358 
THE CULTIVATOR 
Nov, 
he said, that field when I first came here was a swamp, 
covered with alders and bushes and briers of every de¬ 
scription. The first year I was on the place after work¬ 
ing my oxen one day till 12 o’clock, I turned them there, 
intending to use them again in the afternoon, but it was 
the last I saw of them that day; they got lost in the 
bushes, and when I found them it was too late to go to 
work with them. What Mr. C. said of that field, was 
true of pretty much all the farm—it was both wet and 
stony. To begin at the beginning and tell step by step 
the various plans and operations of Mr. Clift, would oc¬ 
cupy more space than I can claim in your columns ; suf¬ 
fice it to say that every part and portion of the farm, 
with the exception of about three acres which is yet to 
be reclaimed, and which is a fair specimen of what the 
rest was once, has been subdued and brought into a very 
perfect state of cultivation—indeed it is not too much to 
say that this farm is a model farm—everything about it 
speaks of permanence—whatever has been done has been 
well done. Here are no unsightly hedge rows to be 
seen, no scattered patches of bushes about the fields— 
no broken down fences—nothing at od^s and ends. It 
is no idle praise I utter whSn I say, that go where you 
will about the farm, you will find a place for everything, 
and everything in its place. But I must proceed to give 
something in detail as to Mr. Clift’s mode of operation. 
Manures. —When I reached Mr. C.’s farm, I found 
him busy with his men, in clearing out a pond made ori¬ 
ginally for furnishing ice for his use, but now used also 
for irrigating some 30 acres of laud; in fact the pond 
answers a three-fold purpose, for besides the two men¬ 
tioned, it furnishes an abundance of manure from the se¬ 
diment of the brook, which accumulates during the year. 
The quality of the manure is good; it is black, and rich 
looking,—fat and oily to the touch, and as the deposit 
is only of one year’s duration, is probably free from acid 
matter, and ready for immediate use. His pond has 
furnished him this season, 160 large loads of manure, 
which he thinks, for many purposes, fully equal to as 
many loads of barn-yard manure. Mr. Clift has the 
same idea of manure that the late Willis Gaylord had, 
namely, with manure you can do everythin g, without 
it nothing and he has always acted upon this. His 
object is to make and save manure in every possible way, 
and to apply it in such a manner as to do good. 
Plowing. —Mr. C. keeps about 20 acres under the 
plow; he always manures heavily and plows deep—he 
has never sub-soiled, although he thinks it might be done 
to advantage on his lands. His crops of corn are usual¬ 
ly from 60 to 70 shelled bushels to the acre. Oats about 
80 bushels. 
Chief Products of the Farm.— -Formerly, the farm 
of Mr. Clift was devoted to the keeping, raising, fatten¬ 
ing, &c., of sheep and cattle; but since the opening of 
the Harlem railroad to Dover, Mr. G. has changed from 
sheep and cattle, to cows. The farm is now what is call¬ 
ed a milk farm—50 cows are kept for furnishing milk, 
which is taken to Croton Falls, miles from the farm, 
and goes from thence to New-York, per railroad. The 
milk is contracted for in New-York, and sold at four cts. 
per quart—cream thirty one cents per quart. Mr. C. 
exhibited to me his book of sales for milk and cream, 
for 12 months; they amount to the sum of $3,600. 
Cows.-—His cows are selected with great care, and are 
all of them what is called the native breed. Mr. C. pre¬ 
fers them altogether for our climate and part of the 
country, and thinks them generally superior as milkers. 
He has an Ayrshire bull four years old, a truly fine ani¬ 
mal, which he intends crossing with some of his natives. 
He prefers the Ayrshires to theDurhams, as he consi¬ 
ders them tougher and hardier, and therefore better 
adapted to our mountainous region. 
Barns, Stables, &c.—Mr. Clift’s accommodations for 
stabling, &c., are ample. During the summer the cows 
are let to roam in luxuriant pastures, but as soon as the 
cold weather sets in they are provided with good stables, 
well arranged for convenience, and fed hay, stalks, and 
slop of some kind, made from buckwheat bran, rye 
bran, or corn and cob ground together. Mr. C. has but 
a poor opinion of turneps for milch cows, but thinks car¬ 
rots a valuable root for them. There are four barns 
upon the farm, two large and two small ones; the four 
are capable of holding 100 tons of hay. 
Hay. —The quantity of hay cut annually, is from 100 
to 150 tons. The time of cutting is when in full bloom. 
Timothy, red-top, &c., are always cocked the first day, 
and cured in two days, when the weather will permit. 
When the hay is stacked or put in the barn, Mr. C. uses 
about four quarts of coarse salt, and two quarts of lime, 
well mixed together, to about one ton of hay. The hay 
I saw certainly denoted care and attention in cutting and 
curing. It was green and bright, but still entirely free 
from anything like must. 
Fences. —These are entirely of stone—there is not on 
the whole farm 20 rods of rail fence. The size of the 
fields are from three to five acres. The walls are all large, 
most of them are full four feet bottom—some even 
more; they are all settled in the ground to avoid being 
thrown by the frost, and to insure their durability. 
Irrigation. —This is one of the leading features about 
Mr. C.’s farm. I have mentioned his pond which was 
originally constructed for ice—after it was done, a thought 
struck him that he might (if the altitude of the pond 
would permit) use the water to irrigate some of his 
meadows. To the eye it seemed a doubtful matter, 
(and here let me remark that the eye, even though a 
practiced one, much less an unpracticed one, should 
never be trusted in so important a matter, for the for¬ 
mation of the ground, intervening between two points, 
is often such as to deceive us, and make us think the 
water would be obliged to run up hill before it could ac¬ 
complish what we wish,) but a level having been obtain¬ 
ed, it was proved to the delight of Mr. C. that the plan 
was perfectly practicable. It was therefore immediately 
put into execution, and the result has been the water¬ 
ing of 30 acres of meadow, and the addition of some 
$300 to his annual income thereby. It is worthy of re¬ 
mark that much of the ground now watered was former¬ 
ly wet, so much so as to require under-draining; the 
drains now perform their good work and the land is dry, 
sufficiently so to make irrigation most valuable upon it. 
The plan pursued is as follows: below the flue are three 
main ditches going in different directions, and from them 
run smaller ones in such manner as to carry the water 
all over the fields. Mr. C. generally allows as much of 
the whole stream as is required for the purpose of ir- 
