Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1886-08-28
BoDwELL's FARMING.
his Occupation For More Than Twon+u
Five Years. '''
|@riy ana Recent Operation. -rh
pred stock Importations.

Two miles below Augusta, Graded in .
oroad bend of the Kennebec and a,mos, nm
oer the shadow of the dome of the c.n;.o,
ouiiding,li our sister city. Hellowe,l T..
ana VIDE over the land this little civ i.
A"o~h through the beautiful white .,ono
quarried from her lodges and formed into
ouiiding pieces for imposing commercial nal.
aces and public buildings; wrouyb, into
graceful and elegant statues, one of which
aus On an eminence in old Plymouth over.
~ Tue Diue waters of the bay and seeming
suaiu win jealous care the precious rock
nicn the fligrlms first landed: cut into
py monuments to mark the last resting
rrana,; y, many. But OF the quarrying and
preparing OF this marble-like granite has
growna e"ii'o mas
Great and FlourIshing Business
uisosrsing thousands OF dollars annually in
.he community. This is operated by the we'll
SHOWN hailowell Granite Co., and the master
ni"u whlch has made it so signally success
iul is mat OF Hon. Joseph R. Bodwell. His
nahusotne ana attractive residence is found
. on Middle street near Winthrop Hill. The
history ana rise OF this wealthy firm are ia
"liiar 70 most of our readers. Mr.. Bod
weli' the founder, like thousands of other
successful men in the country was
Farmers Boy.
Not only this. He has resided the larger
part OF his life on farm, having, until the
age OF 81, made farming a business, and
known from beginning to end all the ms and
outs OF the life of New England farmer. OF
Mr.. bodwelPs career as farmer we now
Qnd b.
chle1 executive it will prove interesting
reading, especially to our farmer readers.
Mr.. Bodwell's father was farmer reading
In what is now Lawrence, Mass. The house
where Joseph was bern is still standing. and
10 the front yard is gigantic elm, its
limbs sweeping the ground, and which is
known for niles aroutd as "the great elm. u
hanging in the pretty reception room of Mr..
bodwelPs Hallowell home is pic.
ture of the structure in nea,
frame, and 1t is one of the most highly priced
OF all the works of art in the apartment At
SIX years OF age the future candidate for Gov
ernor lett his fathers roof and went to live
with sister on another farm in Methuen,
Mass, several miles distant Then followed
ten wears OF his boyhood, his life being like
that OF other farmers boys; going to school
winters. laboring in the field summers At
10 years of age he hired out to a man in the
vicinity tor mere pittance and worked all
one summer learning to make shoes. Mas
tering the business he continued alternately
farming and shoe-making until twenty years
of age. His
struggles for an Education
were most commenisble, and such as no
young man of to-day should be ashamed to
emulate. With boy, as the man. his motto
was perseverance and industry. Arising in
the morning long ere the sun had appeared
he would devote the time until the school
hour to shoe-making, and after school was
out return to his labor, prosecuting it until
or 10 o'clock at night. In this way young
Bodwell paid his board and something be-
sides. The first money he ever had was
5000 which he had saved from his slender
earnings, and this he lost through the failure
of firm which owed him. When twenty
years old the young man, together with his
father, purchased the farm on which he had
lived with hi+ sister, taking an undivided half
'and going in d b. a. part payment.
The next fourteen wears of his life he
made farming his business, and was in every
sense of the word
A Successful Farmer
practical in his methods. The area of the
place was sixty acres, and the soil had been
impoverished by repeated groupings with nc
adequate return, while the buildings were
dilapidated and inconvenient At the expira-
ton of the fourteen years the farm was under
n high state of cultivation. the buildings were
in fine trim, and it was one of the best
farms in that section. 1t was free from debt
and we'll stocked. Early and late the
Young farmer toiled; the ten-hour law
was unknown to him them. His fellow work.
men in the hay field had to keep their hands
out of their pockets to hold up their scythe
with him. "My practice" said Mr.. Bodwell
the other day, "was to invariably feed the
hay on the farm, never selling it off" Fur
thermore, he bought large quantities of dress
ing and artificial fertilizers in Lawrence and
applied it to the land. He also purchased
and employed all the latest and modern farm
ing tools. When the moving machine made
its appearance, a clumsy wooden framed de-
vice, he procured one, and it was the first
ever seen in that part of the country. Farm
ers IN the vicinity came from miles around to
examine it. On the farm as in the granite
business, Mr.. Bodwell was an enterprising
man. At one period twenty cows were kept
on the place and the milk sold. In 1862 Mr..
Bodwell begun hauling granite in the vicinity
times his team consisted of four oxen and a
horse at another, fur horses. Here he got
an idea of the granite business and he followed
it with a success which does not require re-
peating. But he still retained possession of
his farm until 1866, when it was sold and the
owner removed to Hallowell. Here he has
continued to reside until the present time
directing his extensive and ever-growlng
granite business But he still retained his
love for agriculture and ten years ago
Again Begun Farming.
Driving by the Hallowell road to the Outlet
on the shores of the famous Cobbossecontee,
one has hardly left the citv behind him and
reached the apex of the ridge which follows
the western bank of the river when he dis
covers long, high barn setting back say
fifteen rods from the road. 1t is Mr.. Bod
wells and furnishes shelter for the stock and
crops of one OF the most productive farms of
this section. 1t has been in his pos
session ten years and was known as
the "Swanton" place. 1t is located
along the ridge above spoken of.
the land falling of each way. To the west
"a a little round mill pond known as the
"Cascade Pond" furnishing an ice field eve
re- winter. The area of the place is one
hundred and seventy-6ve acres ami the soil
ia CLAY loan. When Mr.. Bodwell took it the
farm was in a miserable, run out state. 1t
only cut from fifteen to twenty tons of hay.
The soil had been sapped, the buildings were
~oa,;r Tiara uas Onp diIanlda-