Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1858-10-30
A VISIT TO A NEW YORK FARM.
From Horace Greeey's Letter to the New York Tribune
TFROy Gcnpspp Co Sent 1873

A VISIT TO A NEW YORK FARM.
From Horace Greeley's Letter to the New York Tribune
LEROY, Genesee Co., Sept. 4, 1858.
yesterday gratifed a wish, long entertained.
by visiting the farm of Maj. A. b. DICKINSON,
in the township of Hornby, Steuben County
The ride thithcr, eight miles from the Erie Rail-
road at Corning, lies through q region well cal
culatcd to set off to advantage any good farming
that may be discovered at the end OF the route,
having been dcspoiled Of its natural beauty and
grace by the lumberman, and not yet recreated
by the husbandman-ar region of ragged forests,
scanty crops and thinly scattered habitations, so
i'll adapted to human comfort that one could
hardly wish there were more of them. unless
they were better. The road is such as this style
OF country produces only at intervals and with
difficulty admitting Of the passage of one wagon
by another. Winding upward through a wide
rayine you come at lastto the ample farm-some
eight hundred acres in area-which Maj Dick
inson has hewed out of the primitive wilderness,
while several other FARMS surrounding this and
adjacent to it, belong to the same owner and
are mainly cultivated under his direction. |
spent some five hours-part of them rainy ones
in traversing this "home farm" and cleaning
what could of information and direction for
the guidance of younger or less successful farm
SiN nun -huJs l'lChlllSOn explanations ana an
swers. Discarding the order Of time, can best
condense this information for use by bringing
it under heads of Soil, Drainage, Irrigation Til
lage, Crops, &C.. as shall now proceed to do
|. SoH-This is mainlya clay loan, of good
medium quality, like that which prevails through
the greater portion of Chautauque and other ex-
cellent grazing counties of our State. The tim
ber-mainly Beech, Maple, Hemlock, &c.-was
cleared off from ten to thirty years ago. 1t lies
some six to eight hundred feet above the sur
face Of the tributary of the Susquehanna at Corn
ing to which its waters descend, and is not
overlooked by any land in its vicinity. For the
most part, 1t slopes moderately to the creek beds
by which it is intersected. There is an abund-
ance of naturally quite as good land in our
State yet covered by the primitive forest and
for sale at So to $40 per acre.
III. Drdining.-I believe there is not rod
of tile laid on this farm, and not a dozen rods
of covered stone drain. But the Major has
homemade, or at least home-devised, "bull-
plow,' consisting Of sharp pointed iron wedge
or roller, surmounted by broad, sharp shank
nearly four feet high, with still sharper cutter
III 'front.' and with beam and handles above ALL
with hve yoke of oxen attached this plow is
put down through the soil and subsol to an
average depth of three feet, in the course which
the supertluous water is expected and desired
TO take; and the field thus nlowed through and
through at intervals OF two rods down to three
feet, as the ground is more or less sprngy and
saturated with water. The cut made by the
shank closes after the plow and is soon obliterat-
cd, while that made by the roller or wedge at
the bottom becomes the camel of stream of
water whenever there is any excess of moisture
above its level which stream tends to clear it.
self and rather enlarge its channel. From ten
to twenty acres per day are thus drained, and
Major ID. has such drains Of fifteen to twenty
years standing, which still do good service. In
rock soils, this mode of draining is impractical
blei in sandy tracts it would not endure but
heret does very well, and, even though it should
hold good in the average but ten years, it would
many times repay its cost.
Ill Hrigdtion.-Hills like Maj. DIS are apt
to have springs near their SUBMITS, and his land
has many His mode of draining adds consid-
erably, III effect, to their number. The water
flowing from several of these is restrained by
dams, forming shallow reservoirs, which are
plowed from time to time when empty, SO as to
render their contents muddy when they shall
next be filled; if geese and ducks resort to them
so much the better. The water thus enriched,
and warmed by the heat of the Summer sun, is
conducted by open bitches, roadside and other,
over many adjacent acres. with resulting in
crease of fertility marvellous to- behold. Hard,
white clay is thus transformed into black mold
or muck in the course of few years, producing
most luxuriant harvests, especially of grass. 1t
is quite within bounds to estimate the increased
yield of Hay because of irrigation at one tun
per acre annually, worth at least SO ;.while the
original cost of irrigating is often less than that
sum.
~. Products.-Grass, Hay and Beef are of
course the stapleproducts of such farm. More
than two hundred acres of this 'home farm" are
annually moved, yielding from two to four tuns
per acre, and averaging from 1-2 to 8 tuns-
A single stack near the principal barn contains
one hundred and twenty loads, estimated at
eighty to one hundred tuns. Wheat and Indian
Corn are grown to but moderate extent; of
the latter, one piece, planted June 10 (the in
cessant rains of the last Spring forbade an ear
of sheled Corn, with twenty wagon-loads of
Pumpkins, per acre; another piece is but fair.
OF Buckwheat, many acres afe growing it is a.
good crop, and no more. Turnips, the grass
hoppers have taken care of. (It has been dry
here for some weeks previous to to-day, and
these cormorants are very abundant) OF Peas,
there is large and thrifty field, sowed late, and
just beginning to blossom. Should frost hold
off till October, the yield must be large, and, if
sent green to New York, they would probably
pay well. The Kitchen Garden shows great
er abundance of Beets, Carrots, Parsuips, On
ions, &c. than | ever before saw on so small an
area. The Grapes are equally luxnriant.
But the pride Of the farm is its display of the
Potato. Eighty-fiye acres are covered with the
Irish staple, whereof some thirty acres were
planted early and are now nearly if not fully
ripe, while the residue wereput in from the mid
die to the last of June, and are now Just COM
ing into blossom. No where in America, hard
ly in Ireland itself, were such fields of Potatoes