Urbana union. [volume] (Urbana, Ohio) 1862-1872, 1866-01-03
The Largest Farm in the wOrld-The sullivant
Plantation in Champaign COanty, Illinois,

To the Editors of the Cincinnati Enquirer: -
LARGE FAR&." Under this caption OBJ
serse anotiee in your last Saturdays issue,
Of an 5000 acre tarm in Bureau county, H.
and of Mr.. J. s. Alexander's farm IN Morgan
county. Illinois, both Of which viii pass for
fair-sized Illinois farms. But the farm, which
is no doubt the largest cultivated farm in the
world. aud l believe the best, is owned and
cultivated by NJ. L. sulliyant, Esq, formerly
from the vicinity Of Columbus, Ohio now Of
Champaign county, ILL., He owns and pre-
sides over seventy thousand acres Of the best
land on this hemisphere, twenty-three thous-
and { % O0O) acres of which are under fence,
and in actual Improvement and cultivation;
| the balance is used for herding. A large por-
| ton of Mr.. Alexandtr's immense herds OF
cattle, to which your Saturdays issue refers,
were pastured on portion of these lands
| last season. I will venture the opinion that
there can not be found Eve acres Of unserv-
iceable land on Mr.. SIS entire 10000 acres.
| Their productiveneSs is unsurpassed. Almost
! all Mr. SIS farming is conducted by labor
saving machinery, so that tits estimated that,
throughout, one man viii perform the aver
age labor of four or i've, as conducted on
small farms. He drives his posts by horse
power: breaks his ground by ComStocks s
!. spaders:" mows, rakes, loads, unloads and
stacks his hay by horsepower; cultlvates his
corn bv improved machinery; sows and
plants by machinery; so that all his laborers
can ride, and perform their task as easily as
riding in a buggy.
I had the pleasure of being present when
he harvested a thousand acres Of his wheat
this was done with -'s HeadeF's'-
about eight or ten men and twenty horses cut
and safely stacked away about two hundred
acres a dav. and performed the work better
tban,I ever saw it by the old modes. To
Give all the improved modes OF farming en-
ployed by this king of agriculture, would re re-
ouire more space than you would IKE te
spare. Notwithstanding all this labor saw
inr machinery, Mrs. S. employs from one tc
two hundred -laborets, some two hundred
horses and mules, and large herd Of work
Not having the exact data before me, ] vii
not.ventnre, to give the enormous returns, il
bushels or tons, Of the products OF this greaf
farm. Some estimate may be made from Ih'
MAGNITUDE of the farm taken in. connection
with the fact that the quality of the soil Il
uneoualed by the very best Scioto bottoms
Mr.. Sulliyauts annual profits are becominG
enormous, and put to shame the ott-repeate'
nonsense Of agricultural newspapers a6pou
the economy Of " small farms, =" which hat
its origin with English landlords. who wist
to keep the small farmer with his nose upor
an eternal grindStUne Time will soon cleal
. away this error, and farming Except tor gar
den vegetables viii be ruinousunless upon
scale large enough to employ modern sgTTi
cultural machinery to advantage, To th'
bonndiess hospitality Of Mr.. s. and his esti
mabie family, hundreds of your citizens
among them your Mayor and other officials
as well as private, will bear testimony.
-" = -.r CoLUMBUs.