Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1865-10-13

swelling ranks of hungry home consumers, and never
has 1t been more desirable TO make farming regular
and lifelong occupation The prices of real estate
here make 1t possible for every man to cultivate his
own land, nnd indulge his fancy, occording to his
2 mtans, with many acres, with few, or with Just
enough.
In England 10000 uen hold all the land. and It is
rented and sub-reued at such prices as robs labor of
half its reward. They have abundant capital, and
labor is cheaply paid but there is not proportionate
return in crops These are large but the cost is larg
er. The fields, with their admirable hedges and fine
glossy meadows, beautiful, but alas the men who
do the work are less cared for and poorer housed
than the c0rt-horses and Durham beeves. Unlike the
Buddhsts Of the East they have religion in Great
Britain which orbids the eating Of flesh Of animals,
but the poverty of aborers for the most part compes
It's relinqushment. Gaun famine occasionally, as in
Ireland in 1s47 sweeps off its victims by hundreds of
thousands, and hopeless pauperism increasingly grpcs
the hearts Of millions.
Here, on the contrary, while taking the best care
we are able to do of our ocks and herds and Of that
noble animal the horse, we intend to do better by
| man-the laboror-than By any beast of the field.
We have no "involuntary Buddhists." The more
highly cultivated our lands may be, by much the
more should it be tue American idea to elevate and
educate the people. Intelligent culture should not
only go through tie farm but through all the dweers
thereon 1t is true that British agriculture has made
great strides in the intense system of culture, and
through it they have obtained the largest crops per
acre. all being the result of surplus capital and an
excess of labor applied to limited territory 1t gives,
however, to the laborer the minimum, OF rewards How
this system will endure, when guano shall fail and
when oil cake and bone-dust cannot be imported in
exchange for the wares of Birmingham or the cloths
of Manchester, it is not difficult to foresee.
The fault inherent to our present condition is that
country is too great for its population, but this is
fault which every decade tends to remedy. Let us
bear in mind, however, that in spite Of this we can
| produce bushel of wheat at less price than the
most successful English farmers and at the same time
give to the laborer the mariH,um of rewards, with
eternal security against famine.
In France the land, under their laws Of partition
have become too greatly subdivided, and there is not
room for the broad fields of the genuine farmer. Hand
labor is the rule, aud labor-savng machines can be
but rarely introduced. The tiilage may be good but
the crops if that Of the vineyard be excepted, like the
French peasantry, miscellaneous and petty.
The prairie lands Of the West sometimes exhibit q
marvel in the amount of an annual crop, but wher
that is the case, prices suddenly become unremunera
tive. At other times much rain too little, the
ravages of the grub the chnch-bug the severity
of an open winter, proves destructive to their matt
crops so hat when prices should be satisfactory her,
is very little surplus for market The true standard
of agricultural profits only be fixed by estimating
the average profits for long series of years By thi
standard Vermont farmers have no reason for discon
tent.
of climate and soil and the PHI
of the country, Vermont farming began and has bee
continued much in accordance with leading scientific
principles, or at least with general good judgment
producing certainty of results Some of us, however
NAV be unconscously in the predicament of the ma
+ Just learning English grammar "Why," said he,
have been talking English grammar ali my life, an
r didn't know it," We have done much rightly thong
unconscious of any law. Other States may have som
better farmers than we, but deny that any othe
State as a whole, is better iarmed.
The climate hls restricted our productions With
certain limits, and have no one large staple croI
Q if we except grass, which is our largest product
Among the grasses clover fourishes n sure croT
and this has not merely been turned in, but it has bee
fed out and returned the soil again in the shape
. manure. This is scientific culture. Timothy or herd
grass the most nutritious of all grasses, has also bee
t most widely cultivated. If our accmated grasse
have been somewhat too few, still those cling
G among the best
The alluvia, soils the margins Of the streams, tn
G more variable soils of the uplands and the uneve
surface everywhere prevailing, compeis the culture
4 contracted, aud so of numerous elds-in shape ote
C the puzzles of geomercians-and has thereby indu
ed Il considerable variety of crops on the small
est farms Hence we have naturally enough fl,
rotation of crops and that is here and in Europe tho
:, to be toleraby scientific, although in Japan, whe
l. they have no cattle at all and where they
n ply their manure annual ,and in liquid form, the
1t have, it is said long ago emancpaed themselves fro
d all care rs to rotation Of crops.
A. Our soil rs a whole, is comparatively hard n
compact making excellent roads. 1t challenges th'
r ough tillage. 1t must be more than tckled with
,r hoe or it will not laugh with harvest In the ID
n guage of one of the Oldest English writers, thorou
"a communion" makes the crop, though that proc
,o alone has not he taught, led to the abandonm
N of the use of manures. Thorough tilage belongs
N the highest system Of culture, and is indispensable
"a the lowest. 1t gives to legitimate crops, rather tf
to Jolly weeds the exclusive use of the soil, as one
If its incidental advantages
Our grasses native and naturaized, being good
# both attening and milk giving properties, we ha
N put into beef and mutton, into WOOL butter and chee
-, We have not shipped our hay and grain, but fed it
some kind of stock to horses when could do
T., BETTER and the world not so well--and thus resto
TO the land as much as taken from it. II this
- not scientific then science has the worst of it.
. powerful stimulus in the same direction, work
much to oLr advantage, has been the growing repu
90 tion of our Morgan horses and Vermont sheep. ]
y, manufacturer, as well as the professional man and
-, politician work at loss until they have made Il r.
an utation. After that they and their wares secure
-, pie consideration and sometimes a large per cent?
. above the absolute relative value. The products O
=. dairy, with II reputation fragrant through the la
sell ut prices much above the market rates The ma
10 is a perpetual guaranty and the purchaser runs
m risk. Vermont has earned some reputation and
rh stock has gd that makes it sought after here
GA occasionally even in Europe Even It's counterf'
an are marketable and clever knaves often peddle Gre
~, Mountain cus. This shows that thoroughbred sto'
possess a value above the common herd, and
raising of such is in accord with the experience
scientific husbandry. Let me add, though would
H., guiltess of an Irish bull, that some of our nat
ng cows, as mixers, thoroughbred for having b
ng selected for this purpose, since which the memory
be man runncth not to the contrary how can the valid
We of the claim be impeached2
nd We still raise some wheat-much more than q
~ other State in New Eng and-and what is better Il
of ground by mills on our own running brooks,
ar ground not so fine as by Western mills, and Dol