Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1881-07-29
Letter from New York.

JAMESTOWN, N. Y, July gath, 81.
Mr.. Editor In reading one of the Chata-
qua county papers the other day saw a
letter written by lady in Maryland a
former resident of Chataqua county, criti-
cising our Maryland farmers Now am n
true Marylander but without any prejudice
| must say the lady is mistaken; she doesn't
take into consideration the soil, but holds
the poor farmer responsible for the yield Of
his crops. Should our Maryland farmers
work their land as they do here in New
York they would have to make an assign
ment very suddenly. What would Mary
land farmer think of his neighbor planting
his corn three feet apart, covering it with II
hoe, putting from four to six grains in a
hill, never timing it and working it but
twice and that with five tooth cultivatOr /;
or planting potatoes with hoe, covering
them about three inches. Would he call
him n successful farmer? and yet land here
is such that even with this sort of farming
il yields good crops Their farms are most
ly small and well stocked. A man with II
fifty acre farm will have on it two or three
horses and about fifteen head of cattle AS
every one knows Western New York
is great dairying country. Every farmer
seems 10 turn his whole attention to it the
cow is first in his mind and the horse second /;
the COW gets hay while the horse consumes
the straw Speaking of hay, | never saw
such yield, and of the best quality, not a
weed to be seen. have been shown fields
Tor patches | should say that have been
moved for some ten or twelve years just
as good as ever; this on up land, not in
meadows, where they are enriched by over
flow; but this system Of farming will natu-
rally wear the land and then the farmers
must resort to the same phosphate that our
Maryland farmers do; but at this time they
know nothing of phosphate except what
they have read.
The wheat, which has just been harvested
the past week, will average about twenty
bushels per acre. The wheat they top-dress
in the fall with stable manure, as far as il
goes, and the balance goes begging. The
most amusing sight on the farm to stran-
ger is the fences not the hedge you see in
Delaware and Pennsylvania, but fence
made of stumps This section of Chataqua
county has been settled about sixty years
the timber is mostly white pine, beech and
maple The pine timber is heavy, the trees
are thick and from four TO six feet in diane
ter. This timber cut off they let stumps re-
main for fifteen or twenty years and pull
them with an immense machine. The pine
has no tap-root and Of course pulls easier
than other timber These stumps are hauled
on drags wherever they want II fence The
roots are cut off of one side and the stumps
laid on their side with the roots that arc
not cut off going heavenward, and as the
darkey says, "it makes bunkum fence,
which means, "horse-high, pig-tight and
bull-strong."
Now my impression is that if such farm
ers AS Hazel i Cashell, Lloyd Green or Mr.
Burr had such land to work upon they
would astonsh the Chataqua lady who is
soiourning with them, as well as themselves
in the proceeds of their farms, but perhaps
| am encroachiDg on your time, so | will
close this letter. w. IL.