Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1871-02-03
Good Farming in a Nutshell,

Inc Iar-1amcd BakeWell, OF Dish
ley, Leicester, England, the founder
of the new Leicester sheep, and he
man who lived a century before his
day, used to tell an anecdote with
exceedingly high glee of a farmer
ofthe oldcn school and golden times.
This farmer, who owned and occu-
pied 1000 acres of clay land, but
poor in point of money, had three
daughters looking their father very
hard in the face for money. He
went to Blackwell to know what to
do for them. Blackwell told him to
keep his money and give each
daughter some land, and make it
known that he would do so, and he
would very soon lessen his family
at home. He then made it known
that he would give his eldest
daughter $50 acres of land. 1t need
hardly be added that the lady had
forthwith plenty of beaux to choose
from;--the fathers house was haunt
ed with young men, and she soon
was married, and tie father gave
her the portion that he had promis-
ed, but no money; and he found that
by little more speed and better
management the produce OF his
farm increased. Three years after
he made it known that he would
give his second daughter $50 acres
Of land, which drew shoals of beaux,
and she soon got married, and the
father gave her her portion. He
then set to work and began to grub
his furze and fern, and plowed up
some of his poor furze land-nay
aud where the i'urze covered in some
cases nearly half the land. After
giving half his land away to two Of
his daughters, he found the produce
of his farm increased, because his
newly broken up lands brought him
excessive crops. At the same time
he farmcd the whole Of his land bet
ter, 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.
4 garden, Blackwell told him,
never needed a dead fallow. He no
more folded from 4 poor grass close
to better the condition of a poor
plowed one. But the great advan-
tage was, that he had got the same
money to manage 500 acres as he
had to manage 1900 acres. Three
years after the second marriage, he
made it known that he would give
his third and last daughter 25o
acres of land. She soon had a beau
in readiness, and three or four more
within call, and she was married in
a week. She thought it never too
soon to do well, and the father por-
toned her off with land.
lie then began to ask himself
few questions, how he was to make
as much off Of $50 acres of land as
he had Off 200 acres. He found
necessity was the mother of inven-
ton. lie then paid off the bailiA.,
who wei ghcd twenty stone; he found
that he had been helping the men to
manage the master iEsteaG of help
ing the master to manage the men.
He then rose with the lark in the
long days, and went to bed with the
lamb. He got much more work
done for his money, for, instead Of
saying to his men, "Go and do it,
he said, "Come, my boys; let us go
and do it," He found a great differ
ence between come and "go."
He made his servants, laborers and
horses move fastcr-he broke them
from their snail's pace; he found
the eye Of the master quickcned the
pace of the servant. He grubbed
up every bit of furze on the farm,
and converted a great deal Of corn
into meat. He preserved the black
water, the essence of the manure,
and conveyed it upon the land. He
cut down all OF his high hedges,
Strengthened his zigzag fences, cut
his serpentine water courses straight
and gained much land by so doing;
made dams and sluices, and irri.at-
ed all the land he could.
Some of his hedges and borders
were covered with bushes from ten
to fourteen Yards in width, and some
of his closes were no wider than
streets; and there he grubbed up
the hedges and borders, and threw
several little closes into one. He
found that instead Of growing white
thorn hedges and haws, to feed for
eign migratory birds in winter, he |
ought to grow food for man.
II sold him long-horned bulls"
said Blackwell, "and told him the
value of labor, and what ought to be |
performed by a certain number Of
men, worked oxen or horses within
a given time. | taught him to SOW
less and plough deeper and better,
and that there were limits and meas
nres to all things; but, above all,
the husbandman ough to be strong
cr than the farm. | taught him how
t" make hot land cooler, and cold
land hotter; light land stiff, and stiff
land lighter | advised him to
breed no inferior cattle, sheep or
horses, but the best Of every kind,
as the best consumed no more than
the worst. Size has nothing to do
with profit. 1t is not what an ami
NAL makes so much, as what it costs
making.
The farmer became a new man in
his old age, and died rich, by adopt
ing Blakeweil's improved manage
ment.
J. II. Wallace furnishes the Cpu,s-
try Gentfemun with facts of some
interest, relative to breeding from
stations of various ages. These
show that celebrated horses have
been raised, that were by stations
from twenty to twenty-seven years
old. The writer concludes that the
question Of age is not SO important
as that Of condition.
For the Improvement OF pastures
the Oiin Finpunr recommends that
they be divided; one-half stocked