ly kept English lawns. Henry Colman, speaking 
of the latter, says, “ Nothing of the kind can be 
more beautiful; and I never before knew the force 
of that striking expression of the prince of poets, 
Milton, of £ walking on the smooth shaven lawn f for 
it seems to be cut with a razor rather than with a 
scythe; and after a gentle shower, it really appears 
as if the field had had its face washed, and its hair 
combed with a fine tooth eomb.. rr 
The truth is, it is hardly desirable- to introduce 
into this country the expense of maintaining such 
high and costly finish to extensive artificial land¬ 
scapes-. But there is one place where it may very 
easily be done, with admirable effect and little cost; 
in the limited front grounds of the village or subur¬ 
ban dwelling. A half hour, spent every morning, 
before breakfast, by the proprietor himself, would 
keep the tenth or twentieth of an acre in the highest 
degree of neatness. 
At the present season, when many are about to 
lay out and plant their grounds, the accompanying 
plans may afford some useful suggestions. The 
first, (Fig. 1,) is intended to embrace about the 
seventh part of an acre, and to avoid the too fre¬ 
quent and stiff appearance of a straight walk di¬ 
rectly from the front gate to the door. It is chiefly 
grass lawn; the evergreen trees, near the outer 
part or boundary, are distinguished by being more 
darkly shaded ; and if desired, they may be made 
to shut out neighboring buildings or objects which 
ought to be concealed. In so small a space only 
shrubs or small trees can with propriety be intro¬ 
duced, the larger of which should be near the bound¬ 
ary. The Norway fir, the Balsam, the Hemlock 
and other species of the finest evergreens, which 
usually attain the hight of large trees, may be kept 
small by shortening in their branches; shearing- 
their surface makes them too stiff and formal. All 
evergreens and particularly the hemlock and arbor 
