The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1890-05-27

R~5ft'bJe Farm-Aagnifcent Fields
Of Clover uhd Gross on Land
0hich was Comparatively
Poor .fvs gears ago
- What Peck
riH do.
The writer is indebted to Capt. b.
P. Williamson for carrying him out
to see his beautiful farm last Monday.
Perhaps some account of his farming
operations may be not only interesting
but Of great value to our readers.
Capt. Williamson is a native of
Mecklenburg county, Va. He came
to Raleigh and began business in
1865.
NEUsEOCO.
Ia 1878 he bought 100 acres of
la al six miles northeast from Raleigh,
lying on the Neuse river. We will
give a short history of this farm and
save the best until later on.
1t is a nice drive from the city to
this farm. A number Of vel. titled
farms are TO he seer fIom The road,
several Of them worthy Of special
mention. There is a beautiful stand
of cotton and at tnat time mucu of it
was worked out nicely.
From the time he bought this farm
Capt. Williamson clltivat d cotton
and corn as his principal crops. But
about 1884 and '85 be found tnas all
profits had ceased t. come upder that
system. He found that the price of
those crops had become too small to
raise them ~pro6tably, and besides his
land was going down, much Of it he,
ing billy and easily washed away. He
determined to try grass and clover for
a Oh snge. His neighbors and friends
told him it would not do on such soil
that his land was too poor and sandy.
l'ney even laughed at him, But in
1882 he had began clover raising on
a small scale only about two Acres
and he believed that it would pay on
a large scale. He now says that he
don't care what kiGd OF soil it is,
wherever he wants clover he soWs it,.
He has this year about so acres in
clover alone and I4O acres in gtass
and clover. The stand is excellent
but owing to the dry winter and
spring the cutting will be short
Capt. Williamson still raises a good
deal Of cotton and corn, oats, &c
bat his gr SIS and stock are bis prize.
The first thing seen on approaching
his farm is d beautiful cotton field.
It had been in clover for d year OF
two and the p aspect for a cotton
,-vp Is very good. The next sight
is d beautiful field of clover on the
left in which ten or twelve fine
one, two and three-year-old colts are
grazing; on the right hand is another
field in which a mower is running
and a number of hands putting up a
good quail ty Of hay. Further on
We see improved lands which are
now in cotton. Capt. Williamson
first began ditching with level, but
his experience was the same as many
others-thst the bitches would fill up
with sand and breaks occur, making
matters worse. Finally he began the
terracing system and is well satisfied,
The terrace is simply a very large
ditch, say six or eight feet wide, but
shallow. The bank of dirt on the
lower side, of course, is large and
strong and not liable to break. An.
other advantage is, you can plough
through and plant this and it will
catch all of the sediment which settles
in the terrace instead of being carried
away as in an ordinary ditch. We
found "Neuseoco" a we'll kept farm
and saw many things commendable.
A field containing 80 acres of clover
and grass down on the river in which
another batch of fine colts were play,
ing, the field being as level as a floor,
was a fine scene not to be forgotten
soon.
Capt. Williamson has several miles
of wire fences on his farms but
they don't suit for horses as they SO
often get hurt on the wires. He is now
building his fences of plank. But we
will now talk about his stock farm
proper.
FAIRVIEW.
Five years ago Capt. Williamson
fully determined to go into the rails
ing of fine horses. He then bought
300 acres of poor, billy land lying
about two miles from the city in 9
north vcst direction H. nv as q
thi'd # y ruI.o t'ajn-ng track "HC
g ct ruI:dl"gs, ami Those poor ulliE
have een SIT in gr-ss ~,I c'va1 anc
rrts,m beau'i'u' appearance. Tie
hns err ~ well Md" a. we'll
-, t drives ~, u n thu tarm. Every
rnIny IS a, II al IS /. possibly CAL
u. bun refore we 20 into me
hor>e business les us Ste MS y.ne
- I - 49,