Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1871-04-26
Good Farming in n Nutshell.

The iar.famcd Baxewell Of Dishley, Lei
ceister England the founder Of the Leiceiste
sheep, and the man who lived a century be
fore his day, used to tell an anecdote witt
exceeding high gce Of a farmer Of the olde
school and oldon times. This farmer VIII
owned and occupied one thousand acres o
clay land, but poor in point Of money, ha'
three daughters looking very hard in his fac
for money. He went to Blackwell to know
what to do for them Bakewell told him I,
keep his money aud give each daughter som'
land, and make it known that he would do so
and he would very soon lessen his family a
home. He then made it known that h,
would give his eldest daughter two hundred
and fifty acres OF land 1t need hardly b,
added that the lady had forthwith plenty o
beaux to choose from, the fathers house wa
haunted with young men, and she soon wa
married, and the father gave her the portion
he had promised, but no money; and h'
found by little more speed and better man
agement the produce Of his farm increased
Three years after be made it known that h,
he would give his second daughter two hun
bred and fifty acres Of land, which drew shoal
Of beaux, and she soon got married aud hei
father gave her her portion. lie then set t.
work, and began to grub his iurze and fern
and plowed up some Of his poor furze land
nay, and where the lurze covered in som,
places nearly half the land. After giving
half Of his land away to two of his daughters
he found the produce increased, because hi:
newly broken up lands brought him excessive
crops At the same time he farmed the
whole of his farm BETTER for he employed
four times the labor upon it, had no more
dead fallows the third year instead Of which
he grew two green crops in one year, and ate
them upon the land.
A garden, Blackwell told him, never re.
qnired a dead fallow. lie no more folded
from poor grass close to better the condition
Of poor ploughed one. But the great adj
vantage was that he had got the same money
to manage five hundred acres as he had to
manage one thousand acres. Three years
after the second marriage he made it known
that he would give his third and last daughter
two hundred and fifty acres Of land She
soon had beau in readiness, and three or
four more within call, and she was married
within week She thought it never too soon
to do well, and the father portioned her off
with land.
He then began to ask himself few ques-
tons, how he was to make as much off two
hundred and fifty acres of land as he had
done oil one thousand acres. He found ne.
cessity the mother Of invention. He then
paid off the bailih, who weighed twenty stone +;
he found that he had been helping the men to
manage the master, instead Of helping the
master to manage the men, He then rose
with the lark in the long days, aud went to
bed with the lamb. He got much more work
done for his money, for, instead Of saying to
the men, Go and do it," he said " Come,
my boys, let us 60 and do it," He found a
great difference between come and " 60"
lie made his servants, laborers and horses
move faster, he broke them from their snail's
pace be found the eye Of the master quick.
ened the pace Of the servant. He grubbed
up every bit of furze on the farm, and con-
yerted great deal of corn into meal. lie
preserved the black water, the essence of the
manure, and conveyed it upon the land. lie
cut down all Of his high hedges, Strengthened
his zigzag fences, cut his serpentine water
course straight, and gained much land by SC
doing made dams and sluices, and irrigated
all the land he could.
Some of his hedges and borders were GOV.
cred with bushes from ten to fourteen yards
in width, and some Of his closes were no wild
er than streets and then he grubbed up the
edges and borders and threw several little
closes into one. lie found that instead Of
growing white thorn hedges and haws, to feed
foreign migratory birds in winter, he ought tC
grow food for man.
" sold him long horned bulls" said Bake
well, "and told him the value Of labor, an,
what ought to be performed by certain mum
Der Of men, worked oxen or horses within
given time, taught him to SOW less, an,
plough deeper and better, and that there wer
limits and measures to all things; but, abov
all, the husbandman ought to be stronger thal
the farm. taught him how to make no
land colder, and cold land hotter light lam
stiff, and stiff land lighter. advised him +
breed no inferior cattle, or horses, but tn
best OF every kind, as the best consumed N
more food than the worst Size has nothn
to do with profit 1t is not what an anima
makes, 50 much as what it costs, making"
The farmer became a new man in his oil,
age, and died rich, by adopting BLACKWELL
improved management Erclalge.