St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1896-04-24
A VISIT TO "CLYDESIDE."
The Farm on which rIajOr Circuit
Liyes.-ItS Practical Operation.

In an interesting letter to the Farm
er's Advocate Mr.. c. W. Scarf writes
as follows concerning a visit to the
farm owned and operated by Major
Josiah Grout:
| visited Major Grout at his home
in Derby, to see for myself his farm
establishment and describe it to the
readers OF the Advocate.
l thought to do this because he isa
candidate for an office the farmers
have often desired one OF their num-
Der to occupy, and it seemed to me
they should be informed about him
as farmer.
The farm buildings and stock one
sees at Clydeside suggest those things
belonging to good farming. There is
probably not another similar estab-
lishment in Vermont, large or small,
conducted more economically than
the Grout farm, with everything in
such apple-pie order and of such a
general farm-like character. 1t is an
example of farming and farm life
worthy of imitation, with which the
proprietor mayfe feel satisfied and of
which the state may be proud. You
see there no fancifully decorated
features, but from house to barn,
barn to shed and shed to the tool
room, everywhere order and neatness.
The whole plant is appointed for con-
venience and finished for comfort. AS
much as ever saw, it is a farm with
a place for everything and everything
in its place.
Clydeside, as the home farm is
called, consists of $50 acres near the
street OF Derby Centre village, and is
divided into tillage 100, pasture 400
and woodland $50 acres. The arabic
portion has been cultivated nearly a
century and produces better now
than ever, for when the Major began
here IA years ago these acres sus-
tanned about 80 head of stock and
they now furnish most of the differ
ent kinds of farm folders for over
IT'S head, the result of intensive
farming. The pasturage also has
been greatly improved.
The stock consists of over 100 Jer-
seys, 20 horses, SO sheep and about
80 swine. An average of 60cows are
continuously in milk, the annual but
ter yield OF which runs about $50
pounds per cow.
The sheep are high grade Shrop-
shire, and a fine looking flock. The
pigs are fat and grunty, for they are
turned over to the butcher at seven
months and pounds. The horses,
aside from the work team, are fine
drivers, but the owner is waiting for
a buyer.
The dairy, 70 in number, is a
healthy, handsome looking lot of
cows, and as they stand in stabbed
rows Of 25 each, dehorned and gentle,
are pleasant sight. They were tested
for tuberculosis last October and
found free from all traces of the
dreaded disease, rendering them all
the more desirable.
The sugar orchard has 1900 trees,
the sap of which is piped from con-
venient elevations to the sugar
houses. The boiling is done at two
places but the sugaring-off at one
place only.
The main sugar house is a model of
its kind, 20x90 feet, wood shed at
one end, evaporating room next, sap
storage tanks next and a sugaring-off
room at the other end completes the
building. Each apartment is so ap-
pOluleu as W Dt COluulOulOuS anu
convenient. The annual output of
this sugar camp is about $4,000
pounds. This sugarplace is probably
the most extensive and best equipped
of any in the state.
The Bryant place is a small farm of
about 40 acres which has undergone
a great change since the Major bought
it, and many spears of grass and
other crops grow on it now where
one hardly ventured in sight a few
years ago.
The Eaton place is another farm Of
about 100 acres which is rapidly
changing from a barren waste to a
fertile field. On this place is found
the reservoir and springs that supply
the village below with water.
When asked how he brought about
such changes in his farms, he replied
"by cultivating and fertilizing,"
Most of the fertilizer referred to he
would make on the farm by feeding
all crops and as nearly as possible
returning to the soil, in converted