sow our wheat dry and in dry weather, if possible; we never summer fallow, but keep our land in good order by manuring; our method is, usually, turn over sward, manure, plant corn or potatoes, sow one or two crops of wheat, seed for meadow, and let it remain for two or three years. Barley and oats, sow from 2 to 3 bushels per acre; sow from the 15th of April till 10th of May; plow once, harrow and cultivate thoroughly. If the land is well plowed in the fall, sow barley without plowing again; we raise as few oats as possible; think them unprofitable, as well as injurious to the land; harvest with cradle, and thrash with machine; produce oats per acre, 40 bushels; barley, 30. We usually plant corn on sward land, but last season planted after corn on low land, second year after breaking up; soil, black muck and marl with a clay sub-soil; planted from the 15th of May to the 4th of June; planted three feet apart each way, from 4 to 6 kernels to a hill, 12 to 16 quarts per acre. Varieties, 8 rowed yellow, early Canada, sweet corn, and pop corn; cultivation, as soon as up sufficiently, pass through the rows with a cultivator, both ways; in a few days pass through again both ways and follow with hoe; after a few days more plow it out both ways, and hoe again. Harvested 2nd week in September, by cutting it up close to the ground, and put in small bunches, and let it stand a few days; hauled it off, stack it again on a piece of plowed ground, and let it stand till dry; commenced husking about the 1st of October, put up the stalks in small round stacks for winter; produced per acre fifty bushels shelled corn. Our potatoes are planted nearly in the same manner as corn, planting as early as possible; we planted this year the 26th of April, on green sward, plowed ten inches deep, and thoroughly harrowed, marked both ways with a plow, and planted in the furrow at the rate of ten bushels per acre, and two pieces in a hill and covered with hoes; after cultivation, same as corn; produce 100 bushels per acre; varieties; white purple, mercers, early june, early pink eyed, long Johns. This season the blight struck the vines about the 10th of August, and the potatoes commenced rotting at a fearful rate; we gave them up for lost; but about the 6th of September, the rotting ceased, but the vines continued dying until they were entirely dead. The cause we could not tell, we commenced digging them the 19th of September, and no decayed roots were found, or very few; those that were decayed, were all dried up, and nothing but skins left; some hills were entirely gone, nothing but skins left to show what they once were; the purple Mercer's were nearly half gone, but the remainder were sound and continued so. We think the crop was lessened full one-third by the premature decay; we never have found any sure remedy; early planting and using lime, ashes and plaster in the hill, being the best preventive. Carrots soil, light chestnut loam; cultivate the ground early in the spring, so that the weeds may start, then plow deep and rake it smooth; sowed this year the 10th of May, in rows 14 inches apart, at the rate of four pounds of seed per acre; we mark our ground with a marker, making three rows at a time, sow with hand and cover with rake; as soon as they come up, hoe between the rows; in a few days hoe again and weed; in two weeks hoe again, weed and thin them from three to four inches in the rows, and keep them free from weeds the remainder of the season, and harvest the 1st of November; yield 728 bushels per acre. They were sown this year without manure, the ground was manured last season. Beets cultivated nearly in the same manner as carrots, produce 600 bushels per acre. Varieties: Mangle Wurtzel, White and Yellow sugar, Bassano, Long Blood, and Blood Turnip, raised on low land. Onions: variety, English Potatoe-cultivation, soil prepared by manuring, plowing, harrowing and raking; plow in beds 10 feet wide for convenience in tending; commence planting out as early as possible in the spring; plant in rows 14 inches wide, and 3 inches apart for small ones, and 6 inches for large; plant from 40 to 75 bushels per acre; begin to hoe when you can see the rows, and hoe them twice through and weed, then hoe again and weed, and the work is finished; commenced harvesting 9th of July and finished the 29th; produce 400 bushels per acre. Seeds; varieties, beets 6, lettuce 3, onions 2, squash 3, carrot and parsnip, and 2 varieties tomatoes. Soil prepared by manuring, plowing and harrowing thoroughly, then mark with a plow 4 feet apart; set out the roots with spade in the furrows, from 4 to 6 inches asunder; set out from the 15th of April to the 10th of May; work through them during the season with plow and cultivator and keep them clean from weeds; hoe three times and harvest as soon as ripe, which will be from the 1st of August till the 10th of September. Harvest different ways, but cut off close to the ground; expose it to the sun 3 or 4 days and pack it up under cover and let it sweat, then thrash it with hand flail and clean it with a common fanning mill; produce Beets from 800 to 1000 lbs per acre. Carrot and parsnip, cut off close to the head, make 3 or 4 cuttings, and dry under cover; produce, carrots 400, and parsnips 1000 lbs per acre. Lettuce, cut, dry, thrashed and cleaned with fanning mill, produce 200 lbs per acre. Onion, cut off the bolls, dry and thrash, clean with fanning mill, and sink in water so as to insure good seed. Squash, break open, take out the seed with a spoon, put them in a tub, and let them stand 2 or 3 days and ferment, then wash them out and dry in the sun; produce, 200 lbs per acre. Tomato, squeeze out the juice and seeds and work the same as with squash; produce 100 lbs per acre. 15. We prefer rotted manure for wheat and all root crops, at the rate of from twenty to forty loads per acre; onions and seeds requiring the greater quantity. We usually manure the previous crop to wheat and not manure the wheat; we apply it both spring and fall, prefer plowing under in the fall; apply it by spreading evenly over the ground, and plowing under the common depth, from seven to ten inches. For corn and other crops on low ground, we prefer long, unfermented manure, well covered with the plow. 16. Answered above. 17. Answered in No. 14 on potatoes. GRASS LANDS, &c., 18. We use timothy and clover; sow ten pounds clover, or eight quarts timothy and two pounds clover per acre; sow timothy with. wheat, and before the last harrowing, sow clover in April; seed mostly after wheat, sometimes after barley and oats. Red and white clover mixed with timothy, we consider the best for pasture: 19. We mowed this season nine and a half acres, usually twice that number, produce this year, two tons per acre. We cut timothy soon after the blossom begins to turn; make it one day and cock it over night, turn it out the next day, dry, and haul it to the barn. Clover is cut the last of June and the first of July, and made same as timothy The revolving horse rake is used to gather the hay; sometimes use a little salt on the mow.' 20. Some of our meadow lands are too low for raising wheat; these, soon as the grass begins to fail, we break up in the spring, manure and plant corn, then plow again in the fall, sow to oats or barley next spring, and seed for meadow. We consider it unprofitable to till low lands, they are more profitable in, and better adapted to grass; we never plow them unless it is necessary to make them produce well. 21. Have never practiced irrigating or watering meadows or other lands. 22. Have no bog or peat lands on the farm. 23. Have usually succeeded in eradicating weeds by thorough cultivation; knotgrass or orchard grass is the worst enemy, this will spring up, grow and seed, after the second time hoeing; the only way to get rid of it is by weeding, or seed the ground for meadow. DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 24. Have kept the past season five cows, four horses and one colt; they are of the native breed, good animals and in good condition. 25. Have not experimented with the different breeds of cattle or other animals. 26. We consider the best and cheapest mode of wintering our cattle is: 1st, house them nights and stormy days; 2d, keep them well littered with straw; 3d, feed on beets, carrots and turnips, and corn stalks as long as they last, and then feed hay. Feed cows half bushel roots per day, and let them run in the yard during the day, where there is a good well of water and plenty of straw in stack. Stock eat less and thrive better for keeping them warm, less food is required to keep up the animal heat, and consequently less food to keep them in thriving condition. Every farmer ought to calculate the quantity of stock that he can keep well and keep no more; nothing is lost by feeding well; we find roots to be good and cheap food for cattle and horses. Have raised this season, 600 bushels turnips, after onions, barley, potatoes and wheat; sowed the 6th and 7th of August, hoed once, and yielded 200 bushels per acre; cost about four cents per bushel; beets and carrots raised at a cost of six or seven cents per bushel. 27. Make butter for the family's use, sell some milk and some butter, but these are not counted in with the farm account; find it profitable to keep as little stock as possible, and turn the pasture lands to meadow and tillage. 28 & 29. No sheep are kept, being so near the city the dogs destroy the flock. 30. We kept six swine this year, of the Byfield and Leicestershire breed; feed them on slops from the house mixed with meal during the summer, let them have the run of the orchard till the apples begin to fall; then shut them up and feed them on meal and corn all they will eat clean; give them swill once a day for drink; slaughtered four pigs, nine months old, averaging 217 pounds each, and salted for family use; one aged, weighed 310 lbs., and one kept over for breeding; we think spring pigs the most profitable to fat, requiring very little to keep them in the forepart of the season, and no more the latter part; they will weigh nearly as much as hogs that have been wintered. 31. Feed no potatoes, have fattened some beef on turnips; think them more than equal to indian meal, in proportion to the gain of the beef and the cost of the meal; have feed some beets, and think them about equal to turnips for beef, and better for milk; to prevent the milk from tasting of turnips, cut off the tap root before you feed them; carrots are the best roots for beef or for milk; they do not give the greatest quantity, but its of good! |