Background

Caleb Bement was born on September 25, 1790, in Salisbury, Connecticut. It is well authenticated that the Bements, who were of English, Dutch, and French extraction, honorably assisted in the early settlement of New York, but it is uncertain to which branch of the family Caleb belonged.

Career

Prior to 1834 Caleb Bement is known to have been a printer by trade and also to have engaged in the hotel business. In April of that year, he purchased his subsequently celebrated "Three Hills Farm" near Albany, and thereafter for a number of years intelligently devoted himself to agricultural theory and practise. Quickly becoming dissatisfied with the crude farm apparatus of the day, before the end of 1835 he invented, and shortly afterward offered to the public, two implements, designated as Bement's Expanding Corn Cultivator and Bement's Turnip Drill. These machines, which he manufactured himself and placed on sale in Albany and New York, were improved from time to time in the next half-decade, and came into considerable use among farmers.

Simultaneously with these inventive and manufacturing efforts, Bement began to display his long-continued interest in improved livestock, by importing, breeding, and distributing through sale, blooded Berkshire and China hogs, Southdown and Leicester sheep, Hereford, Devon, Ayrshire, and Shorthorn Durham cattle, and poultry. After 1834 he frequently exhibited his animals at the annual fairs of the New York State Agricultural Society and won numerous prizes. Not content with these enterprises, Bement at the same time commenced offering his opinions and ideas upon farming to the agricultural press. These original contributions not only presented the results of his own careful and extended experiments at "Three Hills, " but frequently added, by way of preface, informing historical summaries gained from a wide reading of ancient and contemporary agricultural writers in Europe and America. In this period and later Bement also showed a notable generosity of spirit, as well as vision, by publicly calling attention to every new machine, improvement in livestock, or agricultural practise, which came within range of his inquiring mind.

Bement's pioneer activities along these and similar lines did much to encourage the introduction of better machinery and improved breeds of livestock in New York and other states. Having tasted of the fruits of authorship through his published correspondence, Bement in January 1844 became one of the editors of the Central New York Farmer, but because of the competition with other agricultural papers the Central Farmer perished of financial atrophy at the end of the year. In the meanwhile in July 1844 he gave further proof of his diverse abilities. Turning over "Three Hills, " which by now had become a showplace, to a manager, who continued to breed and sell improved livestock under his supervision, he reentered the tavern business by leasing the American Hotel in Albany for a number of years. This hostelry, under his guidance, soon became the rendezvous of all the agricultural notables who came that way.

Bement's table, supplied from his farm, was justly famed, and many pleasant agricultural gatherings took place under his hospitable roof. One of the most valuable of Bement's activities consisted of the completion and publication of his American Poulterer's Companion in 1844. This book was proclaimed by the editor of the Cultivator as the most complete and practical treatise on the subject of poultry which had appeared up to that time, and was long regarded as a classic by agriculturists. Engaged with his hotel and his farm, Bement did not undertake any new enterprise until the beginning of the year 1848, at which time he purchased the American Quarterly Journal of Agriculture and Science, announced himself as editor, and offered it to the public. This second attempt at editorship, like the first, ended in disaster, the publication discontinuing for lack of financial support at the end of 1848. In the following year, possibly due to financial losses, Bement advertised his livestock at "Three Hills" at public auction.

In 1853 he appeared before the public as the proprietor of the Albany Steam Mills, where he manufactured and sold Bement's Compound, a substitute for yeast. In 1855 he added The Rabbit Fancier to his Poulterer's Companion, a work which increased his reputation as an author. Shortly afterward, he left Albany and took up his residence at Springside in Dutchess County, New York. Here he farmed again and continued his writings for the agricultural press, devoting much of his attention to poultry. In 1867 he moved to Poughkeepsie, and died in that city the next year.

Achievements

• Caleb Bement was a well-known agriculturist of his time who was interested in improved livestock, by importing, breeding, and distributing through sale. He also designed and invented Bement's Expanding Corn Cultivator and Bement's Turnip Drill. For some time Bement served as editor of the Central New York Farmer and the American Quarterly Journal of Agriculture and Science. He also wrote American Poulterer's Companion (1844) and The Rabbit Fancier (1855).

Works

More photos

• book

  • The American Poulterer's Companion: A Practical Treatise on the Breeding, Rearing, Fattening, and General Management of the Various Species of Domestic Poultry

    (This is a reproduction of a classic text optimised for ki...)

  • The rabbit fancier: a treatise upon the breeding, rearing, feeding, and general management of rabbits; with remarks upon their diseases and remedies, etc. ... for the construction of hutches, etc

    (This is a reproduction of a classic text optimised for ki...)

Personality

As indicated by his career, Bement was a man of unusual intelligence, wide interests, and varied talents, accompanied by great industry. Lacking in humor, he atoned for this fault by an equanimity of temperament which enabled him to face the vicissitudes of a long life with unfailing courage.

Connections

Wife:

Susan E. (Pierce) Bement

Wife:

Caroline Blumy (Holmes) Bement

Wife:

Harriet Hobbie (Holmes) Bement

Son:

William Bement