Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1869-06-16
Mrs. Stowe In Vermont.

NIRs HARRIET BEEcnER STOWE left her orange
bowers ON the banks of the st. Johns River in
Florida, this winter, for the cold and SHOWS Of
Montreal and she writes pleasantly in the
Hearth & Home of her iourneyings. Here is an
extract suggested by what she saw in Vermont
We came up to Canada on the Vermont
Central Road, and returned the same way.
II was our first tour through Vermont. The
air of groenness, quictness and peace in those
hills aud dales remind US of England. 1t
was a pastoral country, full Of lovely towns
and villages In contrast to the South, New
England looks rich and prosperous aud
wel-to-do All the houses looked so well
finished, so pinctHliouSly finished, as if they
had not begun to build till they had enough
money for the last jot and title, and the
yards were so turfy and green, and the wood
piles so trim and orderly, and the gardens so
neat, and everything so abundant, that one
was ready to say, Happy is the people that
is in such a case"
A Vermont farmer occupied the seat next
to us, and we talked Of Vermont,
q" How much working time have you be-
tween frost and frost ?"
D." Not more than three months sometimes
not lnat. 1 icii youi VIC HdNV ~ sW my ~
and work while we work"
{" But this looks like rich country p
"Oh rich ? SO it is Yes" he said
rehectively " We live pretty well here. --
We liyea little too well. We have the best
of everything"
You make butter ~
Oh that we do our butter is known
all the world over. There's thousands of
pounds now in st. Adams, they say, waiting
for higher prices
And how much does one COW makeP'
Well, we had a COW last year that made
us one hundred and twenty-five pounds of
butter, and we expect her to do it again this
year"
" What sort of q COW 2"
oh one of your little Canada cows
And what did you get for your butter3"
Well, we didn't sell all of it; we must
keep some, you know, for ourselves"
" But what is it worth ?"
"Wel, what we sold, we got forty cents a
pound for"
He spoke of large diaries where the churn-
ing and. working are done by steam, and hun
drcds 81 COWS are kept. Immediately, dear
Hearth and Home, saw perspective of an
article that we ought to get out OF some OF
these folks up in Vermont about its butter
trade. Isn't that good suggestion
On our own part, we made this reflection
Why is it that the regions where the summer
is the shortest are the richest In Florida
there are certainly more months of the year
where sowing aud reapiug may go on together
and yet look at Florida and Vermont side by
side to-day. When shall the banks of the st
Johns be studded with villages like those
that gem the valley of the Connecticut, aud
when shall the three and four-fold crops OF
Florida yield the income that the hard acres
of Vermont yield ? Our friend told us that
the meadow valleys through which we were
passing were worth $3.50 per acre. The rich
tracts on either side Of the st. Johns are mol
thinking of being worth that sum, yet they
can raise oranges, lemons, lines, bananas
rice, cotton and sugar cane.
Florida was settled century before Yer
mont, and why is it at this day almost an un
reclaimed, unsubdued wilderness
Will any body tell