The Charlotte Democrat., 1890-06-06
AGRICUL u r AL.
Fairview.
A visit to one of the Finest Farms an the
,So7Lth
FairVieW.

South.
The writer is indebted to Capt. b. L.
Williamson for carrying him out to see
his beautiful farm last Monday. FER
haps some account of his farming opera
tions may be not only interesting but ot
great value to our readers. Capt. VIII
hanson is a native of Mecklenburg coun-
tv. Va. He came to Raleigh and began
business in 1865. In 1878 be bought
700 acres of land six miles northeast from
Raleigh, lying on the Neuse River. We
will give a short history OF this farm ana
save the best until later on.
1t is nice drive from the city to this
farm. A number of well titled farms are
to be seen from the road, several of them
worthy of special mention. There Is
beautiful stand of cotton and at that time
much of it was worked out nicely.
From the time be bought this farm
Capt. Williamson cultivated cotton and
corn as his principal crops. But about
1884 and 'S5 he found that all profits had
ceased to come under that system. lie
found that the price of those crops had
become too small to raise them prohtably,
and besides his land was going down,
much OF it being hillY and easily washed
away. He determined to try grass and
clover for change. His neighbors and
friends told him it would not do on such
soil: that his land was too poor and
sandy. They even laughed at him. But
in 1882 he had began clover raising on
a small scale-ony about two acres-and
he believed that it would pay on large
scale. He now says that she don't care
what kind OF soil it is, Wherever be wants
clover he sows it," He has this year
about 60 acres in clover alone and l4O
acres in grass and clover. The stand is
excellent, but owing to the dry winter
and spring the cutting will be short.
Capt. Williamson still raises good deal
of cotton and corn, oats, ETC., but bis
grass and stock are his pride.
The first thing seen on approaching his
farm is a beautiful cotton field. 1t had
been in clover Tor year or two and the
prospect for cotton crop is very good.
The next sight is a beautiful field OF
clover on the left in which ten or twelve
fine ones, two and three-y ear-old colts are
grazing; on the right hand is another
field in which mower is running and
number of hands putting up good quail
ty of hay. Further on we see improved
lands which are now in cotton. Capt.
Williamson first began ditchlng with
level, but his experience was the same as
many others-that the bitches would ill
up with sand and breaks occur, making
matters worse Finally be began the ter.
racing system and is we'll satisfied. The
terrace is simply 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 Another advantage is, you can
plough through and plant this and 1t will
catch all of the sediment which settles In
the terrace instead OF being carried away
as in an ordinary ditch. We found
sNeuseoco" a we'll kept farm and saw
many things commendable. A field con-
tanning 80 acres of clover and grass down
on the river in which another batch of
fine colts were playing, the field being as
level as floor, was 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. Five years
ago Capt. Williamson fully determined to
go into the raising OF fine horses. He
then bought 800 acres Of poor, lilly land
lying about two miles from the city in
northwest direction. He now has third
OF mile training track and good build
ings, and those poor hills have been set III
grass and clover and present beautiful
appearance He has a number of well
made and well kept drives through the
farm. Everything is as neat as it posi-
bly, can be. But before we go into the
horse business let US see his vineyards
and orchards. He has Is acres in grapes
of different varieties. Five acres have
bore grapes for three years, which he
shipped North. He cleared 800 per acre
annually from the five acres. The other
thirteen acres have not begun to bear
grapes yet, but are in fine condition. He
also has IL acres in pears, peaches and
plums. Of pears he has over fifty varie-
ties The plums are mostly of the Wild
Goose variety. The pears and peaches
have not been profitable but the plums
pay we'll. He has never sold them for
less than So per bushel and gets as much
seen that Capt. Williamson is an expert
MorQGns and Hana6letonians. s.
We have endeavored to show that
Capt. Williamson began clover growing
in small way. He did the same thing
as TO horses So if the small farmer can
not start with acres of clover and two
brood mares he can start with half an acre
of clover aud one brood mare.
In. 1885 he began breeding horses with
only two mares. In 1885 he bought four
higb.bred trottine Hambletonian mares
in Kentucky, Tor which he paid 50, 200.
and four one-year-old mares and one Nor
gan. stallion ("Franklin Chiefly in Yer
mont, for which he paid $4,000. In 1888
he purchased in New York five Hamble-
toniau mares, one and two years old, and
one Hambietonian stallion, for which he |
paid $4,000. His object in buying both |
Morgan and Hambletonisn horses was to |
breed high class of roadster and harness
horses. He has crossed his Morgan stal |
lion on Hambletoniau mares and Handle |
tonian stallion On Morgan mares. This |
not only makes fine show in the horse |
but ia q mixture of the best blood We |
think that Capt. Williamson's theory of |
the matter is quite correct. He says in
breeding horses to attain great speed on
the track they frequently fail to come in
side the $50 list, But the kind he pro.