And a Woman Did It

By Mrs. A. J. Wilder. Mansfield, Missouri.

The Wilson Stock Farm is One of Missouri's Best

Down in the Ozarks, in Wright County, Missouri, is a 1000-acre farm where the purebred Shorthorn cattle and registered Poland China hogs roam over blue grass and clover pastures in the sunny days of summer time and in winter feast on bright alfalfa hay and succulent silage. These upper class animals come of aristocratic lineage and are cared for royally and this stock farm is managed by a woman and has been brought up from a run down "hog and hominy" farm to its present state of efficiency by her knowledge, hard work and good business judgment.

A part of the present Wilson farm owned by Dr. and Mrs. Wilson, late of St. Louis, was bought by them 13 years ago. While on a visit to relatives in Wright county, Dr. Wilson became so enamored of the Ozarks as a place to make a home that he tried to buy a small farm near the one he now owns, but failed to obtain it and went back to St. Louis disappointed. Some time later a brother-in-law wrote him that a small place, adjoining the one he had wished to purchase, could be bought at a reasonable figure and that he would take charge and manage it for them.

So the farm was bought and stocked and the brother-in-law took charge but that was as far as he kept his agreement. He did not stay to manage. Becoming possessed of the idea that he could do better for himself farther west, he left the Wilson farm at a moment's notice.

The farm was well stocked with common stock and a good deal of money had been spent for them and for the farming tools as well as the farm itself. Dr. Wilson could not leave his practice in the city without too great a sacrifice, neither could he take it with him, so it became necessary that Mrs. Wilson should save the investment and come to the rescue of the home that was to be. Both of these things she has done and more. Not only has she saved what was then put into the place but she has more than trebled the original investment. Other tracts of land have been added to the first small piece until there is now, to be exact, 997 acres in the Wilson farm. This land was purchased for $10 and $12 an acre and is now easily worth from $30 to $50 an acre.

"All I know about farming," said Mrs. Wilson, "I have learned since we bought Fern Cliff. This is the real name of the farm. The neighbors began calling it Wilson farm and it has gone by that name, but I always call it Fern Cliff to myself." The name was chosen because of a very beautiful spot on the farm where the face of a sheer cliff is nearly covered with lovely drooping ferns.

"I was born on the farm," continued Mrs. Wilson, "and from the age of 9 until I was 14 I lived with my grandparents on their place in the country, but I always hated it and thought the worst calamity that could befall me would be to marry a farmer and live on a farm. This thought was a real nightmare to me and I always said it was one thing I never would do, but the old saying has proved true that 'what you say you will not do, that you have to do.'"

Mrs. Wilson has learned the business of farming and stock breeding from books and farm papers, attending farmers' meetings, talking with other farmers and breeders and from practical experience. The Wilson farm was the first in this part of the Ozarks to have a field of alfalfa. Having read about alfalfa, it was decided to try it and 4 acres were sown. It made a good catch and so 20 acres more were seeded. This also was a success. Mrs. Wilson has been generous and the soil from this field has gone to many other farms to inoculate the soil for growing alfalfa. The spirit of the farming operations on the Wilson farm is shown in Mrs. Wilson's answer to a question. "No," she said, "I did not send any soil away to be analyzed. I read about alfalfa and I just tried it."

There are 400 acres in cultivation on the Wilson farm. The rest is pasture and woodland. Corn, wheat, oats and hay are raised on the place, in addition to the alfalfa.

"After taking charge," said Mrs. Wilson, "I soon learned to love the stock, especially the cattle which at that time were grades. I decided that it took no longer to raise and care for purebreds than it did grades and so we looked around for something better. I had no knowledge of stock except horses. Grandfather was from Kentucky and knew and kept good horses and he always said that I could point my finger at the best one every time, but I have learned about cattle since I began farming."

Mrs. Wilson became quite enthusiastic when asked whey they chose the Shorthorn Durham cattle. After enumerating their many good qualities she summed it up thus: "The Shorthorns have all other breeds beaten when it comes to making money for their owners. Besides they are aristocrats and we think them the most beautiful of any." Trust a woman to think of that last reason.

The animals on the Wilson farm are certainly aristocrats. The first Shorthorn owned on the place was a son of Lavender Viscount many times champion and grand champion at the American Royal Stock show of Kansas City and the International of Chicago. Next came Champion Menarch from Purdy Brothers' herd, Harris, Missouri, and now the head of the herd is Violet Chief out of the herd of N. H. Gentry, of Sedalia, Missouri. Good females have been bought from time to time and there is now on the Wilson farm a herd of 100 head of purebred Shorthorns as fine as one would care to see.

Nothing seems to have been overlooked, that makes for success on this farm owned and operated by these city people who have gone "back to the land." Besides the registered Shorthorn cattle and Poland China hogs there is on the place a flock of purebred Bronze turkeys. From the flock of 34 raised four years ago, the number has increased to 100 and during these four years they have brought in, in case, $781.92.

"I farmed at first because it was necessary," says Mrs. Wilson. "Now I farm because I like it. Dr. Wilson, from the first, has been more in love with the farm than I have been. He knows nothing about the stock or farming because he has been tied to his practice in the city, but now he has given it up and come home to the farm he can learn as I did." Dr. Wilson fully intends to do so, but already his professional services are being called for and he may not be allowed time.

This building of a farm business literally "from the ground up" has been no light task. Mrs. Wilson says that most of the time she is "too busy to think twice in the same place." She is very modest about what she has accomplished but the beautiful Wilson farm with its rich bottom fields and rolling pasture lands, with its silos and barns and stacks of alfalfa and above all the fine stock at home on the place speak for her.

Mrs. A. J. Wilder. "And a Woman Did It." Missouri Ruralist,  (July 20, 1917), pages 10-11. The article is accompanied by a photograph of Mrs. Wilson and another of her farm and cattle, with the caption: The Cattle at Fern Cliff Come of Aristocratic Lineage and are Cared for Royally under Mrs. Wilson's Supervision.

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