The Middlebury galaxy. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1848-1850, 1849-02-13
AGRICULTURAL.
From the Pow, the Loom and the Anvil.
VERMONT AND MARYLAND HUS-
BANDRY COMPARED.

the apprehension that we might not have
time for this comparison; nor can we
make it now, except in some strong points
Of view, which, we are aware, must leave
it very incomplete. Enough, however,
may be suggested TO set the reader to
thinking and that, let US tell him, is half
the battle gained in a contest between er-
ror aud truth. In fact, the great difficul>
ty, according to our observation, in the
way If meliorating the condition and
character of the American farmer, is to
gt him TO think If you could, would
you see hin, for example, 60 even three
times, instead of three thousand times,
through his own gate, that either strikes
the ground and drGgS before it reaches
halfway to the post, or else falls with such
force against it that you may hear the
dreadful conclusion mile off! Would
you see him losing fifty dola.s worth of
time in year in pulling down and putt
ting up bars to say nothing Of occasional
destruction to his crop when they are not
put up? Would You see him STOPPING
to the pummel of his saddle for seven
years TO avoid limb of a tree, in his dai-
" ride, that one stroke of "A Ratchet would
remove! No; you cannot get him to
Think But enough Of that. The two
States that we are going TO compare, in
some points of view. differ somewhat in
size, but not so much as in some other
things; Maryland hlving 900 square
miles. or 10000 acres, while Vermont
has but 5000, according to Darby, or 81
100, 900 acres. Now see the difference
in their agricultural pursuits and econo-
my, ard the results to which they have
cond icted these two old sisters of the
Republic.
In Vermont winter lasts, and cattle and
sheep are fed, FIVE months in the year,
sheep at a cost per head per annum, as
we have often been told, Of what would
actually fetch from s to s Is, while in
Maryland they are rarely if ever fed, ex-
cept when the snow covers the ground,
(Which d es not average a week in
year, when they have, scattered on the
snOT, some cOrn-blades, or perhaps shea
oats. And, with all these disadvantages,
the Verrnonter has the sagacity to go
strong upon cattle, and sheep. and wool,
and hay, and potatoes, and milk, and but>
ter. and cheese, SC, content to let the
Marylander beat him in horses, 1.-THE most
precarious and expensive investment that
can be made in animal flesh or power.
and in wheat and corn, rye, and tobacco,
all of which the earth yields by bushels
and pounds, instead of tons; and which,
at last, are all sold away off the farm,
yielding no return to the land that pros
duced them Let us follow the compari>
son more exactly on some points indica-
tive of the sources that 90 to produce in>
crease of population, and political power,
and appreciation Of land, and the con-
trary.
Vermont H 10 Sos c Cat sAsoP Wool III:
"aryianu S222O 2s5,N4 257923 4ss, Dol
Potatoes, Hay, Pulling woollen
v,ro,, bushels 9s6 Is s tons 80 mill. factories
Maryland, LO36,433 IO66s7 20 %
Now, what is the lesson in the political
economy of the pillow that this view of
these States teachesl Does it not 90 to
show that wise States, when not made
subservient to the colonial policy of
other countries by the subservient policy
Of their own, will keep the loom and
the anvil near to the pillow where ma.
ture, if left alone, would place them
as naturally as she places the coun-
try mill near to the courthouse. And
what reader, is the effect of a course of
hdsbandry that does keep them together.
and enables the farmer to consume on the
lands the products of the land why
the effect is Just this: that, as here we
see, Vermont wearing her garments of
snow five months in the year, in 1890 be-
gins on basis population of only 81, 4I6.
and runs up in fifty years to 29I ,94S
while Maryland, the favored of Provi
uence, starting at the same time with
population of 3l9,l28, has gone in the
same period up to only 47O, O0O-tbe for
me, doubling her man capital more than
i E times over, the latter not half doub-
ling hers once O0'