1847. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
209 
have dug a cellar under the old part seven feet deep— 
dug a trench still deeper for drain under the wall, which 
is substantially built under the two sides and upper end 
of the old part, leaving the lower end immediately con¬ 
nected with the space or cellar under the new one, 
which is from six to ten feet deep,—without a single 
post to interfere with carting,—as the floor over it, 
with its contents, is supported by king posts. My cat¬ 
tle are watered under the new barn from a well. 
Young stock is fed at racks under the barn. The cattle 
are chiefly tied over the cellar of the old barn, and are 
kept abundantly littered with straw, &c. The manure 
is thrown into the cellar through a scuttle. John 
McGlauflin. Charlotte, Maine, March, 1847. 
Good Management. —Should some young and inex¬ 
perienced farmer, with small means to commence busi¬ 
ness, be benefitted by this brief sketch from my pen, my 
highest object will be attained. 
About ten years ago, I purchased fifty acres of land— 
forty improved, ten woodland—for which I paid $41 per 
acre. I had, by prudence and industry, laid up $500, 
which was all 1 was able to pay down. For the re¬ 
mainder I was in debt, and when I looked around on 
the old shattered buildings, and the rotten old fences, 
the prospect to a young, inexperienced farmer, just 
starting in life, vras somewhat discouraging. I was de¬ 
termined, however, to have some rules and regulations 
a,bout the matter. I soon became a reader of the Cul¬ 
tivator, from which I learned some very useful lessons 
and I determined I would stick to the old maxim— 
“A little farm well tilled.” 
For the first four years of the above ten, I hired one 
man for about seven months per year; for the last six 
years, one man from'eight and a half to nine months 
per year. This is all the help I have hired. One pair 
of horses has performed all my team work, and they 
have been fat winter and summer. 
I have raised all kinds of grain except winter wheat. 
I will not occupy room in giving my experience in re¬ 
gard to cultivating all these crops, but will briefly de¬ 
scribe an experiment I made in cultivating Indian corn. 
I selected a piece of ground containing seven-eights of 
an acre, cleared off all the stones, and spread on the sur¬ 
face 25 loads of coarse manure, which was turned under 
with the sward, about three inches deep. After plowing, 
I spread about twelve loads of pulverized manure on the 
surface. The strongest of this was night-soil, the next 
hog manure. I harrowed it thoroughly, and planted it 
to eight-rowed yellow corn—rows three feet apart each 
way; hoed it three times. Perhaps I ought to state 
that I planted every hill of this corn myself, about the 
6th of May. I was very particular in the work, so 
much so, that my hired man called me a “ book far¬ 
mer.” However, I was proud oi the name. In hoeing, 
I avoided the old fashioned way of hilling ten or twelve 
inches high, and kept the ground nearly level, well 
stirred and loosened. 
In harvesting my corn it was uli measured in a bushel 
basket, every basket making, if shelled, a plump half 
bushel. I had 152^ bushels of ears, equal to 76| bush, 
of shelled corn—or at the rate of 85| bushels per acre. 
The corn, at 68 cents per bushel, amounted to $51.85. 
The corn-fodder was worth $3, and the pumpkins 
grown on the lot $2,—making the whole produce of 
the seven-eighths of an acre, $56.85. The cost of cul¬ 
tivation was $16, leaving $40.85 clear profit. 
The following spring I plowed this piece of ground 
some two inches deeper than when it was plowed for 
corn, and sowed it to spring wheat, soaked in brine, and 
well rolled in lime. I had 22 bushels of the first quali¬ 
ty, worth $i.50 per bushel, and which afforded me a 
clear profit of $28. The same piece was seeded to clo¬ 
ver and timothy, and the third year from the time it 
was broken up, gave two tons of good hay, worth $8 
per ton. Calling the cost of cutting, &c., $4, the clear 
profit from the hay was $12. Thus, seven-eighths of an 
acre gave a clear profit in three years, of $80.85, or 
$90.95 per acre. 
I will give the product of ten cows for the last sea¬ 
son. I commenced with eleven, but one by accident 
was rendered unfit for the dairy, and was slaughtered. 
My cows are not yet arranged to my mind, yet I have 
five which I value at $50 each—the remainder not more 
than $30 each. Isold from the ten co\vs 4,087 lbs. 
of cheese, and 812 lbs. of butter. Our family consists 
of four to five persons the year round. We used 220 
lbs. cheese, and by estimation, 188 lbs. butter—making 
the whole quantity produced by the cows, 4,300 lbs. 
cheese, and 1000 lbs. butter. The cheese was sent to 
Boston, by a merchant of our town, and brought us 
over $6 per hundred. Our butter for the past ten years, 
has been sold mostly at New Lebanon Springs. As to 
quality, those who purchase it can answer for this. 
In my course of farming I have made no expendi¬ 
tures except such as I have been able to make from the 
produce of the farm. I have expended $3,400 for land, 
about $1,500 for buildings, to say nothing of increase 
of stock, farming implements, fences, blind ditches, 
under-drains, &c. H. Mattison. New Lebanon, May 
20, 1847. . 
Canada Thistle. —I will describe my mode of de¬ 
stroying the Canada thistle. It is one of the most 
troublesome plants that infest our soil, particularly in 
grain fields, where they must be worked with the hands 
of the laborer. We have resorted to various methods 
to destroy them, and have ascertained that by cutting 
them as close to the ground as we can with a scythe, 
in June, or while they are in fresh bloom, and the stalk 
hollow, will surely kill them. We sometimes have to 
cut them two successive years. I prefer cutting just 
before a rain, so that the water may get in the hollow 
of the stalk which will rot it. I will here state, for the 
benefit of the readers of the Cultivator, (for I calculate 
you are all farmers,) that I have had on my farm a 
great many Canada thistles, and when I have cut them 
as here stated, it has entirely destroyed them. I. W. 
Curry. So. Trenton, Oneida Co., 1847. 
Bog Land. —I have a large body of low land, as 
black as charcoal, mixed with white sand, and a 
rooty fibrous matter, resembling peat. In some places, 
there is so much of the latter article, that in very dry 
weather, if fire is put to it, it will burn to ashes. It 
looks immensely rich, and as if it ought to be very pro¬ 
ductive. Yet, however dry and well drained, it will 
produce nothing but sorrel, and that of the rankest 
growth I have ever seen. Indian corn grows very well 
upon it, and looks well until it is about two months old, 
and then, when about two feet high, turns yellow, burns 
up, and comes to nothing. Have you any such land in 
your region of country ? Do you know anything of its na¬ 
ture and character? Have the owners of it ever re¬ 
claimed it and made it productive, and by what means 
did they accomplish it? and why is it so unprofitable/* 
or can you inform me what to do with it ? A reply 
through the next number of the Cultivator will greatly 
oblige your subscriber, Jno. Cooks. JEtna P. O., 
Hanover Co., Va., March 17, 1847. 
[We are inclined to believe that the failure of crops 
above spoken of, is chiefly attributable to two causes, 
viz., the want of proper mineral elements in the soil 
and the ungenial nature of the peat with which the 
roots of the plants are brought in contact. It is often 
the case, in similar soils, that only a few inches of the 
top—that which is decomposed by the air—becomes 
suited to the growth of cultivated plants, while the re¬ 
mainder lies a sour and inert mass. Crops on such 
