The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1858-09-25
"a little farm well rf,led,,,

AhS ioio"ihS uCSctipeiou VI tuc WdI
agcmcnt Of the little farm-only seven
thousand acres--of Mr. Richard Gentry,
Of Pcttis County, Missouri, can not fail
to interest our agricultural friends. If
farms of seven hundred, or seventy, or
even seven acres, were as judiciously cul-
tivated, farming would be both pleasant
and profitable.
ave recently visited the farm of Mr..
Richard Gentry, Of Pettis County, Mis-.
souri,, aud as We have frequently seen
fattcring accounts of large farms in 9TH
er States, we have concluded to furnish
a description Of this farm to our readers,
in order to show that Missouri is not be-
hind her sister States in large farms or
good farming.
"The farm of Mr.. Gentry contains
seven thousand acres Of land, three thou
sand five hundred acres Of which are un-
der excellent fence, and in high state
of cultivation. 1t is divided chiefly in
to lots Of forty acres--making over thir-
| ty miles of fence on the farm. The fence
is mostly made of rails, with stakes and
riders, and kept up in the best condition.
There is, however, mile and quarter
of post and board fence on the farm. and
some two miles of Usage orange hedge,
which, however, has not been turned
yet.
"Thcre are on the farm sixty five large
gates, of the best construction, and about
the same number of draw bars. The
gates and bars are made in large car
penter shop, in rainy weather, when the
hands can be employed at nothing olse
All of the Implements arc put in re-
pair at such times, and many of the
! simpler ones manufactured. About two
thirds of the farm consist of Ligh, roll
ing prairie, of an excellent quality of
soil, and the other third is in timber,
Immediately adjoining the prairie.
"There are about fourteen hundred
acres of the farm set in blue grass, seven
hundred and Fifty acres in clover and
timothy meadow, three hundred and six
ty acres in corn, one hundred and sixty
in oats, twenty acres in Hungarian mil
let, and the balance of the farm under
fence is in woods and pasture.
There are On the farm twenty seven
large artificial ponds, many os them of
much depth, affording stock an abun-
dance of water at all seasons of the year.
During our visit three stone-masons were
employed in erecting large stone pillars
in various parts of the farm, at The out
let of streams, in which large water gates
were to be hung. SO that in case of freshets,
which are common in large prairies, the
gates could open by the action of the Wa
ter, and close when the water had pass.
ed, and prevent the fence from Being
washed, aud the escape OF stock from one
field to another.
One of the most striking features OBJ
servable is, that on this immense farm
not a single weed is to be seen. Even
the fence-corners, that common recepta-
Gle of all that is foul on most farms, are
as clean of weeds as any city lawn
What do farmers who have only two or
three hundred acres under cultivation,
say to this? Here are upward Of thirty
miles of fence without weed or brier
surrounding it, while many farms, with
only mile or two of fence, raise enough
of weeds to seed the whole neighborhood!
The whole farm is pattern of neatness.
The hands pass over every field as often
as it is necessary, and pull every burr,
bricr, aud weed that dare show itself
This has been done for many years, until
the weeds have been subducd
"Mr. Gentry has been a large sheep
grower. Some fifteen years age, finding
the market dull for horses and mules, he
concluded to try sheep.
He accordingly procured from Ken
tucky some four hundred head of the
best Saxon and Spanish merino ewes, as
the foundation for the future fock--
These he raised for a number of years,
increasing the size Of his flock until it
ranged for many years from two thousand
eight hundred to three thousand head.
He went to great expense in procuring
the best bucks, and, by judicious man
agement, obtained very superior focks
For the last four or five years he has been
crossing his focks with the French me-
rino, paying as high as $3.50 per head
for the bucks. He has some imported
bucks Of this breed now on his farm.
He thinks the French merino superior to
the Saxony or Spanish merino, as pos
sessing more constitution, greater weight
of wool, though not as fine qualify
though sufficiently SO to command as
high price in market. He has had the
very best success in raising sheep; his
hocks have never been affected with any
contagious disorder, and many Of the
diseases SO prevalent in the East have
been entirely unknown in his herd. -
He has recently reduced the size Of his
Aock to about one thousand head, for the
purpose of giving more attention to rails
ing mules. He is already quite extern
sively engaged in this business, but in
tends to give it more prominence hereaf-
ter.
"There are kept constantly employed
on the farm twelve grown hands and six
boys. Our readers may wonder how so
large farm can be SO well managed by
this small number of hands. 1t was .
wonder to US until we saw the perfect
system of Mr.. Gentry's plans. Every
thing moves like clock-work. There is q
time for everything, and everything must
be done in its time. There is no hurry
or furry--but everything moves along
| evenly and nniatly Each niece of work