The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1883-07-28
We rode over all the farms. but have no

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to which may be added a little place called
Youngsport, containing Gi acres, whereon
are erected a number Of houses, including
large tobacco warehouse. The first
named two, embracing 240 acres, are on
one side of the town and adjoin, while the
remaining nine, comprising 1000 acres, are
contiguous, forming a solid tract of land
of nearly two square miles. This goodly
piece of ground did not come to its present
owner by inheritance nor all at one time.
1t represents the result of combination
of industry, energy and intelligence not
often seen. Born within mile or two OF
his present principality, Colonel Young
roamed it over as a boy, little dreaming,
perhaps, that he was to become the owner
of this wide domain. But fortune lent-her
aid to his early efforts to win independence
and the result is before us. One farm
after another has been added to the origi-
nal purchase until 1 ,446 broad acres, as
rich and as well cultivated as any the sun
shines on to-day own him lord and master.
The story is a short one, but 1t has few
parallels.
Colonel Young disclaims being farmer;
says he was brought up to other things,
and has no knowledge of farming practi-
cally. We give him the benefit of his de-
NAL, but at the same time we must say such
farming as is done on his land is worth
going far to see. Let us come down to
hard facts and let the reader judge for
himself
When these farms were purchased by
him they all contained low, swampy lands
some of them a great deal of it-land on
which no grain would grow, and fit for
pasturage only. To-day these wet, low
lands have disappeared, and they are now
the most productive parts of the farm.
Wheat, grass, oats and corn are growing on
them of which any farmer in Christen-
dom might feel proud. How has this been
done? When we say that twenty five
miles of under-drains have been laid where
they were necessary, and that the water
from these form small creeks, one of them
at least four feet wide and hundreds Of
rods long, the reader will get an insight
into Col Youngs methods. These run
nine streams are walled on both sides, pre-
venting the civing in of their banks and
requiring nothing further in the way of re-
pairs. They have been made at the eX-
pense of thousands Of dollars, but the
owner believes they are the best investment
he ever made.
The reader who has passed over the
Pennsylvania Railroad between this city
and Harrisburg cannot have failed to notice
the vast deposit of granite boulders, the
remaining evidences of the distant glacial
period that once prevailed in Pennsy ylvania,
that covers a large area of territory, pre-
senting an interesting geological feature,
but making the land valueless. Well,
some of the fields on Sunset farm were
covered with these relics of a prehistoric
ace. which seemed to bid defiance to all the
efforts of man to remove them. The panic
of 1873 came Times got hard and labor
scarce Colonel Young was overrun with
men asking for work. He set a small army
to work on these boulders and in making
drains. 1t was time to do good to labor
inc men, and he gave hundreds work. 1t
cost money, more than he paid for the land,
but to-day every foot of those once boulder
covered acres bears heavy crops. The
boulders themselves are still partly visible
broken into fragments, they are set into
dry stone walls three and a-half feet wide
at the bottom and about as high, making
hundreds of yards of fencing that is as
durable as the granite itself. Costly as the
lob was, it was worth all it cost.
There is high farming on Col. Young's
place, but no fancy farming. His aim is
not to see how much money he can spend
on his acres, but how much money he can
make out of them. He does not farm for
glory but for gold. But liberality goes
hand in hand with economy. He aims at
big crops, and to get them he manures most
literally. Yet he buys no manure and
seldom uses fertilizers. Last winter he fed
2O4 steers; the year before he fattened3 313.
Thirteen hundred very large loads Of ma
nure were the result. There is also the
large tank, mounted on wheels, by which
hundreds of barrels of liquid manure were
carried out to those fields and places that
seemed to require it most. Although he
had out $50 acres of corn, not a grain was
sold, but large quantities were bought and
fed. Last year more than six thousand
bushels of wheat were sold, but not one
ounce of straw He has far more than he
can use himself; the rest is given to Others
and then returned to him in the shape of
manure The $50 acres of grass he now
has standing will give him surplus of at
least 400 tons of hay above his own needs;
last year he sold $50 tons. Every ton OF
hay and sheaf of wheat was put into the
barns, as was also nearly all the corn fodder.
No farmer needs to be told what a saving
both of time and money and material this
is. All the work on these ! ,440 acres is
done by thirty-six mules; two of these do
the daily work besides; the land and barns
lying close together permit of great econ
omy in this particular. Double this num-
Der would be required if this land was held
by dozen owners. There is but single
driving horse on the farms. No money is
wasted on elaborate and costly dwellings.
They are plain, neat, substantial and in ex-
cellent repair, but there is nothing spent
for show. The contiguous farms allow OF
great economy in the matter of fences.
The fields are very large. One grass field
contains 106 acres; there are wheat fields
of 20 acres; one corn field is nearly mile
long; it contains 1,O77 hills of corn, three
feet nine inches apart in the row, making
total length of row of ,049 feet. That
would have made long "throughs' in the
days of scythe and cradle. We observed
that the fields were cultivated within few
inches of the fences. The usual strip of
two or more feet vacant ground was absent
along the rails. Every available inch was
made to yield its tribute. A rough calcu-
lation showed us that at least five acres
have been reclaimed in this way. This is
equal to hundred and twenty-five bushels
of wheat or its equivalent in some other
crops, as the case may be. No feature
struck the Duke of Switzerland more at
his visit than this, who was accustomed to