Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1872-12-25
Mr.. Grccley's Farm.

So much has been said both in praise aud
ia disparagcmont Of Mr. Grcoley's farming, |
that we think the following apparently fair
statement by the editor Of the Rochester, |
n. Y, american Rural Home will be read
with interest. Mr.. Garrotsee has visited |
and described over thirty New York farms,
and these descriptions have no doubt added |
much to the popularity oil his paper. The
article is headed Farmer at Home No.
2j,0 and was published in October.
The buildings on the farm were all cree
ted 10y Mr.. Greeley The Grsl, called the
CO. Old Homestead" stands on the side OF
the bill cast Of, and some 200 feet higher
than the reclaimed marsh which it over
looks This location was chosen mainly or
entirely on account Of fine spring Of wa
ter, little south Of it. and some forty feet
lower in the steep side Of deep ravine.
A difficult path down this steep bark has
until recently been the only way Of reach
ing the spring. Mr.. Greeley told US he
had climbed that steep path with a pail Of
water many q dark aud rainy night, but it
was getting little too much like work as
he grew older, and he had caused a wooden
staircase to be built.
The house has not been occupied by the
family for number Of years. the trees
for it stands in forest grove, having
grown so as to completely oyershadow the
house, making it damp and unhealthy
This was the cause, he said, Of his wife
contracting bronchial disease, (which is
sure to carry her oif There's no help for
her. She has got to GO He says he
tried to persuade her to let him cut away
some Of the trees, and lot the sun in, but
she could not bear to see them cut down
so he built now house at the entrance to
the farm near the depot, whore the family
now live The houses are both very ordi-
nary ones,-not as good as those occupied
by large majority of Western New York
farmers,
Mr.. Greeley keeps the old homestead for
his private use. Here he receives his
friends; in it is his library, and here he
retres by himself when he has writing to
do Tho rooms are small but comfortable
and convenient The library on the second
floor is we'll stocked with valuable books
displayed on racks, and is just such a shady,
quiet retreat as any hard working student
might coyet.
Some considerable distance from either
of the houses, aud on the shelf Of hill
where no other man would have thought Of
putting such a building, stands the great
stone barn, about which so much has been
said Mr.. Greeley told US he selected this
location because he considered it easier to
draw hay up hill than manure. The barn
is 40x50 feet, and four stories high. The
wall is made Of concrete, --water.hm sand
and stone Of all sizes, mixed and shoyoled
into box, which is raised and refllod as
the work advances. The wall for the FIRST,
or basement story is twenty inches thick,
the second sixteen, aud the others twelve
inches. The building is held from spread
ing by iron rods running across. The
basement is used for a manure cellar the
second floor for stock, aud the others for
hay and grain. There is chimney in one
end with an apparatus for steaming food.
A small one-horse threshing machine and
power, stood on one Of the floors, with a
moving machine and other implements, hall
buried in loose oats, over which the hens
were running at random. We saw no fine
stock in the stalls as had been represented
and everything looked loose and shftles.
about the premises.
One of Mr. Greeleys hobbies, about
which he has written much, is irrigation
He thinks there are half million home
stoads in the United States which have
natural facilities for irrigation at leas
equal to his, aud many of them far greater
that nearly every farm on either slope o
tho Alleghanies throughout a district a
least thousand miles long, by three hun
dred wide, might be at least partially if
rigated by means of dam costing from
twenty-five to a hundred dollars so nigh
half the farms in New England and New
York. He thinks there are those now liy
ing who will sec the prairies watered b.
means of artesian wells.
lie said when he first bought land il
1858, he fully purposed to provide 70
watering his nearly level acres at will.
He accordingly constructed two dam
across his upland stream with that view
but they were so badly planned that tn
foods of the next spring carried them of
One of them was rebuilt Of massive gran
lite and a good job although he submitte
to a mscalculation which provided for tax
ing the water out of the pond by means @
syphon over bank which rose fifteen o
twenty feet above the waters surface.
Air of course worked into the pipe afto
day or two, and prevented the workin
of the syphon. Had | taken it from tn
bottom of the pond, through my dam" h
said, sit would have run always Tor $
long as there was water covering its inlC
in the pond y but bad engineering fun
me, and have not had the heart Tor tn
means) to revise and correct its errors
His next attempt was on a smaller seal
and works, we should judge, quite success
fully. Toward the north end of the far
the hillside is broken by a terrace whiC
gives three or four acres Of tolerably lev
upland, above which the hill again rise
At the foot of this rise, FIVE or six sprin,
break out from the rocks and unite to form
petty stream or runnel which finds its wa
to the swamp below North of the gul
cut by this little stream is about three acr
of side hill too steep for cultivation al
still partially wooded, which is permane
pasture. A small dam was made aero
this runnel where it enters the lower accliy
ty. A light ditch, little more than an Q
binary plough iurrow, runs along the ere
of this lower hill, falling away sufficient
to give the water free course.
Openings are made at intervals in I
lower bank of the ditch through which Il
water runs, spreading over the ground !
low. This has been in operation ten yea
and MIR. Greeley thinks the production
the two acres which it waters, has be
doubled The cost Of the dam and wat,
course was about s90--double what
ought to have been, he says, although
engineered it himself
While We were following the line Of
ditch across this little pasture, he disco
cred that the water was all running out
few rods from the dam, the ditch being p