A PLEASANT VISIT TO AN EMINENT FARMER. 179 



A PLEASANT VISIT TO AN EMINENT FARMER. 



The writer of the following, with whom wo ought to be acquainted, having been iu con- 

 stant personal intercourse witli liim for neai-ly threescore years, allows us to tiansfer it, with 

 such correclioas as may be necessary, to the pages of The Farmers' Library ; and as 

 he says we were of the party, we dare not deny it, but confess the corn! Were we to add 

 a remark or two of our own, the result of some agreeable personal intercourse uith excel- 

 lent, plain, practical famiei-s in the neighborhood of SiU'atoga, we should feel Ijound to indi- 

 cate two glai-ing defects in the habits and management of most of them. Reader, do you 

 wish to know what these are ? ^Ve wiU tell you : They don't (some of them) provide them- 

 selves with icc-houHCs, which they might do so cheaply with so much satisfaction aud profit; 

 neither do they ever nib a pen in the way of keeping accoiinls of outlay and income ! ! 

 Need we dwell upon the improvident and reproachful omission in both cases ! No ; it is too 

 obvious. Where so much ice-cream is eaten, the fanner should supply it ready-made to- 

 the hotels, a& they do near riiiladelphia. But oidy think of sensible and otherwise well 

 managing, economical and industrious fai-mers, even I'resideuts of Agincultural Societies, 

 having no ice-houses, and keeping no accounts of income and expenditure ! ! But om- object 

 is to introduce a narrative — not to write an essay ! We will only add to the testimony of our 

 correspondent, that this President m his shirt-sleeves entertained us gi-acefully, cordially, and 

 with an animated, well-infonned aud highly interesting conversation, on his part, on the va- 

 rious branches of his business. His family are all of the '^ peep o^ day boys" stock; and 

 eveiy department, eating, and sleeping, and rising and working, all proceeds with uniformity 

 and therefore with certainty as to residts — three horses, in nice order, to do the work 

 through the week and take the family to meeting ou the Sabbath. 



From the Saratoga Republican. 

 A VISIT TO THE PRESIDENT OF AN AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY, WITH AN ACCOUNT OP 

 WHAT OCCURRED— INTERSPERSED WITH SOME REFLECTIONS BY THE NARRATOR- 

 ALL CONTAINED IN TWO LETTERS, OF WHICH THIS IS 



NO. I. 



■■/ like to be particuhtr." 



Saratoga, 28th August, 18-16. 



Mr. Editor : Happening to be present on occasion of a chance visit, a few days 



since, to the President of an Agricultural Society in county, N. Y., a brief 



relation of what transpired may, to your southern readers, serve to lift the cur- 

 tain on the life and iiabits of northern farmers. The office of President of a so- 

 ciety for the improvement of the noble art of Agriculture, under the patronage- 

 of the Empire State, warrants the presumption that the host on this occasion ""is- 

 above the average standard in personal consideration and intelligence, and quite 

 up to it in style of living. To proceed : 



Two gentlemen, on an equestrian excursion from " the Springs," for the sake 

 of exercise, and to take a look at the country roundabout, stopped near an anti- 

 quated, very ordinary-looking dwelling, on the road side, and inquired respect- 

 fully of a lady at the door, " Pray, Madam, can you inform us where Mr. C 



lives? " for they had heard of h'im as the Rural Philosopher, or Klyogg of the 

 neighborhood. " Yes, sir," was the polite answer ; " this is his residence, and 

 there he is himself, at work in the field," pointing to a hill-side meadow, which 

 he afterward told us had been sowed over and harrowed down to timothy by his 

 father, fifty-two years ago,* and from which a crop of hay had been taken every 



[* We have since learned, in the neighborhood of Lebanon Springs, that it is no uncommon 

 thing to mow the same meadow fifty years or more in succession. This explains, hi part., the 

 uniformly high price of these lands ; for the greater part of them, upland and lowland, is laid 

 down to grass, with which they combine sheep raising and dairy husbandry. When a man baya 

 one of diese farms, lie knows ihct, witliout cultivation, every acre will yield a certain amount of 

 a salable commodity. //j Farm lib] 



{371j ' ' • ' -i. 



