Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1880-01-21
The Farm Of J. X. Tobey, Calais.

Mr.. Editor The season of early winter
is not the most favorable for observing the
methods of farming yet the ground was
bare when ] visited Mr.. Tobey, December
18th. | had heretofore known him as the
efficient, courteous secretary of the state
grange, but when found his home among
the rough hills of Calais, ten miles north of
Montpelier, knew him as a farmer. His
is pasture at such distance that sheep and
young cattle are usually kept upon it. or
the twenty-five at home few acres have
been in pasture, but this fall the fence was
the COWS will be fed at the barn entirely,
with small lot for them to exercise in part
of the day, He has been approaching this
method several years, and has faith in it.
His present stock of two horses, four cows
and two calves, is not as large as he could
winter if they were all to be turned to pas
ture the 10th of May. His hay is early cut,
and of a variety of grasses. Orchard grass
does well here. His grain crop of barley, or
oats, usually occupies two acres, and is not
threshed, but cut early and fed to his stock.
The barley had not formed much kernel
when cut. He raises an acre of corn, and
about the same of potatoes also a few
hundred bushels of Lanes sugar beet and
purple top ruta bagas.
He has tried and likes the Sanford corn
for cattle. 1t has a large mass of leave, and
the stalks are eaten even when two inches in
diameter. The juice is so sweet that it ap-
pears reasonable that sugar could be made
from it. He mentioned an instance where
man made very good sample of syrup from
the juice.
Last year, after cutting the grass, he
plowed piece and sowed millet, which
yielded about two tons to the acre. Milet
may be sowed late and be a very profitable
crop. saw his crop of turnips, about two
hundred bushels of as handsome bulbs as /
ever saw; fully equal to the smooth, juicy
bulbs of the Improved American turnip of
your own raising, Mr.. Editor. They were
about the size of two-quart bowl, and
sometimes grow much larger. He raises his
own seed and selects the bulbs for seed in
the field when gathering the crop, and in
this way has secured an improved form and
greater excellence than was shown by the
original stock of London purple tops. There
is piece of winter rye sown for feeding in
early summer. About two hundred apple
trees are the commencement of an orchard;
they are mostly in grass along ledge that
is not well adapted to tillage. About fifty
are Duchess, and he has Ben Davis, Tetofsky
Wealthy, and others considered hardy. The
plan is to manure the surface around the
trees, and he has done so heretofore; but
this year, while making a farm road, he
plowed up root, aud curiosity prompted
him to follow it to its origin. He traced it
nine feet to small apple tree that has been
set three years. This was new revelation,
and he does not propose to pile manure
around the trunks of the trees hereafter, but
scatter it broadcast.
You have probably imagined that if Mr..
Tobey gets a living on twenty-five acres, he
must be one of the notional kind in regard
to manures. Such is the fact. He does not
use superphosphates very much, but uses
saw dust for bedding his stock, and seems
anxious to save the liquid manure. He pro
poses to flag the bottom of his barn cellar
with broad fiat stones, and then with cement
make it water tight, with a drainage into a
pit where the liquid manure may collect, and
with tank be drawn in its liquid state tC
the fields. The crops will certainly respond
to such an application. lie has another no
ton, which is, that weeds are not profitable
and thinks he can kill any annual weed thai
propagated by seeds. They will not mature
their seed before they are destroyed. lie
covers his corn and potatoes with horst
hoe, and favors horse cultivation. A chess
factory near by is under his management
and has been run successfully several sea
sons There is plenty more land among tn
Calais hills that can be bought, but it'll
farm well titled suits him best.
Poultry raising receives attention, and tn
Pekin ducks and Plymouth Rock fowls ar
his choice and prove very profitable. II
has kept good line of pigs, but now de
sires the small or medium Yorkshires, an
if he can get this stock it will have nuc
merit A fattening hog that was as thin a
rail six weeks ago, when her pigs wer
weaned, is now in fine condition on fee
of six quarts of dry meal day and il
drink in a separate trough. The cows al
fed twice a day, but fed full each time. !
the morning it is three courses, turnips, ha
and barley in the straw. The horses are fe
turnips and quart of meal morning an
night in addition to hay. Everything seen
quite systematic.
Come to Stay.