THE CULTIVATOR. 
64 
©righted (Homnmnirations. 
!! In Agriculture, Experience is of great value— Theories of 
little, excepting as they are directly Reducible from actual ex¬ 
periments and well attested facts.” 
improvement of I^ands— : STsrds for Animals. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker— Having redeemed a 
portion of my farm from absolute sterility, and the re¬ 
mainder from a state of nature, and believing that a de¬ 
tail of my progress may not be uninteresting, I send the 
same for publication. When I purchased and took pos¬ 
session of this tract, which was in the spring of 1823, 
it contained 350 acres ; of which 175 were creek and 
branch bottoms, 80 were uninclosed galled old fields, and 
95 woods. The creek bottoms, amounting to 153 acres, 
were all that were fenced, and all that were believed to be 
worth fencing ; and these had been continually cropped 
with corn, rye, wheat, and oats, for about 80 years, so 
that they were completely exhausted ; many spots be¬ 
ing bare of vegetation through the year. The produce 
on the better portions was about fifteen bushels of corn 
to the acre, and of small grain about one-third of this. 
About half of those bottoms were stony and sandy ; 
the balance clay, mostly white and unctuous ; only one 
short ditch on the premises, consequently several brushy 
swamps ; and nearly the whole surcharged with per¬ 
simmon bushes and poverty briers. I wish it distinctly 
understood that there is neither fiction nor exaggeration 
in the above explication ; and to add still further to the 
gloomy prospect, I will state a few more facts ; the bot¬ 
toms were liable to damage by inundation ; there had 
never been a particle of grass seed sown on the premises, 
and the houses of every description were in a complete 
state of dilapidation. It will now be asked what could 
have induced me to purchase such an outcast property? 
To which I reply, that on examination I found the hills 
were a healthy clay, and that the bottoms were suscept¬ 
ible of a high degree of improvement, by ditches, ma¬ 
nures, and irrigation. My first effort at improvement 
was to cat a canal nearly a mile long, for the purpose 
of casting water, and with it mountain mold and mud, 
on my bottoms ; and this effort was crowned with suc¬ 
cess, for in one year a plot of twenty acres was made 
sufficiently rich to produce a heavy crop of tobacco. 
The canal enters near the head of my lands, and at the 
distance of half a mile a fall of 26 feet was obtained, 
where I erected a saw and grist mill; from which mills 
the water either passes off by a tail canal again to the 
creek, or continues around the hill as required. Thus 
I have two fields of about 40 acres each, which are ir¬ 
rigated when not under tillage, hut this is not oftener 
than one year in four. 
My next effort was to ditch my bottoms For the pur¬ 
pose of draining off superfluous water, which is very 
nearly completed. 
I now turned my hands to picking up stones, nearly 
every one of which have been piled, and about one- 
half removed when and where wanting. 
In the mean time I was not inattentive to the accu¬ 
mulation and spreading of my small stock of manures ; 
but more of this presently. 
My old fields were now fenced, and the gullies stop¬ 
ped, and galls cured. Finally, houses built, and lands 
purchased and cleared ; so that my tract now contains 
1500 acres, about 700 of which are enclosed, and about 
500 under a course of tillage. 
I will now speak of my manures and manner of es¬ 
timate. When I speak of a load let it be understood as 
one for a yoke of oxen. When a horse-cart is used, 
two loads are put together and counted as one ; each 
load from the yards of animals is counted as one ; a load 
of straw or damaged hay one ; saw dust and chips 
one ; scrapings about houses one ; compost mold and 
leaves one ; compost ashes and leaves one ; raw mold 
two for one ; ashes five bushels for one ; green vege¬ 
tables, plowed clown, estimated according to bur¬ 
then ; trees and shrubbery cut down to rot, accord¬ 
ing to burthen and length of lying ; drift cannot with 
any degree ofaccuracy be counted, nor are the telling of 
trees or the drift included in the underwritten table. My 
memorandum of manurings previous to the year 1829, 
has been lost, consequently I cannot give an official de¬ 
tail, but when it is remembered that I had no meadow, 
that my land was very poor, and when I further state 
that I found no manure on the premises, and that my 
animals were fed for the winter at my former residence, 
consequently I had no manuring for two y r ears, it must 
be admitted thatj had a most discouraging start. 
Year 
1859, 
Loads 
353 
Year 
1835, 
Loads 
90.8 
tt 
1S30, 
tt 
142 
tt 
1836, 
it 
891 
a 
1831, 
tt 
253 
tt 
1337, 
l t 
4110 
tt 
1832, 
It 
610 
t t 
1S3S, 
11 
626 
tt 
1833, 
tt 
407 
U 
1839, 
11 
660 
tt 
1834, 
tt 
638 
tt 
1840, 
tt 
2400 
tom of plowing down small portions of green crops for 
improvement, yet on examination I find that no esti¬ 
mate is made on this account, previous to 1840 ; and as 
a sample of my operations in general, I give the me¬ 
morandum verbatim for the above mentioned year. I 
count the year’s manuring from July, 1839, till July, 
1840. Turned down 20 acres oats, equal to 300 loads ; 
moved from cattle yards 503; from horse yard 177; from 
hog yards 228; compost leaves and ashes 14; compost to¬ 
bacco trash and ashes 20 ; compost ashes and salt about 
610 bushels, equal to 122 loads ; scrapings about houses 
and saw-dust 76 ; straw, damage 1 hay. out fee lings, &c. 
Sec. to make up tire balings. In addition to tue above 
I have accumulated some tens of thousands of loads of 
mold on my bottoms, and cut down the timber to lie till 
decayed on about 250 acres of land, that is, since com¬ 
mencement. 
This year my manurings will amount to about 280Q 
loads ; to move which, my carts have been in motion 
and will be continued at every opportunity till about 
the middle of April. Let it he understood, neverthe¬ 
less, that the actual carriage will not be this amount, 
but about 2200 loads. 
My bottoms will now produce from 40 to 120 bushels 
of corn to the acre, my hills from 20 to 40 bushels, and 
both yield small grain and grass in proportion. 
My horse yard is littered with leaves from the woods. 
My cattle yards are bottomed with mold from ditches, 
which ditches are expressly appropriated to this pur¬ 
pose ; then corn stalks, tops, husks and cobs, straw of 
small grain, and hay. 
My hog yards are littered with leaves, corn stalks, 
rotton wood, green weeds and grass, and at intervals 
with small portions of damaged straw or hay. 
My sheep have heretofore been fed at large, but the 
ewes and lambs are now cotted, from which source, 
however, I expect but little manure, as the yard is not 
littered, except with the offal of their feedings. 
I shall now be enabled to manure annually about 30 
acres of my best bottoms for corn, which with the aid 
of two or three drafts of creek water, applied to the 
growing crop, will ensure me a sufficiency of this grain: 
besides giving an annual dressing to my hog garden, 
also to portions of my meadows, and sections of high 
grounds. 
My stable and horse yard, cow yards, hog yards, and 
sheep cot and yard, are all contiguous. They are lo¬ 
cated near the center of the farm, the two first mention¬ 
ed having pure spring water already piped therein, and 
the two last intended to be shortly supplied. 
Believing that the economical arrangement of those 
domicils and yards are at least equal to any thing I 
have seen in your Cultivator or elsewhere, I send a 
drawing for publication. 
Cattle Yards, Pens, &c.—(Fig. 37.) 
No. 1 Is my stable and horse yard—2, 3 and 4, are 
cattle yards—5 is the sheep cot and yard—6 and 6 are 
apartments for boars—7 and 7 for sows and pigs—8 
and 8 for hogs—9 is the vegetable house—10 and 10 
the hog garden. The openings are gates and drawers ; 
the close parallel lines are passages and troughs, the 
dotted lines represent shelters ; there should be shelters 
also over the pens 6 and 7 ; and between the sheep yard 
and piggery a passage of 10 feet to a bottom field—11 
meadow below yards. 
The piggery is not yet complete, but will in a few days 
receive its tenants, who when incarcerated are intended 
to labor for their living, by compounding manures. 
The hogs iu one yard will be slaughtered about the 
middle of November, and in the other about the 
last of February ; at which times the yards will be 
cleared of manure, and retenanted with pigs. 
When required, the water from the mills now passes 
immediately above the sheep yard, thence on to the 
hog garden or meadow. The drainings from the larger 
cattle yard number four, also issues on to the meadow 
from the point marked 11 ; at which point I am now 
constructing a large wooden cistern for the purpose of 
retaining the urine when desired. The cistern will 
have a plank partition near the bottom of which many 
large auger holes will be bored, so that by this means 
a communication may be had. Into the upper apart¬ 
ment I intend to cast every animal which may die on 
and about the premises, adding a sufficiency of ashes 
and lime to produce a soapy matter, all of which can 
be flashed on to the meadow, by letting in the creek 
water ; or carted off when required. The upper apart¬ 
ment being elevated somewhat above the lower, the 
water will not flow from the surface, but pass through 
the auger holes, and thus the valuable contents of the 
pool will be stirred up and move off in order. 
My laborers amount to only eight. My cows (cat¬ 
tle) from 30 to 60 head, my sheep from 200 to 400, my 
hogs from 60 to 120, but when my permanent piggery 
goes into operation, it is intended to keep a uniform 
number, of about 132. My cattle are three-quarter 
and half Durhams and scrubs ; my sheep are Lincolns, 
Bakewells, crosses and scrubs ; my hogs are Berkshire, 
Bedford, Mackey, Barnitz and crosses. My grasses are 
herds, (red top) orchard, green sward, and white clo¬ 
ver, which are all indigenous ; also red clover. My 
cattle and sheep are mostly grazed about ten miles from 
my residence, on the big mountains, and brought home 
to winter ; and thus my improvement is enhanced. 
My operations are on a small scale when compared 
to many southern farmers and planters, but I believe 
but few of them go ahead of me when counting by the 
acre : indeed I begin to think that I may make a good 
farmer yet ’ere I die. But there is one great stum¬ 
bling block in my way, I am a grower of tobacco ; and 
this year intend to cultivate the weed on about 22 acres, 
which is more than usual for me. This crop I only 
cultivate on new lands, and there only because it pre¬ 
pares ground better for the grass seed which are intend¬ 
ed to be sown. 
Messrs. Editors, I am tired and I am satisfied so 
are you, consequently I will close, with this one re¬ 
quest—please send a few Yankee farmers amongst us, 
that we may learn economy. Z. DRUMMOND. 
Amherst Co. Va. Feb. 2, 1841. 
P. S. Continued rains having caused water to rise in 
the excavation for the cistern above mentioned, I have 
abandoned the determination of planking it the present 
year, and am now casting in leaves and damaged straw 
and hay, which is saturated with urine from the yard. 
Dead animals will also be cast in. The size of the 
cistern is 13 by 21 feet and when completed the depth 
will be 7 feet. Z. D. 
February 10. 
The Farmers’ Cottage House. 
Elevation and Front View—(Fig. 38.) 
A house in good taste and convenient, may be said 
to constitute the chief pride of many farmers, and in¬ 
deed many persons in the highest circles of society. Il¬ 
liberal persons are, however, prone to decry all those 
constructions which do not ordinarily enter within their 
own peculiar views, taste, and means. 
Modern buildings generally are more commodious 
and beautiful than those castles of former times. We 
do not hear so many execrations uttered against those 
dwellings which vary from the old mode ; where orna¬ 
ment, order, compactness, and good taste are display¬ 
ed. 
Therefore, if true, that the community are growing 
more liberal, they will pardon me if the following plan 
of a farmer’s cottage house, should not accord with all 
their system of building. 
As for size, compactness, and cost, this plan is adapt¬ 
ed to the medium class of farmers, which constitute the 
greatest portion of your subscribers. 
Fig. No. 38, displays the elevation and front view, 
looking towards the east ; the gable ends and the sides, 
may be either stone or brick to the first roof; in the re¬ 
presentation it is stone, with the chimneys of the same 
material. If the builder is disposed to make flat roofs, 
and cover them with tin, and set thereon a ballustrade, 
it would have a grand appearance. 
The ground floor should be two feet above the sur¬ 
face earth, and sixteen and a half feet from this floor to 
the main roof, and from said floor to the eaves of the 
wings eight and a half feet. 
Fig. No. 39, gives the dimensions and divisions of 
the ground plan 36 by 37| feet within the walls. The 
main building 16 by 36, and the wings 10| feet by 36. 
Ground Plan—(Fig. 39.) 
Explanations. —A. represents the dining-room, 10£ 
by 17 feet, with folding doors between this and the par¬ 
lor B. which is 16 by 17—C. library and sitting-room, 
lOf by 17, with a cupboard at the right hand of the fire 
place p. and folding doors between this and B. so that 
the three rooms may be opened into one when wanted 
—D. wash-room and arch, with an outside door for con¬ 
venience, and to ventilate the kitchen E. in warm wea¬ 
ther, which is 19 by 16, including the stairway o. for 
cellar and chambers, and not including 3 feet space ad¬ 
ded by the side of the wash-room and oven s. with glass 
lights over the parlor and wash-room doors, provided a 
wood shed should hide one of the windows near the 
