AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
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AGRICULTURE IS THE MOST 'STEAL TIIY, THE MOST USEFUL , AND THE MOST NOBLE EMPLOYMENT OF 3/.AA r .--W ashington. 
PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY ALLEN & CO., 189 WATER ST. 
VOL. XI.] NEW-YORK, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY IB, 1854. [NUMBER 19. 
m»FOR PROSPECTUS, TERMS, %c., 
SEE LAST PAGE. 
A GENTLEMAN FARMER. 
“ I intend to be a gentleman farmer,” said a 
clever young man, just out of college, in answer 
to our inquiry, what pursuit he intended to fol¬ 
low. He was a well-disposed young gentleman 
of fair abilities, just turned of twenty; had ap¬ 
plied himself to no business beyond the ordinary 
studies of a “ college-boy,” which had been left, 
in the close application of his father to his own 
concerns, to the judgment of his teachers. Of 
course, like thousands of other young men, he 
had now arrived at a period in life looking out 
upon manhood; and destitute of practical know¬ 
ledge in worldly affairs, had his trade or pro¬ 
fession, be it what it might, all to learn, without 
any fixed habits of industry, or true estimate of 
the labors and responsibilities of life. His father 
was not rich, as the term rich is understood in 
these times, but he was veil off; that is, he had 
a good business, which enabled him to support 
a considerable family respectably, and lay up, of 
late years, a few thousand dollars annually; but 
his early career bound him to a strict econo¬ 
my in his expenses, and induced him to give his 
eldest sons each a trade for himself, in which 
they were now established, and pushing their 
own way in the world. Our youthful friend was 
the youngest, and with the increased means of 
the parent, he had been reserved from the la¬ 
bors of apprenticeship, and was to have the ben¬ 
efit, whatever it might be, of a college education, 
to place him on an equality with the sons of 
“rich” men, and to distinguish the family by 
showing at least one “gentleman” within its 
circle. So said the mother and the elder sisters; 
and the father, in the little thought which he 
was enabled to spare on the subject, concluded 
that “perhaps it might be as well.” He had, 
within a year or two past, purchased the old 
farm on which he had been born and brought 
up, with the sensible and natural desire to retain 
it in his family, without any distinct notion of 
how he should manage it; but “ it was a safe 
investment;” and he entertained a stray thought 
or two that he might retire upon it in a few 
years, and spend the quietude of an old age 
among the familiar and pleasant associations of 
his boyhood. It was a good farm, as the neigh¬ 
bors said, of “ abundant capabilities,” in an agree¬ 
able neighborhood, easily accessible, and not a, 
hundred miles from the city. The family had 
spent a few weeks during the last two summers 
upon it, and the cheerful scenery, the clear brook 
that murmured through it, the smooth meadows 
the ripening orchards, and the quiet old home¬ 
stead buildings beneath the trees, gave it such 
an air of repose, that all were pleased and de¬ 
lighted with “ the beauties of a country life.” 
In casting about among the “learned profes¬ 
sions”—for it is usually supposed that a college 
boy, as a matter of course, must embrace one or 
another among them—the father, in looking 
thoughtfully about him for the first time, and 
examining the capacity of his son to embrace 
that-in which he might become successful, se¬ 
rious doubts had occurred whether the habits 
of application and acquired tastes of the boy 
were fitted for either. While in college, the lad 
had associated with the sons of planters and 
other country gentlemen ; and from them, who 
were looking forward to the inheritance and 
management of their fathers’ estates, he had im¬ 
bibed many agreeable fancies of the freedom, 
independence, and enjoyment of country life. 
His expenses, although much greater than his 
father had anticipated for a college course, were 
not extravagant. He graduated, not with par¬ 
ticular distinction, yet creditably, and came 
home with “a clean bill of health,” and quite 
reasonable notions of life, much to the joy of 
his parents, and, on the whole, quite satisfactory 
to the expectations of the family. 
After due consideration, in compliance with 
his own tastes, and the advice of friends, it was 
determined that Robert-—for that was his name 
—should go and reside upon the farm, and be¬ 
come a “gentleman farmer.” While at Yale, he 
had attended a course of lectures on agricultural 
chemistry, under the late Professor Norton. He 
had amused himself with an agricultural periodi¬ 
cal or two, had read the Idlewild Sketches of 
Willis in the Horae Journal , and reveled in the 
anticipation of fine horses, improved stock, mo¬ 
dern implements, and the various modes of su¬ 
perior cultivation, which the enterprising men 
of late years have introduced on their farms. 
He had attended, also, some of the recent 
cattle shows—the fairs of the American Insti¬ 
tute—and had witnessed with what hearty zeal 
and competition sundry substantial merchants 
and other city gentlemen had exhibited their 
farm-stock, and entered into the spirit of liberal¬ 
ity with which they had procured and stocked 
their farms with these beautiful specimens. In 
short, the die was cast; and Robert Redding, 
the youngest son of Moses Redding, timber-mer¬ 
chant, of the city of New-York, was to be duly 
installed as a gentleman farmer, in the county 
of Ulster, in the spring of 1854. 
“ A gentleman farmer,” we inquired; “ why, 
what is that ?” 
“ Don’t you know, sir, in all your agricultural 
acquaintance, what a gentleman farmer is? Why, 
there is Mr. Roberts, the rich banker in Wall 
street; Mr. Mead, one of the proprietors of the 
great London line of packet-ships; Mr. Watkins j 
one of the leading iron dealers in Front street; 
and Judge Meekf \ A the Supreme Court. They 
all have their faruio in the country. They have 
their stock every year at the cattle shows, where 
I have met them exhibiting it. They are gentle¬ 
men farmers of the true kind." 
“Very well; we know them all. They are 
gentlemen—truly so. But we never knew that 
they styled themselves gentlemen farmers, any 
more than gentlemen bankers, gentlemen ship¬ 
pers, gentlemen merchants, or gentlemen judges. 
They have farms, certainly. One or two of them, 
we believe, live on their farms; and all manage 
them through superintendents under their own 
immediate direction; but I am not aware that 
they assume any particular title of distinction 
from farmers who have no other pursuit, and are 
gentlemen also.” 
“Yes; but the gentleman farmer I intend to be ? 
is to live on the farm; to keep my own horses 
and carriages, to live in my own houses, to have 
my own servants, to go and come when I please, 
to entertain my friends, to give orders to my 
head man, and have him carry them out—in 
short, to spend my time in elegant leisure! I 
shall have my books on agricultural chemistry ; 
I shall read the agricultural papers; project va¬ 
rious improvements fipon the farm, and breed 
fine stock. I mean to raise the profession of the 
American farmer to what it should be; to make 
the farmer at the North what the planter is at 
the South—the most important and most re¬ 
spectable person in the community !” 
All well-intended, my young friend, no doubt. 
But are you aware that, as you have no other 
pursuit than this, a close application to your 
business, a methodical arrangement of everything 
in its proper place, labor, and purpose, in time 
and season, and to the best result, is as necessary 
on the farm as in other kinds of business ? Do 
you not know that for thirty years your father 
has toiled amid his lumber-sheds and in his 
counting-room incessantly, morning, noon, and 
night, and that, until within a few years past, 
he has allowed himself but little leisure or re¬ 
creation ? Have you not heard that the eminent 
banker you named, began his apprenticeship by 
sweeping out the office of his employers, and as 
errand-boy; then was made an assistant-clerk 
in the office, gradually rose to be a book-keeper 
and discount-clerk, when, after a series of years 
of assiduous application, he was found worthy to 
be taken into the concern as a junior partner; 
then how he toiled and labored for years, before 
he was ever known “on change;” and he still 
attends almost daily at the office to consult with 
his partners, and advises in every important 
transaction in which his firm is concerned? 
The great ship-owner was a cabin-boy twenty- 
