Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1860-02-24

in employees, aud together with the Other
countless theories that have been practi-
Called, have made farming a great scien-
tifc trade, not to becarrted on any longer
by mere dint of brute force.
Among the many men in this region Of
country who have successfully set in train
many of the ideas and practices of George
Rapp, none have more nearly approached
success, or given higher pitch to the agFi-
cultural stains than has George W. Smith.
His farm is deservedIy called the Model
farm Of this part Of the country, and comes
nearer an embodiment of what is compre-
hended in the phrase ftcreature comforts, =
than any farm life that has ever yet come
under our observation. 1t illustrates on
sight the agricultural progressive idea that
we have been talking about, and is to-day
one of the most efficient incendiary mis-
sionaries in social reform thatwe know of.
The genius to plan, the cultivation and
liberality to expend, the philanthropy that
derives pleasure from thrifty dependents,
are visible at once and even from dis
lance, and from whatever point or hill-top
they are viewed bespeak in trumpet tones
the surprising excellence and beauty of
the great free labor system. Often and
often, whileth improvements now so fully
matured on this model farm, were in early
progress, have we felt -temptedas we
passed by, to-stop and turn. in and look:
infinitely into them. But as often as we
have thus cursorily and hurriedly viewed
them, we never enjoyed the pleasure of a
icisurely and specific examination until a
few days ago. And while thus engaged in
this pleasant relief from the cramped mo-
notonies of town life, we thoughtwe would
make note of what we saw for the pleas
.ure and interest of those who, like our
selves, seldom get beyond the boundaries
of brick and mortar walls.
We presume that most of our readers,
at least those in the immediate vicinity,
know the situation of this farm. 1t lays
to the North-eastward of the city, about
four miles, on the Wheeling aud Bethany
pike, about as far from the junction of
that pike with the National road, US the
junction is from here. The hill on which
it is situated is one of the very highest
of all the big hills of this country of hills,
the mile and quarter grade by which
you wind up, being very nearly, if not alto
gether, as PERCEPTIONS as that of the road
winding up back of Wheeling Seminary,
On cold winters day, or on day when
it is not so cold, but when the clay mud
has been loosened to the bottom, its
ascent is one of the completest checks to
the impetuosity of man in a hurry that
we know of. It is hard and q long pull
on all animals that work in gears for
livelihood, and, as the old saying goes, we
had much "rather be the prayer book than
the horse flesh" of the man who has much
going up and down this tremendous hill
to do. On the top of this hill, or rather
on the top of little offspring that shoots
still higher, is Mr.. Smiths farm. This
farm is one half of the eight hundred
Homestead farm of the late Samuel Sprigg:
DIR. j. @. Campbell owning the other and
lower half. Mr.. Smith bought it from DR..
Chabline, one of the heirs of the Sprigg
estate, and paid for his four hundred
acres, the round sum of thirty thousand
dollars. The farm, although wild in
comparison with what it is now, when he
bought it, was yet in a tolerable degree Of
cultivation and ornamentation. DR.. Chap
line, with his noted taste for amateur
farming, had lain the ground work for an
attractive homestead. BE had built, al
though not thoroughly finished, the larger
half of Mr. Smiths magnificent residence,
and it was, as we think, indicative of his
fine appreciation of the sublimity of the
surrounding country to locate it where
it stands, towering, as it does, like the
Acropolis at Athens "into commanding
view of the valleys and villas of a far
spreading country" Once you gain the
top of the first hill and stop over against
the Smith farm, your attention is diYi-
ded between the competing beauties Of
the surrounding country and those of the
manor grounds of the farm ITSELF Away
to the north of you are the rich farms of
the McCullOch family, and of tho Poghe's
and Martins, with their fine heartsome
residences dotting the green plats around
them. Nothing could be more beautiful
than the grand view to northward and
eastward of this eminence. Tho scenery
comes before the imagination like the
landscape of the "Delectable Mountains"
and .unconsctously spirits away the fancy in
to songs of those blue hills of. Judea that
"skirted thegardenof our God" BUTT is
not till you get up to the house that you
see the full beauties of the picture. There
your eyes can roam in every direction and
+aI.a In 4ho rrLoln surromna; r,or nnnntrr-