The Hickman courier., 1868-05-23
AGarCuLruRAL.
Farming of Robert Bakewen.

Farming of Robert Bakewen
The celebrated Mr.. Robert Bakewell
Of pishly Liecestcrshire. and the founder
Of the New Liecestersliire sheep, useC
10 tell an anecdote With exceeding higt
gl-e. of farmer, not only of the older
school but Of the golden times.
This farmer, who owned and occupied
ore thousand acres of land, had thre,
daughters When his eldest daughter
,uarricd ne gave her one quarter OF his
land for her portion, but no money; and
he found by little more speed, and Q
little better management. the produce of
Lis farm did not decrease. When his
second daughter married, he gave her
enc third Of the remaining land, for her
portion but no money He then set to
work. aud began to grub up his furzc
and fern, and plow up what he called his
poor, dry, furze land, even when the
iurEe covered, in some places, nearly
half the land. After giving half his land
sway to two Of his daughters, to his
great surprise, he found that the pro-
auee iucreased-he made more money,
trcause his new broken-up fnrze land,
brought excessive crops, and at the same
time, he flrIned the whole of his land
better for he employed three times more
laborers upon it he rose two hours
sooner IN the morning; lie had no dead
i4llows once in three years, instead OF
,hich he got two green crops in one year,
nd ate them upon the land. a garden
neyer requires 4 dead tallow. But the
great advantage was, that he got the same
I4oney to manage FIVE hundred acres as
lie had TO manage the Que thousand acres.
> Thereforc he Laid out double the money
upon the land. When his third aud last
daughter married, he gave her two hum
lnaened, for her portion, and no money.
ile then found that he had the same
ls.ouey to farm one quarter of the land, as
lie had at first, 10 farm the whole.
He. (Mr Bakewell,) began to ask
Himself few questions, and set his wits
q, work hew he was to make as much of
40 acres, az he had done of one thou
and acres. He then paid Of his bailiff,
,sho weighed twenty stone, rose with the
lark, in the long days, and went to bed
with the lanb-he got as much more
work done for his money-he made his
servants, laLorers, and horses move fas
tcr-broke them from their snail's pace,
and found that the eye OF the master
saw the beginning aud ending Of every
thing aud 10 his servants and labore,s,
Instead of saying, $50 and do it, he
said to them, % Let us go, my boys, aud
do it." Between come and go, he found
a great difference. He grubbed up the !
whole Of his furze and ferns, and then
plowed the whole Of his poor grass land |
mp. and converted great deal Of corn /
into meat, for sake of the manure, and I
lie preserved his black water (ihe essence /
of mauurel cut his hedges down. which /
had not been plashed for forty or Fifty |
years; straitened his zig fences, cut his |
water courses straight and gained a !
deal of land by doing so; made dams and
sluices, aud irrigated all the land he
could; lie grubbed up many of his he'd !
ges and borders, covered with bushes, in /
some places from ten to fourteen yards |
in width, some more in his small closes, /
some not wider than streets; and threw !
three. four, FIVE. aud six closes into one.
lie found out that, instead of grow NJ |
whte-thorn hedges, and haws to feed I
foreign birds in the winter, he could /
grow food for man. instead of migratory /
birds. After all his improvements, lie |
grew mc>s aud made more off of two
Hundred and fifty acres. than he did from I
INC iEousand IA, the same time, lie found /
i hat halt Of England, At that lime was
s.ot cuitivgted for want of means to (
cultivate il with. / lent him rams, (
al -old him long horned bulls, said I
sir B.kewell, . aud told him the real
value of labor. both in doors and cut,
and v hat ought to be done with certain
number of men, oxen, and horses, within
Z given time l taught him 10 sow less,
aud plow better-that there were limits
and measures in all things-and that the
liusbandman ought to be stronger than
the farm | told him how to make hot
land colder, and cold land hotter, light
land sitter, and stiff land lighter |
soon caused him to shake off his old /
deep-rooted prejudices, and | grated /
rev ones in their places. told him not
to breed inferior cattle. sheep, nor horses,
hut the best of each kind. for the best |
no more than the worst. My /
friend became new Inau in his old age, I
, nd died agricultural Gazette.