Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1869-10-05

and sown TO wheat, and though on either
side, the wheat was entirely eaten up by
the weevil, yet in the old road bed, there
grew good sbunl wheat, proving, as |
think, conclusisclS. thai lie ezhads--
tion of the soil invited the ravages of the
insect | believe that as general rule,
exhausting the soil tends to invite the at.
tacks of insects, and that the true remedy
for this evil, is to restore the fertility of
the soil,
Still, modern aertculture-the agricul-
ture Of the preselS uay, has one great ad.
vantage over the systems of former times,
and that is in the Improvement of impe-
ments. Our most common implements are
al immense improvement on those of our
fathers. Fifty years ago, the pillow as |
remember it, was simply a framework of
wood--pointed with ohG small bit of iron.
But the plow of to-day Is an implement
of steel, giving an immensely greater COM
masl Of the soil. We have one illustra.
tration at the present day Hf the compar:
ative advantages Of improved implements
-1-cr Of the disadvantages of the DID,
We speak of Spain-of her dest,ution
and suffering. The plow of the Spanish
to-day is little more than a forked stick.
1t is scarcely possible with that plow to do
more than simply scratch the SOIL In
this country we have the means and im-
4 plefients fbf n better kind of husbandry
than that of Spain. We understand that
the earth plowed to the depth of ten inch
es, is far better able to produce paying
crop than plowed only fur inches deep;
II A few weeks ago, | travelled through
the State of Virginia, and found hbrri.
bic condition of things. saw 100000
acres Of corn, that will not produce more
thau five to tth bushels per acre, and 2,
900 OF it, will not yield one single ear Of
corn! The universal cry is "the drouth
the drouth! = Bat, if the land had been
properly ploVed, although the drouth would
have made the crop light, still everywhere
there would have been a crop
In ancient times there were famines,
which we have no occasion to fear, be.
T cause their systed OF agriculture left the
nation exposed in seasons of drouth to to-
tai failure Of or ps. Now then, We have
passed beyond the period of total failure
In the year 1916, | reitetlber distinctly
looking out III the morning early in June,
and seeing the ground covered with twt
inches of newly fallen snow. My home
at that time was at least hundred miles
south OF here Oh the level OF Southern
New Hampshire and | recollect it was
stated that there was no single month Of
that year in New Hampshire, withou,
frost, and yet we had no famine, iu CON
sequence, although there was some scar
city, but in ancient times under similar
circumstances there would have been fam
|. inel .I
In the beginning of this century the av
f erage of the wheat crop in this country
was twenty-five bushels per acre. Now i
is only twelve. In England at that time
the average was twelve bushels per acre
and now it is twenty-five. England ha
, doubled her crop in seventy years, an(
we have halved ours, provingi that althou
some progress has been made with US, ou
, ithprovident use of the soil is deprvin,
us of the capacity Of growing that ont
I staple. We have, in our State Of New
York large districts that were rented
hundred years ago for so many bushels o
wheat per acle-but small proportion o
the usual yield-@where now you could no
grow the rent Of that day.
| am not of those who believe that j
proves bad farming because the farme
does not choose to grow wheat. yet con
fess to a prejudice against seeing farme
going to a railroad depot with his butte
/, and cheese and bringing back -four. Ou
) people might grow the wheat they meet
.or their own CONSUMPTION. claim tha
although the wheat crop in Vernon
might average short crop, it would stll
, be profitable for the farrer to grow wha
he requires. But by giving to the soil it
proper consistency and making it ,chea
SOIL we might succeed in raising NOR
, than short crop.
, UNDER-DRAINING!
, England has mainly a heavy clay soil
} She begins her improvements by whatseen
) to us the basis of the modern syst,m 0
: husbandry. The English farmer sees to
that his land is well u'sderdrained. NJ
} farmer Of any kind Of eminence in Eng
, land maintains that clay soil can be prot
: itably plowed without being drained. An
: it is quite generally understood in thi
oo,ntryth.t n,dordr.:nino IA good rem