1851 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
897 
Farm of D. D. T. More. 
This farm, which received the second premium of the 
New-York State Agricultural Society in 1850, is situated 
in the town of Watervliet, on the Albany and Mohawk 
Plank Road, two miles from Albany. It has been in 
Mr. More’s possession and occupancy for the last six 
years, and during that period has presented one of the 
most striking examples of successful and profitable im¬ 
provement that we have ever known. Previous to Mr. 
M.’s purchase, it had been for fifty years subjected to 
an exhausting course, under the leases of various tenants— 
the annual rent of the whole farm being but one hundred 
dollars, and that deemed too large a sum by the tenant-— 
as the whole amount of produce was only worth $100 to 
$500 a year. Mr. More, in fact, bought the place in 
opposition to the advice of all his friends, who deemed 
it impossible that the land could afford him and his 
family “ a living.” But notwithstanding the soil was so 
much reduced, that, in Mr M.’s language, almost the 
only crop he could raise at first was white beans, his 
clear judgment and practical knowledge of agriculture in¬ 
duced him to make the purchase, at $60 per acre, and 
the result has more than realized his anticipations. The 
benefit of his good management has been of no small 
value in the promotion of improvement in his neighbor¬ 
hood. His “good works” have stinulated others to 
“ do likewise,” and much of the land adjoining his, and 
which, at the commencement of his operations, was in a 
similar condition, has advanced in price more than 100 
per cent., and is made to yield a bountiful return for 
good cultivation. 
Mr. More has accomplished his results under many 
disadvantages. For a large portion of the time since he 
began, he has been in feeble health, and has been only 
able to exercise a general supervision of his affairs, with¬ 
out attempting bodily labor, but his constant vigilance 
and care has well verified the maxim, that “ the eye of 
the master will do more work than his hands.” Neither 
has he derived any benefit from the labor of his family. 
In his statement to the Society, he says—“My family 
consists of wife and five children, the oldest but fourteen 
years old, so that my children have been of little as¬ 
sistance to me—the balance of account being decidedly 
against them.” 
When Mr. More took possession of his farm, all the 
buildings on it were reckoned as not worth more than 
$100, and “the fences had all rotted down, or become 
nearly worthless.” He sold the dwelling for $50, to be 
taken away, and the barn he pulled down. All the 
buildings and fences now on the premises have been put 
up by him. In making the purchase he says—“ I paid 
all the money I had, or could raise, which left me more 
to pay as interest than the former occupant paid as rent. 
But notwithstanding I have since put up my buildings, 
fences, and all other improvements, I have paid the 
interest, and reduced the principal, besides this year’s 
(1850) profits.” 
We take from the Transactions of theN. Y. State Ag. 
Society for 1850, the following, from Mr. More’s answers 
to questions propounded to the competitors for the pre¬ 
miums on farms: 
1. My farm consists of one hundred and eighty-five and 
a half acres of land. No waste or woodland. 
2. Soil, a sandy loam; subsoil, principally a coarse 
sand; am not aware of any limestone existing on the 
farm; no stones worth mentioning. 
3. I found the best mode of improving my land was 
by plowing under clover; the growth of the clover was 
much aided by a liberal application of plaster, say 250 
lbs. per acre. 
4. My experience is decidedly in favor of deep plow¬ 
ing—not less than eight inches, and often deeper. 
7. Yellow and white pine, white and black oak, scat¬ 
tering hickory, poplar and sassafras trees, were the 
principal trees originally. Sorrel and couch grass were 
the principal weeds. 
8 . I find from my experience I derive the most benefit 
by applying manure as a top-dressing.* I use much of 
my manure on my rye crop, in the following manner: 
After the grain is harrowed in, 1 apply from twenty to 
twenty-five loads of ihanure, (double loads, say thirty 
bushels each,) spread evenly over the surface. I have 
never failed to get a good crop of rye. The grass seed 
is»sure to take, and the growth is much aided by the 
manure; the clover being plowed in, leaves my land in 
excellent'condition for a crop of corn. I manage my 
manure by heaping in the yard, turning it, and keeping 
it covered with earth, to prevent as much as possible the 
escape of the gases. I have no cellars for manure under 
my barn, but have cisterns for collecting the urine. 
9. My means of making manure are from the keeping 
of about thirty head of cattle, and from four to six 
horses, and mixing in various ways, all the straw that my 
farm produces. I make in this way about three hundred 
loads of manure, and usually buy as much more. 
10 . I prefer to have my manure pretty well rotted. 
My usual mode of applying manure has been as follows: 
Plow under clover, plant corn, follow with potatoes, and 
then rye, with a top-dressing of manure, not so much 
for the benefit of the rye as for the clover, and future 
crops. I am satisfied that my land has improved rapid¬ 
ly from this mode, in fact at such a rate that I shall not 
be able to follow it, so far as the rye crop is concerned. 
11 . lam not aware of any way of increasing manure 
cheaper than by purchasing it, being so near to Albany, 
where it can be bought from twelve to thirty-seven 
cents per load. 
12. I have used lime, guano, and plaster. Lime I 
have applied to a considerable extent, usually as a top¬ 
dressing. Have used plaster, principally upon clover, 
with much benefit. Guano I consider too dear for com¬ 
mon use. Stable manure and lime I consider the cheap¬ 
est, considering their effects. 
13. I tilled this year one hundred and forty-four acres, 
as follows: ten acres of wheat, thirty-five acres of rye, 
twenty-seven acres of corn, thirty-five acres of buckwheat, 
twenty acres of potatoes, twelve acres of broom corn, 
one acre of sowed corn, two acres of melons, fifty rods 
of asparagus, and one and one-half acres of strawber¬ 
ries. 
14. I have cultivated wheat more as an experiment than 
anything else, as for the last few years it has been almost 
a total failure in this section of the country. My man¬ 
ner was as follows: I sowed after potatoes, spring wheat 
of the Black Sea variety, about the 15th of April; har¬ 
vested about the 4th of August, at the rate of six and 
a-half bushels per acre. In the cultivation of my rye 
crop, I sowed part of it after potatoes, and a part on a 
clover lay; sowed the last week in August and the first 
week in September, one a half bushels to the acre; har¬ 
vested about the 15’th of July; product seventeen and a 
half bushels per acre. The crop was much injured by a 
hail storm in the latter part of June, to the extent I 
* In reference to Mr. More’s mode of applying manure, it should 
be remembered that he plows “ not less than eight inches deep, and 
often deeper.” Therefore in choosing between plowing in manure 
to this depth, or top-dressing, the latter is, perhaps, preferable, es¬ 
pecially when, as in this case, the main object is to promote the 
growth of clover. Still, we cannot but regard it as probable, that if 
the manure was fairly covered with earth, say to the depth of two tc 
four inches, its effects would be greater in the end than if it was left 
entirely on the surface. Eds. 
