The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1857-08-08
VOL. XVII---NO. 50.
a Story for American Farmers.

|
! The last number of the farmers Matt-
enc contains the following under the head
Oh Mr.. Bakewell's anecdo,c alias good
farming in a nutshell" The lesson incil-
Gated is one which so many American Farm.
ers would profit wonderfully by learnint,
that we transfer the article to our columns.
The far rfamcd Mr.. Bakewel. Of Disb,ev..
Leicestershire, the founder OF the new Lei.
cester sheep, and the man who lived a cen.
tury before his day, uscd 10 tell an anccdote
with exceedingly high gee as a farmer Of
the oiden school and golden times. This
farmer, who owned and occupied 900 acres
OF clay land, but poor in point Of money
had three daughters looking their father
very hard in the face for money. lie went
to Mr.. Bakewcll to know what to do for
them. Mr.. Bakewell told him 10 keep his
money and give each daughter come land;
and make it known that he would do SO. and
nc would very soon lessen his family at home.
lie then made it known that he would rive
his eldest daughter $50 acres of land. I
need not add that the lady had forthwith
plenty oil beaus to choose out Of; the fathers
house was haunted with young men, and
she soon got married, and the father gave
her the portion that he promised but no
money; and he found by little more speed
and better management the produce of his
farm increased. Three years after he made
it known that he would give his second
daughter $50 acres Of land, which drew
shoals Of beaus, and she soon got married,
and her father gave her her portion. He
then set to work, and began to grub up his
furze and fern, and plowed up some OF his
poor furze land-nay, and where the furze
covered in some closes nearly half the land.
After giving half his land away to two Of
his daughters, he found the produce Of his
farm increased; because his newly broken
up land brought him excessive crops. Az
the same time he farmed the whole Of his
land better, for he employed four times tho
labor upon it !; had no more dead fallows the
third year; instead Of which he grew two
green crops in one year, and ate them upon
the land. garden, Mr.. Bakewell told him.,
never required dead falow. lie no more
folded from poor grass close to better the
condition OF poor plowed one. But the
great advantage was, that he had got the
same money to manage 500 acres as he had
at first to manage 900 acres. Three years
after the second marriage, he made il known
that he would give his third and last daugh-
ter $50 acres of land. She had beau stood
in readiness, and three or four moro within
call, and she was married in week. She
thought it never too soon to do WELL and the
father portioned her off with land. lie then
began TO ask himself few questions, how
he was TO make as much Of $50 acres as he
had done Of 1000 acres. He found necessi-
ty was the mother of invention. lie then,
paid of his bailif, who weighed twenty
stone: he found that lie had been helping
the men to manage the master, instead Of
he q yps ~ 10 81
then rose with the lark in the long days..
and went to bed with the lamb. He cot
much more done for his money; for, instead
Of saying to his men $50, and do it," he
said, "tome, my boys, let US go and do it."
tie found great difference between "comev
and go" He made his servants, laborcrs~
and horses move iaster-he broke them from
their snail's pace: he found the eye of tho
master quckened the pace of the servant,
lie grubbed up every bit of furze on the
iarn, and converted great deal of corn into
meat. de preserved the black water, the
e'scuce - ;he manure, and conveyed il UPON
the land. lie cut down all his high hedges,
Strengthened his zigzag fences, cut his ser.
pcntine water-courses straight, and gained
much land by so doing: made dams and
siuices, and irrigated all the land he could.
Some OF his hedges and borders were cover
ed with bushes from ten to fourteen Yards
in width, and some Of his closes were no
wider than streets; and there he grubbed
up the hedges and borders, and threw several
little closes into one. He found that, instead
Of growing white-thorn hedges and haws. to-
feed foreign migratory birds in the winter,
ne ought to grow food for man. 81 sold
him longhorned bulls, and let him rams"
said Mr. akewol, "and told him the value
OF labor, and what ought to be performed by
a certain number Of men, worked oxen, or
horses, within a given time. l taught him
how to SOW less, and plow deeper and better,
and that there were limits and measures to
all things; but, above all, the husbandman
ought to be stronger than the farm. taught
him how to make hot land colder, and cold
land hotter; light land stiff, and stiff land
lighter. advised him to breed no inferior
cattle, sheep or horses, but the best Of each
kind, as the best consumed no more food
than the worst. Size has nothing to do with
profit. 1t is not what an animal makes, so
much as what it costs making"
Ny friend became new man in his old
age, and died rich, by Mr.. Bakewell's im-
proved management.