Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1862-07-11
WOMEN FARMERS.

Tho following letter from H. G. Wright
was read at q recent meeting of the Farmers
Club, Now York. 1t bears date Pekin, Nj
agara county, N. Y, May Goth, 1862. Mr..
Wright says: ~FI
II am in the family of Marvin and Palma
Roberts, farmers, with three hundred and
fifty acres of land. as good as any in the
State. There are children daughters
and son-the latter nine years Old They
have been on this farm two years. The fail
ure Of their wheat crop the past year-they
having sowed 100 acres, and only 20 being
worth harvesting-has been a great hind
rance to their progress in surrounding them
selves with the beautiful and Ornamental
Their spring work was begun on the 18th Of
April; since which time, four of the daugh-
tiers, aged respectively 10, Is, 10, and II, as
sisted by niece aged II, and by their moth
err, have accomplished the following labor, i.
e., plowcd Is acres, dragged 100 acres 3
times, soweC broadcast 100 and rolled 100.
More blowing has been done, but the above
amount of labor has been done exclusively
by the mother and the 5 young daughters
They now have growing 45 acres of wheat.
Is of winter, and 30 of spring; so acres of
oats; 80 acres of flax; and are to put in / 0
nm acre Of onions, and ten acres of potatoes.
To-day saw one of the daughters pillow.
ing, aged ID, holding the pillow and driving
her own team. During the day, she plowcd
one acre and half the usual labor of a day
in blowing. Last Saturday, ] saw two of
the girls, one aged II, the other Is, SOW.
ing wheat broadcast, and their sowing was
done as well as any one would do it, / saw
another, aged 3 draggin9, and another, aged
10, rolling, and another piling and burning
brush with her father. These daughters
have the care of their own teams. One Of
them, who is II, is detailed to do the house
work this season. She is as good at pow-
ing, sowing, dragging and rolling as any
of them. The house-work is considered by
them the hardest and most difficult to per-
form. They all prefer the outdoor farm
work. l~e
During the two years they have been on
this farm, they have laborcd mainly to get
the land in a state to raise good crops
They have succeeded. They spent s 400
the past year in draining. This work has
been done by men. Daring the two years
over so acres have been cleared of bushes
stumps, and roots, and this has been done
mainly by the mother and daughters, .....
hc" Sl'Sdh W lllc RESULTS Oh
this effort of a woman to train her daughters
to be practical farmers, as to their physi-
cal, intellectual, or moral deyelopment-
These speak for themselves. No one who
knows the family, and the facts connected
with their efforts to point out the way to
woman to an Independent, honest, and hon
orable subsistence, can have any msgivings
IS to what those results will be. They will
be good, and only good. Already the ex-
ample Of this mother and daughters most
benetieially affect the region around them,
Women are becoming practical gardeners
They will soon become practical farmers
and blowing, dragging, sowing, rolling,
planning, hoeing and harvesting will be-
come the pleasant, healthful and remlne
rative occupation Of woman as well as Of
men, ...t
know OF no movement more suspicious
ofsgood to the future Of woman, than this
effort OF Palma Roberts and her Young
daughters. Their effort is above all praise,
and deserves and will receive the hearty
approval Of all who truly seek to elevate
the race by Improving the health and cleva
ting and ennobling the character of woman.
Woman must engage in outdoor labor. or
the health and character of man must decen.
crate. As is the health of woman, so must
be the destiny of man.
FLAX CoTToS.-Mrs. Roberts and her
daughters, as above stated, have put in 80
acres OF flax. They expect ton and half
per acre. There is an establishment in Lock.
port, 20 miles from their farm by railway,
to convert Hax into cotton. The Company
offers them So per ton in advance for all the
flax they can raise, and they are offered 81
per bushel for the seed If the company ia
Lockport succeed in their effort to cottonize
fax, as it is believed they will, untold guam
titles of flax will be produced in this region
II is pretty sure crop. seldom failing as
docs wheat. SIS @
Tue DAUGHTERS OF FARMERS What can
they do to aid their familes-carn their liv-
ing by honest and honorable labor? The
question is receiving apractical. answer in
the course pursued by Palma Roberts ir.re-
gard to her daughters. 1t Is worth long