On The Whole, I Was Pleased With The Farm, Which Was Certainly
Cheap At The Price Of 300 Pounds; And I Therefore At Once Closed The
Bargain With Mr. Q - -.
At that time I had not the slightest idea but that the farm actually
belonged to the land-jobber; and I am to this day unable to tell by
what means he succeeded in getting Mr. H - - to part with his
property.
The father of Joe H - - had cleared the farm, and while the soil was
new it gave good crops; but as the rich surface, or "black muck," as
it is called, became exhausted by continual cropping, nothing but a
poor, meagre soil remained.
The early settlers were wretched farmers; they never ploughed deep
enough, and never thought of manuring the land. After working the
land for several years, they would let it lie waste for three or
four years without sowing grass-seeds, and then plough it up again
for wheat. The greater part of the hay raised on these farms was
sold in the towns, and the cattle were fed during the long severe
winter on wheat-straw. The natural result of this poor nourishment
was, that their cattle continually degenerated, and great numbers
died every spring of a disease called the "hollow horn," which
appears to be peculiar to this country. When the lands became
sterile, from this exhausting treatment, they were called "worn-out
farms;" and the owners generally sold them to new settlers from the
old country, and with the money they received, bought a larger
quantity of wild lands, to provide for their sons; by whom the same
improvident process was recommenced.
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