The Newtown bee., 1908-04-24
The NeWtOWn Bee.
WONDERS WROUGHT AT GIL
 BERT FARM.
MAKING oyER.THE GIFT. FARM. -ST0RRS GRADUATES DO ING A REMARKABLE WORK. GOOD MILK, WITHOUT PASTEURlzA- TON.
NewtOwn, Friday, April sl, nos,

To those who are familiar with mod ern methods in farming, it will be of interest to know what is being done by the Connecticut Agricultural College in connection with the Gilbert farm de- partment of that institution.
 A little more than two years ago, Edwin Gilbert of Georgetown, Conn.,, bequeathed to the Connecticut Agri- cultural College a farm of some three hundred acres situated at Georgetown, a small village on the Danbury X South Norwalk branch of the N. Y., N. II. X H. R. R.
 When this generous bequest was made, the trustees of the college,were puzzled to know in just what way the property could be used to be beneficial to the state and college. The location of the property made it impractical to try to carry on any of the experimental work now done at the college and as there were no restrictions imposed nor conditions specified by MT Gilbert as to the purpose for which the gift was to be used, it was decided, after careful consideration, to maintain the farm as the Gilbert farm department of the college and use it as an example of practical agriculture and to demon- strate the manner in which any soil robbed and abandoned farm in Connect lcut could be improved and made profit able; the cost of improvement to come from the earnings of the farm.
 While much of the old time opposit- ion to "book farming" or scientific farming as we know it, has disap- peared, there are still those who look with suspicion and disapproval on mod ern methods of farming as taught in agricultural colleges. The addition of this property gave the Connecticut Ag- ricultural College the opportunity to demonstrate the practical application of these methods.
 One of the trustees of the college, A. J. PierpOnt, successful dairyman of Waterbury, also a graduate of the col lege, was appointed to act as general manager, and A. B. Clark, who is also graduate of the college, was engaged as farm superintendent. This put the farm and its management in the hands of men who had been trained to prac- tice modern methods in farming.
 It was the writer's privilege to visit the farm soon after the gift was made. He has also visited the farm within the last few days and his observation of the many changes which have been made, make it incumbent that he should give to the readers of this paper an account of these observations.
 AS THINGS WERE
 Of the three hundred acres of land in the farm, the greater part is rocky hillside and extremely rough. About eighty acres only are available for cul- tiyation and about forty acres were un- der cultivation at the time of the writer's first visit. Sixty acres are fit only for pasturage and the balance of nearly one hundred and eighty acres is in woodland. There were two dwelling houses, four barns, and two silos on the farm. None of the buildings was supplied with running water, the wat CT for the stock being furnished by means of hand pump and carried to the cattle Tn pails. Of the seventy five COWS then on the farm about sev- enty-fve per cent were found to be either tuber culous or unproftable or both. These were disposed of at once. A pair of horses, a pair of mules, eight brood sows and a boar constitut- ed the remainder of the live stock. The barns, though we'll built and in fairly good condition, were not so constructed | as to be convenient for dairy purposes. A portion of the underground stable had been used for swine pens. The trees were untrimmeu, the fences in need of repair ard owing to the fact that MT Gilbert bad not been able to see that the necessary work of improve ment was done, the farm presented but a favorable appearance.
 These are some of the things that came under the writer's observation and while they were no worse than may he found to-day on many Connec- ticut farms they do not conform to the | ideas of modern farming. |