'Che Conservative *
IttlLLIONAIRKS AS FAKMKKS.
The rrniliicu From Their Estates Brings
Them Small Fortunes.
The produce sent to market by just
seventeen multi-millionaires of New
York will exceed in value } t million
per annum.
With the millionaire farmer or florist
the pursuit is generally a fad ; his
grounds are the most expensive that
money can buy ; his barns are princely
structures ; his hot-house plants are the
finest that soil and science can produce ;
his milk is skimmed and churned by the
latest methods ; his cow is nurtured as
kindly as a baby. She is guarded by
day and by night ; her food must bo of
the most delicate flavor ; the water she
drinks must bo filtered ; she has mats to
lie on and her horns are polished. She
has the attendance of a famous veteri
narian.
The poultry plant of the millionaire
farmer is equally fine. Science relieves
the hen of maternal duties ; her chicks
are hatched by the incubator and housed
in grandeur.
The millionaire farmer does not fol
low the pursuit to clear a fortune. Bat
he sells the produce ; that is a part of
the fad.
In Madison , N. J. , lies the princely
estate of Hamilton McK. Twombly , son-
in-law of W. H. Vauderbilt and next to
the largest producer in this part of the
country.
Ho owns a beautiful park , traversed
by macadamized roads and covering
nearly 400 acres. It is called Florham
place and connects with Florham farms.
The palatial residence cost one million
dollars. It is a wonder of domestic
architecture , but the farm in its way is
as wonderful.
Mr. Twombly averages in the neigh
borhood of § 75,000 a year from the sale
of produce. The sale of the milk from
his farm averages $2,000 a month ; his
flowers from $20,000 to $30,000 a year.
He supplies the Madison market with
milk , cream , butter , vegetables and
flowers , and sends large consignments
of flowers to New York.
Mr. Twombly peddles milk at ten
cents a quart eight cents in summer
in a § 1,200wagon , , drawn by a pair of
$1,500 thoroughbreds in gold mounted
harness. The farm wagons are hauled
by $1,000 thoroughbreds.
The cow stables are finished in hard
wood. They are built upon English
models , regardless of cost.
The dairy , lined throughout with
tiling , is one of the finest in the United
States. There are about 150 head of
Guernseys on Florham farms , imported
thoroughbreds , which furnish for mar
ket 300 gallons of milk a day. Mr.
Twombly's prize cow is the famous Ru-
tilla's daughter.
The garden at Florham farm grows
the finest vegetables known to the soil.
The greenhouses are famous. Their
walls are laid with Portland cement to
stand hundreds of years. The most
notable is the palni house , which towers
sixty-four feet , topped by a mammoth
dome.
The greenhouses are classified. Mr.
Twombly makes a specialty of growing
orchids and chrysanthemums. Most of
these he ships to New York.
Mr. Twombly encourages his garden
ers by rewards , and it is said that they
receive a certain percentage upon what
is sold.
The superintendent of the estate is
Mr. E. Burnett , a polished gentleman , a
Harvard graduate and school fellow of
Mr. Twombly in his boyhood days.
Gossip fixes his salary at § 10,000 a year ,
but that is not official.
Madison seems a chosen spot for mil
lionaires with a fad for flower-growing.
Mr. Marinaduke Tildon , a branch of the
same stock as the late Samuel J. Tilden
and an inveterate golf player , grows the
finest Maid and American Beauty roses
in the country. His sales average
§ 15,000 a year.
By the side of Mr. Tilden's are the
greenhouses of Mr. 0. A. Work. He
supplies a large quantity of flowers to
Madison and the surrounding country ,
an average of § 7,000 a year.
Near by is Mr. T. J. Slaughter's fine
plant. His cultivation of flowers was at
first a fad , but he made a great success
and has shipped large consignments to
New York for some years , averaging
§ 15,000 a year.
Henry Ileiitx's Greenhouses.
One of the finest greenhouses in the
country is that established a few years
ago by Henry Hentz , Jr. , a popular
young millionaire.
He has nine greenhouses , each 175
feet long by 20 feet , built at a cost of
§ 50,000. His packing house is like some
great fortress , with its walls two feet
thick.
He sends out an average of § 25,000
worth of flowers a year. Mr. Hentz has
taken up horticulture as a business
occupation.
Mrs. R. B. Holmes , wife of the Wall
Street broker , raises American Beauties.
She has a green house in Madison and
sends to market about § 7,000 worth of
flowers annually.
One of the finest Westchester estates
is Briar Cliff farm , the property of Mr.
Walter W. Law , former partner of Mr.
William J. Sloano.
This farm was established two years
ago. It lies between Tarrytown and
Sing Sing , and from its northern to its
southern boundary covers four miles ,
traversed by macadamized roads.
The property was laid out under the
advice of Mr. Olmstead , the landscape
gardener of Central park.
That portion which overlooks the river
approaches the boundaries of Scarbor
ough and the estates of Mrs. Elliott F.
Shepard , William Rockefeller , H. Wal
ter Webb , V. Everett Macy , James
Speyer and the home grounds of the
owner.
It is one of the most perfect farms in
this country. On the estate is a schoolhouse -
house , church and a golf course. There
is a postoffice , a telegraph and long dis
tance telephone.
The greenhouses on Briar Cliff farm
cover several acres. The chrysanthe
mums and roses attain great perfection
and 140 varieties of carnation are in
bloom at one time.
The cow stables and dairy cost a for
tune. Each cow is sponged several
times a day and is always combed before
milking. The attendants wear sterilized
suits of white duck , which are boiled
immediately after each milking. The
farm maintains a well-equipped labora
tory in charge of a veterinary chemist.
The dairy is fifty feet square , wilh a
tower of rough stone. The structure is
tiled throughout. It has a reception
room of hard wood from which the
different rooms are reached through
doors of glass , where can be viewed the
whole process of dairying.
In one room the cream is being
skimmed , in another is the milk-bottling ,
in another the churning. In the base
ment is the shipping department , the
sterilizing and the pasteurizing.
This farm is stocked with GOO Jersey
cows , a few Normandies imported from
France and several famous bulls. Two
thousand quarts of milk a day , 800
quarts of cream and 500 pounds of but
ter a week are shipped to the Briar Cliff
dairy agencies in New York City , Dobbs
Ferry , Tarrytown and Yonkers.
Mr. Law ships more than § 70,000
worth of milk a year. The produce on
his place averages § 150,000 annually.
Briar Cliff farm has been photographed
by the government for display at the
Paris exposition.
One of the most wonderful country
places in the United States was Moun
tainside farm , founded by the late
Theodore A. Havemeyer at Mahwah ,
New Jersey.
It was Mr. Havemeyer who set a
fashion in cows. He elected that the
Jersey must go and decided that the
Guernsey should be the fashionable cow.
This was a signal triumph of tweedledum
and tweedledee.
The place comprised 3,000 acres of
meadow , pasture and woodland and
hundreds of thousands of dollars were
spent on it. The fence cost § 85,000.
Various European governments sent
representatives to report on the methods
used at this farm and for years it was
the Mecca for scientific farmers.
For twenty years the herd of cows
was bred for an abundance of milk.
Their records were kept. Unusual
methods were in vogue. Each cow had ,
if experiment proved she needed , a
different quality and quantity of food.
It was rumored that the horns of the
prize cow at the Havemeyer farm were