THUMB-NAIL SKETCHES OF GREAT LIVES.

Hutt News, Volume 3, Issue 1, 29 May 1930, Page 12

THUMB-NAIL SKETCHES OF GREAT LIVES.

' VCHABLES SBABBOOk. * '

CHAULIJE' S^ABEOOK! 2STo, you hay 6 never •heard of 'him. He is not f amyet, He has just.started,

fie te only forty-two years old, but ■ lie is- the * most \ofiicient farmer in ' the '

-world. .. . •.•^•^' ~'-.'•".. ~,,-■ •'. ..'l"' In one year-^ae raised vegetables WQrth£loo,ooo-oii a farm of 1,2G0 acres.

He runs Ibis farm on factaryi 'lines. He i* iiot, a,.-far3ttier, ; -in the ordinary sense. He doesn^#ii?k seed in^thev ground and let Nature .and the .bird^t d» the rest. ; , ,-,. -

He is; a manufacturer of vegetablesj and; ho gets, a greater output per acre than a^tiy one; ejlse ever did. -;

In. -fkiii, this Short story. ofOharlie, Seabrook otigiit to 'be printed as a leaflet, and isenfrio every farmer, aliotmenteer and manufacturer in Great Britain. Now that,we talking about onit-

prat, this story shows haw^to get it. Na Blatter whether we are in an/office, or a factory, or a fami, the general principles of production are the same.

The story of Charlie Seaibrook began with his birth in 1883, on a small fawn in Bridgetoiij New Jersey, U.S.A. His dßatiher was an English-American, wh'o was not very successful .as, a farmer.

Charlie began to work at five years of age. At fourteen he was doing tihe

work of a man,

He was a hard worker, but. he was i»at fond of sweat and dirt and druclgerji'- He todled because he thought die most, but as he worked the .thought— is there no.better, quicker, easier way to operate <a -farm?

You see, Ihe was fond of books and magazines. He bought every good 'book urn farming that he <could afford.

He was a reader, and «, thinker —that was tie beginning of his success.

At twenty-five he frad (three definite

ideas:—

(1) The farm needs more rain

(2)' The farni needs more imannnre

(3) One icrop a year is -not enough.

He betgan by putting up an overhead irrigation system. He ran a ljin^i. iron pipe on^tepof six-foot ".post*. The pipe' ■was peT»foTatedj so jsts to tihifow out a fine spray. Th« pipes were placed 50 feet opart. He triedthis: on. three acres, and ih.p results. w«i"^; wonderful. ,;. '

ThiL», ho improved, on Nature. Ho cheated Artificial Rain. He made, ten stailks grow where only ono grew be-

(fore.-,

'") -~ ~- _ ,rt

Until he was twenty-five, Gharlie Seabrgok worked for Ms father; after that ag© his father worked for Charlie. He was,one of tike widest fathers I.have eve-r heard of

In 1911 the two Seabrooks ina/de a

profit -of £5,000. "Now- let-us put it in the "bank. 7' said, the father. "No," feakl Charlie, "let us put it 'back into the 'land. TOic land is the best

•bank."

Tit ay j»ut it into the land. They almost squandered it on the land. The ai'ear-by far-mars thought they were mad.

"JUake a shilling and then put it i>a«k to jnake more shillings"—that is'Hho principle t-htxt Charlie Seaibrook Seamed from his books.

He sawithe- value of Fertilisation, as few farmers do. He discovered that

soil had to be nmtle—that Nature !hkd only haJf niado it. .. ■■ -■

. Ordinary soil is -not really soil at ail, any--more than four Avheels and a, gearibox are a motor-car. It is only a start— "a pllace fibr your crops to stand on.

' .So, young Seabrook began to. make soil. He put 100 tons of manure per aicre <xn iaew land; and .40 tons on old land. Then he put two i>i ttoee tons of b'oneaneal por acre at £12 a • ton on. top of t-ho 100' tons. .

A hundred tons pej acre at 10/- a ton! £50 per ■ja;cre—;just for fertilisatidn! No wonder the gther- farmjers : jeered at Se&brook and his book learning. -».-

yhe t Seabrobk farm was <a joke^unt/1 tlic'next year, wilien the amazing story was'-^-fold by the village grocer that Chaiflie >Sea/brook- made more tha.n, £400 /per jingle acre. Since. tihen the'other ifiarmers.;have stopped making jokes.

They 4Qfl.'t undeiretand \vhat lhas hap-

pened, Ibut they wish they -..-did.

Seabropk gets three crops a year— sometimes "four. For instance, ihe^has ihad crops <6£ spinach, eg*; lettuce, and spinach from the same land in one^ year. .

He has had 604 busihels of potatoes in one crop from one acre. He has 'had 8,500 quarts of strawberries from- one acre. His speciality is Id&tuce for the'T"e%son' ■that lie has found it to be the most profitable: Charlie Seabrook now has 1,200 acres, /b/u't nearly all Ms output has come froxn 200 aic-res. He ,^has organised (hjis f anu into a stock company: It Ihas £100, 000 of paid-up capital. And it makes 20 per cent profit. Th.ere are 3QO workers on this farm; and in berry-picking time there are twice as.many. The workers live on fke: farm in neat iconcreto houses. Tiey work ten hours a day, a"ll the year, and are paid weekly. •

If you ask—"What do they do in the winter?" tUxe answer is—''There is no winter on the Sea/brook Fai'm. }i

There aure six enormous greenhouses each 60 by 300 feet. These cost over £2,000 a-piece, and at first they were ■called ''Seabrook'sGPolfly:^ ..

. Tiese greenliotses give Seabrook a longer, year.; They abp'Hsh winter. They enable Mm to grow vegeta^bles. out- of season,, at top prices. He' inte.n'ds to build more greenhouses.: ,>";".'

i •., Then, Itt "the winteri, th« /workers go into a box factory pn the farm, an 4 'make IOO^OOQ boxes for their oiwn use.

Tihe farm has a large office, too, with its .typewriters, adding machines aud filing cabinets.

There is a. cold storage warehouse GO by 325 feet in size; and a garage for the four tractors and the eight lorries; and a stable for fifty Worsesj an~d ine-shop for making repairs; and a railWay siding.

"This is not a farm, 1' gays Sea/brook. "It is a food-factory."