Litchfield enquirer., 1875-01-28
From the Hartford Courant.l "ECHO FARM"
Capital, Enterprise, and Business
 Ability in Agricultural Work.
MR. FIR. STAIRS IMPROVEMENTS IN LTTcH- FIELD-A CHARMING LOCATION RESULTS PRESENT AND
 PROSPECTIVE &C.
LITcHFIELD. January 18th, 1875


 capital may be turned proftably into near ly every business channel, yet the direc- tion of it toward the cultivation of the soil, puts the investment in fair way of proving disastrous, especially if the in- vestor is not to begin with practical ag- | riculturist, though he may have been nev- CT so prudent and successful Tn the varied enterprises through which he has acquir- | ed his means. This popular impression l springs from the existence of many nota- ble cases of large ventures in farming by persons of accumulated wealth, which have been wild congregations of financial experiments, and have in their inevitable extravaganza and looseness made the or dinary products of the soil appear, by a comparison of cost, like priceless gems brought to the surface of the earth from the depths of sunken shafts into mineral regions. The late Horace Greedy, who was credited with vastly more practical wisdom than nature ever endowed him with, and who even wrote, with some con sciousness of his subject, ,of"What l know about farming" was reported to have said in effect that his agricultural efforts plac. ed price upon the simple potato which made it the luxury of luxuries. Because of much that has been said in ridicule and jest about him, in addition to all that might truthfully be said, and concerning many others who have taken up farming as a recreation merely, there has come to be widespread belief that no venture of capital in farming pursuits, outside of the rich fields of the west and south, can re- suit in anything but disappointment and dead loss. That there is much of fallacy in this conviction can be demonstrated by some successful examples among wealthy men in Connecticut, who, as stock raisers and producers of specialities adapted to the soils they possess, have been suffi- ciently compensated, not only in improve ment of stock and materials which their unrestricted enterprise has permitted them to make, but in actual cash returns. It Is reproach upon human energy, and almost libel upon common sense, to as- sert that farming, as an occupation, can only be made to pay by the stingy restric- tions of poverty and compulsory hard work; and yet, this is about the sum and substance of the one-sided prevailing crit icism upon what IS termed fancy farm ing Why may not 8 man, who has through a successful combination of brains and physical resources pushed himself by the irresistible impulse of his own nature into rising business path, and maintain ed himself ln spite of all and many obsta- cles, be not able, by the application of the guiding principles of his life, to become good farmer, and really make the best of all his work because of his ability to pro- vide all the necessary ways and means in it's prosecution? Confessedly, experiment. is the first step; but man of safe busi- ness habits has taken the step once, and perhaps many times, to secure what he has already got in his life pursuits, and may exercise the same judgment from ex- perience in other things that he has shown in what have finally become daily famil- iarities of his career.
 Here in Litchfeld is a gentleman, Mir. F. Ratchford Starr, who IS demonstrating practically this question of applied busi- ness ability to agricultural work, and from his experience thus far am sure he will be able toshow conclusively, by and by, what he is already showing compara- lively, that perseverance, enterprise and wealth, are factors which may be as sue cessfully utilized in farming as in any thing else. MT. Starr was compelled by i'll health to retire from business i'll Philadelphia, and five years ago came to this place. because of its healthful climate, to recuperate. His original purchase was only sixty-siX acres, but he soon added several additional properties, and has now farm of nearly four hundred acres, all of which he has very greatly improved and most of which he has brought to a high degree of perfection in all that constitutes model farming The location is ono mile east of the charming village of Litchfeld, and at an elevation of about sixty feet above it, and commands broad and ex- tensive view of the unsurpassable land- scape of this delightful section of the state, the picturesqueness of which even in this midwinter season gives to the inn agination an almost perfect sense of the beauties which must exist when the coun- try is robed in all the colors, and the air is filled with all the sweetness, of Q grow ing summer, or when as the fruitful sea- son dies the hills and valleys are freighted with the wondrous tints of autumn. To those who are familiar with the ever pres- ent attractions on every side of this really exceptional portion of the state, the loca- tion of his farm tract will need no recOm- mendation that it's own sightliness in the midst of wonderful delights of scenery will not suggest. Such @ sweep of dis tanees is afforded that Wadsworth' s tower, ''twenty miles away, can be seen ill a clear day with the naked eye, and the Bolton range of mountains rises in the background, while in closer view lie six teen townships. 'Echo Farm" is the name of MT. Starr's possession, not es- thetically derived, but literally born out of the echoes with which almost every point of the domain resounds, as one puts his vocalism to the test and has thrown back to his ears the music of his own voice.
 Mir. Stars practical work. or the results of it, IS apparent in every single develope- zRG | G1I>I walls give to the landscape an attraction of no insignificant merit, and these walls have come from the clearing of stony pas lures, where the stones were truants and keeping the soil in idleness, and are now serving an excellent purpose, while the ground on which they had rested for years is yielding handsome return on the cost of buying and then removing them. No doubt some of the old farmers who have witnessed these improvements and have counted fabulous sums as the aggregate of all expenditures, have felt that such ex- travagance was ruinous, but the gentleman who has paid the bills has book account of everything in detail and when he ex- poses his balance sheet 1t IS possible that his work will be the means of dissipating incredulity and giving to the old farming interests of this section lessons for medi- tation and profit. To bring land up in four seasons from yearly production of hay alone of sixteen and a half tons to more than two hundred and twenty tons, is something which on merely expert mental fancy farming has done before, either in Connecticut or elsewhere; and yet this one fruitful result of close atten- tion to business where returns have been and will be as sure as the echoes of the air. from exertion.
 The buildings upon the place are in keeping with tie general improvements l and are to be adapted by increased capac- ities to every want as it shall arise. One of the finest barns Tn the state was added last year. It is one hundred feet long and forty feet wide. and its massive stone foundation would do credit to any city building in point of workmanship. It has a cellar ten feet deep. The first floor is all onA room eleven feet biOh aD1 ia