Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1945-04-27

mathematical computations, the
moldboard met the least possible
resistance from the earth. Jeffer-
son also devised a seed drill and
hemp brake.
On the jefferson plantation there
was threshing machine which was
carried on a wagon and weighed
about a ton. 1t was capable of
threshing as much as $50 bushels of
grain a day. There was also a drill
ing machine, invented by one of JEFF
ferson's neighbors. The instrument
had a sharp iron that opened the
burrows and small trough contain
ing the sowing grain behind it.
"Jefferson's enlightened efforts at
soil conservation and the lettering
of farming methods entitle him to
foremost rank among great Amer
lean agriculturists," said an official
of the Middle West Soil Improve
ment committee. HE had an in
stinctive feeling that man should be
a careful custodian of the soil en-
trusted to his care. His work in soil
improvement, however primitive it
was, helped pave the way for modern
soil science. We're he alive today,
he would be crusader for soil con-
servation, for sounder farming
methods, for playing fair with the
land by returning to it fertilizer ele-
ments removed by growing crops
and the effects of the elements"
Arficf ond Ar,b;foo<
In his own words, the business of
farming kept Jefferson '..busy as a
bee in molasses barrel" He was
often either drawing or designing or
sketching. Now it was a pillow, now
a carriage, now building, now a
fence and now a garden. A lover
of flowers, he laid out garden and
planted rare specimens. An archi-
tect who learned the art by indie
pendent study, he drew blueprints
for many buildings, many of which
still stand as monument to the
many-sided genius of their creator.
In addition to Monticello, the best
examples of his architecture are the
capitol at Richmond and the Univer-
sity of Virginia.
Aside from his agricultural inven-
tiveness, Jefferson designed
unique multi-writing machine to
produce stereotyped letters some
what after the fashion of the mod
ern mimeograph. He designed an
ingenious dumbwaiter and built him
self handy weather-vane.
Because of the fact that his farm
and those of his neighbors were
located far from big cities, Jefferson
built number of industrial estab-
lishments to make himself and his
friends reasonably self sufficient.
His most ambitious projects were a
flour mill and nail factory.
His Own Flour Mill.
The -four mill was a stone build
ing four stories high. A canal three
fourths of a mile long led to the
dam above the mill and cost several
thousand dollars. The nail factory
employed ten workers, who drew 50
day. 1t supplied nearby stores as
well as neighbors, including James
Monroe, with nails. 1t closed in 1872
"liei IL was uIle Dle W ODldlI TOuS.
There was also small cotton mill
which manufactured homespun from
cotton obtained in Richmond. Three
spinning machines wove cloth for
all Jefferson's slaves. Wagonloads
of homespun were also sold to mer-
chants. Like other plantations of
the time, Monticello had smithy
where wrought iron work for the
plantation was made.
Although debt acquired during his
public life and depression in farm
prices following the Napoleonic wars
brought financial crisis to his later
years, Jefferson was eminently sat-
isfied with farming as a career and
way of life.
"Cultivators of the EARTH" he once
wrote to John Jay, "are the most
valuable citizens They are the most
vigorous, the most independent. the
most virtuous-and they are tied to
their country and welded to it's in
terests and liberty by the most last
ing ties"