Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1874-06-13
TO THE FARM Frs.

Mr.. II. NJ. Addison, the window fas-
tener man, who was among US last
week, gave us the following article for
publication, which will give our farmers
some sound and practical illustrations In
the cultivation of land, and especially
waste land, which can be turned to much
profit. He says -
AS practical illustration of this fact
I will give substantially the experience
of man that spent some days with,
in Indiana, about two years age, and
from him obtained the same in detail.
He rented an old county fair ground,
lust outside of the county seat, and
twenty miles from Indianapolis, his
principal market The lot was too
small for its original purpose, but was
held too high for any of the adjoining.
farmers to buy it, and was too tar out OF
the village for residences.
He rented it for so per acre, annu-
ally, for term Of ten years, with the
privilege of buying it at the END q Tue
term for 4 stipulated price -,
Immediately after renting 1T IN the
fail he ploughed it, then narrowed four
acres of it very thoroughly, and set 1t
with strawberry plants.
During the winter he hauled large
quantity of well rotted manure, and in
the spring set ont the other six acres
with curraut bushes, in rows six feet
apart. and four feet apart in the row.
He took care to get thrifty bushes, with
good roots having first dug places for
each, large enough to allow the roots
plenty ofroom, and mixed the manure
with the soil he filled in with. With
such care his plants and bushes all bore
the first year.
In the spring he planted the space
between his currant bushes with cucum-
hers, and the last time he hOed them he
sowed turnip seed on the ground, which
was all hoed over to cover the seed.
Soon after his vines commenced bearing,
and every day he gathered large guam
titles OF cucumbers of suitable size for
pickles, which he Immediately packed
in salt, and in proper time sold them
readily. The vines quit bearing and
dried up before the turnlps were large
enough to be injured by them or by
picking the cucumbers and the currants,
and the space between the currant
bushes, each way, gave both theturuips
and the currauts plenty of air and sun
shine, consequently the latter grew
large ana ripened early, and being ear
" in>market and OF good quality, readi-
" brought good price.
He hired boys and girls to pick his
currauts and strawberries blythe gallon,
al a very small cost, and sent them by
railroad TO retail dealers in the city, who
took them at the depot, they being put
in tiers OF trays in frame like bureau
drawers.
In the fall he had a fine lot of turnips
that also sold readily, making three
crops in one season on six acres Of his
ground, and as cucumbers and turnips
draw most Of their suStenance from the
atmosphere, they 10 not exhaust the
soil, and the cultivation requiring fire.
qUent stirring Of the surface Of the soil,
was advantageous rather than other
wise TO he currant bushes.
The first year he paid interest and all
expenses Of cultivation, picking and
marketing The second year his nett
receipts were over $500, aud the third
year 500 He thought that he would
considerably exceed that sum on an av-
erage IN each OF the remaining seven
years.
! can see no good reason why what
that man did on ten acres of ground,
twenty miles from Indianapolis, cannot
be done on many ten acre lots CT as
good, if not better land. But if not, an
approximation to it can be made that
will greatly exceed the present system,
and give this instance rather as a gen
cral Illustration than one TO be initiated
in every particular. 4 great variety OF
garden OF field vegetables could be rais-
ed in the same way, for which ready
market could be found in Washington
and Baltimore, at highly remuneratiye
prices, much of which could be kept and
sold at convenient> periods Of time.
There is no limit to the demand for
good winter apples, at paying prices,
and often the price is enormous, and if
trees are planted in wide distances
apart, most of the land may be devoted
to some other crops, if carefully cul;iva-
ted, without any disadvantage to the
trees, so that if the fruit should chance
to fail wholly or partially. the other
crop would make the land pay 4 profit.
With proper effort, farm of fifty
acres, anywhere within few hours ride
OF Washington and Baltimore, would
pay handsome profit, if devoted main
y to furnishing that market with fresh
butter, milk, eggs, and chickens, by
making previous arrangements with re-
sponsible dealers there to take the anti
Giles at convenient points on the rail
roads or at the depots in Washington
and Baltimore, thus saving the proGu-
Ger the time and expense of retailing
them.
If the lands in Jefferson County were
divided into sections of from ten to fifty
acres, and sufficient inducements Offered
to such men as occupy similar sections
around Philadelphia and New Yolk,
and furnish those markets with Their
productions, to locate here, even to Civ
ing every third section rent free for ten
years, with the privilege of buying it
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