The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1855-04-25

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is fri on the land. A common manner
of raising it is to furnish the land to a
laborcr, and have the corn grown and
| put into stocks at cost to Mr.. s. of
eight cents the bushel One man will
tend field of 40 acres. We were shown
field of half secton-or 320 acrcs--.
which will now yield not much less than
so bushels per acre, bad as the season
has been. The half section. by the
way, is favori.e size for a field on this
farm.
Mr.. s. makes it a condition with all
who cultivate land for him, that no
weeds are to be tolerated. He will any
where on his farm get off his horse to
pull up weed ; and in his own words,
Z" a hat full of cookie burr or sour dock
could not be found on the premises"
In trath. the extent of his possessions
forms no occasion for slovenlincss OF cul-
ture. Ncator. cleaner lands cannot be
found in the State. The enclosures are
almost exclusively Of Virginia rail fence,
stakcd and ridercd, such as 10 civilized
bullock will think of attempting. The
"Hu"i Hido'icc VI S''u lii IutTh- Ill 'Hls
part Of this State is here followed. of
cutting up and putting in stock all the
corn. At this work. the sons of Mr. s
in striped ovoralls, were engaged on the
day of our visit. AS tho stocks are
wanted for feed, they are hauled into the
lot adjoining. aud fed upon the grass
stalks ears and all. Hogs either run
,,itl, tIa
them, and thus clean work is made of
feeding.
The question may arise. whore such a
rumber of steers can lie found as are
here annually fed and turned off This
is perhaps no difficult question to answer
now. for cattle are plenty at present in
Illinois and instead Of increasing his
business Mr.. S, owing to the slight
pressure Of years and infrmity, has
rather dee reased it of late. But wears
ago when the land was newer and the
country was wilder, the business of find.
ing and driving cattle was wilder, the
business of finding and driving cattle on
sucl "A scale was one Of enormous labor.
and furnished field for ihe genius of
such man as Mr. Strnwn. 1t was lis
custom TO scour all Southern and Cen
trail 1llonois, Missouri, and the settled
parts Of Iowa riding by day aud by
night, across pruirics and through tim
her by tho road or without road. as
the case might lie, in manner fairly
emitting the story Of it to the pages Of
romance Sleep was of no consequence
to him. To ride week, day and night,
without wink Of sleep, except wha, he
got upon his horse, was no uncommon
occurrence and this has been followed
for eight and nine days together more
than once as we have it from his own
story. When the country was pariicu.
larly wild and difficult, pilots were en-.
rloycd, and men were ready here and
there to heed the call Of Jacob Strawn.
at Whatever hour of the night he happen
Cd to make his appearance Yet he
would cross a new section of territory al
most as if by instinct the quick and ac-
curate apprehension of the features of
territory. which habit and keen obscrva
ton had given him, seldom left him atr
loss while there were daylight or stars.
Perhaps some may suppose :hat there
is no chance for art or skill in driving
cattle. If any have such a notion, a
trial or two with a drove Of wild bul.
locks would extract the conoeit MIR.
Strawn can drive any bullock anywhere
Wo to the wild steer breaking flom the
drove TO escape him. On his trained
horse, Mr. S. is along side of him. and
the youDgster feels tho whack of that
terrible cattle-wbip, fairly cracking
through all his interior in repeated
strokes, till lie roars with pain If this
does not suffice, the story is told us, that,
III his prime, he could ride along side
the animal. and, without dismounting,
seize him by horn with one hand, and
by tho nose with the other, and tumble
him upon his side before he could know
what made his head swim" How far
this is true we do not know, but have
reason to think it has been done OF
course, one or the other must give in"
aud so far it has always been the bull
lock.
A constant service of twenty or thirty
years of this kind, could not fail to de-
velop personal heroism, none tho less
real on account of it's peaceful ends.
For years together the beef market Of
St Louis was either supplied or control
led by Mr. Strawn Till his business
had reached s25, 900 per annum, he KEEP.
no books whatever, all his receipts, pay
menis, and balances being carried in his
head yet no man caught him in mis-
take nor could any man be found who
could at all cope with his rapidity of cal.
culation. He would rido through a
drove of hundred steers, weigh them
all in his mind, add the amounts togcth.
er, calculate their cost at the market
price, and, before the owner counted
their number, tho money would be ten,
dered "Will You take il ? if So here
it is if not, enough said !" aud Jacob
Strawn is somewhere else. Wo have
heard it said that he and two of bis three
older sons would almost infallibly de-
eide, by tho eye, the weight of any bul.
lock, or number of bullocks, within from
five to ten pounds each on ride through
them ; and that the difference would new
er pay the trouble of putting tho animals
upon the scales. All steers are known
to him. His eye once on horned an-
imal, and he knows him henceforth as a
man knows his brother. Ofall his 1000
cattle, each is an acquaintance, and his
proper pasture is remembered, and his
absence from it noted at once, eyen
a. Il =. l. I..t l..