Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1870-12-21
agricultural.
\ Jaunt South from Montpelier.

A Jaunt South from Montpelier.
In such billy State as Vermont, the roads
are generally in the river valleys So it is
from Montpelier to Mortified. Over Berlin
bridge, up the hill, on its summit, a farm of
two hundred acres has just been purchased
by g. c. Chandler for twelve thousand dol
lars, and appears to be well worth the money
Sixty acres Of fields are quite free FROM stone,
and appear cf such retentive soil that ma
nure wnen applied will give good results
Thirty cows be kept. Montpelier gives
a good market for milk Cows can be made
more profitable by selling milk than by max
ing butter and cheese. Mr.. Chandler has
six head Of herd book shorthorns, and in
tends to try that breed for dairy as well as
fashion. The sire Of the calves Is Earl OF
.. DIES are IN the pen, and several nice
Chester Whites attract attention in others
A pair OF wild geese crop the grass near BY
and several promising colts range the pas
lures, making altogether good stock to be-
gin with on so good a farm, and we trust
Mr. e. will permanently join the ranks OF
farmers and illustrate the best methods of
tillage, breeding and feeding. The next farm
is fairly in the valley of Dog River. is owned
bv Calvin Alexander. and cost sit, 900 three
years ago. Here is some good meadow,
where all the operations can be most econom-
ically carried on. Dalrying is the chief
source of profit. Some sheep are kept. and
fine crops Of corn are raised The end Of the
corn crib Is decorated under the gable let
with thirty traces of corn, each containing
about seventy-tive ears This seems favor
lite way to store seed corn in this valley, as
several other corn houses are decorated in
the same way.
The valley in places is quite narrow. vet
tucked in on each bank are meadows that are
highly priced by the owners. We pass along
two miles and come to the farm owned by
Mr.. FarnswOrth, which cost go, 900. Here.
stretching off to the cast to n steep bluff.
are, perhaps, fifty acres of good smooth
land. Westward the land is Yery broken
steep and undesirable except for pasture II
proper discount IS made for the poorer
quality of the hills the fields must be very
valuable, certainly over 500 per acre.
The next farm is owned by Mr. William
Dewey, who has lived here sixty-two years,
and witnessed the many changes in the con
dition of the land and people In his young
or days money was very scarce. and obtained
by going to Montreal or Boston with pro-
duce. The merchants at MONTPELIER dealt in
grain largely, and at a small price would
take butter, eggs and poultry. Salt used to
be RATED up the Connecticut River to Bel
lows Falls or to White River, and then
brought with teams to Montpelier, and sold
at four dollars per bushel. Mr.. Dewey has
had faith in farming, and has improved farm.
buildings, stock, team and farming tools
Ills farm is valued at $4,000, though it
contains less than two hundred acres. The
tillage land near the river is about thirty
five acres in extent. Most of it is flowed
when the water Is very high, yet is exceed
ingly low land, and produces great crops Of
corn, oats and hay. A hundred baskets of
oar hmm Ff~fsft la ft.ll ,.f. Al
of hay have been taken from an acre, and all
this meadow land is IN 80 good a state that a
good turf has to be turned in when a new piece
Il selected for cultivation Corn ground re-
ceIves q liberal dressing Of manure plowed in
and IN the hill, followed by oats with grass
seed. The sixteen cows that craze fall feed
show plainly the Devon blood. The grades
OF this breed give satisfaction on account OF
hardness, thriftiness and good dairy quail
ties that ill the tubs with butter. although
the quarts Of milk may not be remarkable
Then the good color of the cattle. the cherry
red that shows 70 50 good advantage whef,
the plump animals satisfactory in other
respects A noble span Of horses do the
farm work.
Still further south in this valley, Mr.
Braman raised corn on one piece of land
tiity-twO years in succession, with uniform
good crops.
Still further along r. W Strong still tills
the fields his father cleared in 1913, and the
years following He has bought land adj
joining, so that he owns five h0mesteads aud
three or four empty houses. The school in
this district is very small, quite different
from the good old times when every house
was occupied Mr. >. had five acres of corn
this year, and in 1871 will have twenty-five
under cultivation. His practice is to ma.
nure in the hill for corn and potatoes. He
Is just changing from an extensive shepherd
to dairymen and stock raiser Fourteen
calves and thirteen yearllngs are growing up
to be sold at two years of age.
Across the valley to the southeast, Dea
Daniel Chandler practices the part of sue
cessful farmer. The benefits be has received
from irrigation should be noticed East Of
his house down the hill, flows quite brook
that was "a useless as thousands of other
brooks in Vermont, but with a few davs'
work II was turned upon land naturally quite
dry, yielding only moderately. By small
channels leading from the main one the wa
ter was distributed over several acres with
great advantage to the grass crop. At pleas
Hre Mr. q. could direct the whole stream
down to bis buildings. where upon an over
shot wheel it would propel the churn, grind
stone, feed cutter, or corn shelter. Mr..
Chandler is satisfied with the result, and de-
clares the brook is of more benefit to him
than five hundred dollars at interest /
think he sets the value low enough. / know
OF but one other experiment in irrigation in
Vermont as extensive as this. When visited
this field it was in the dry harvest time l !
could not account for the luxuriance of the |
grass till my feet splashed the water, and as
stepped in different directions to avoid it. /
it was still the same The little impressions
that guided the stream hardly show to the |
careless observer
All along south Of Montpelier, the farm
ers value their woodland and with cord wood .
at from three to four dollars per cord, bark .
at seven or eight ties at thirty cents each
they make good thing Of it but as they
deliver much at the track of the Central
Railroad 1t does not make much show as
at the north of the town, up Worcester
branch, where some farmers declare they
could not live by farming, but make their
winter work, with wood, as valuable as their
summer labor upon the farm. In fine day
u winter nifty teams have been met, driving
10 Montpelier, six miles, all loaded with
wood. The down teams never turn out, so
Two tracks are kept. As | dined with one
farmer he told me he had thirty-two solid
cords OF dry block wood already sold at sew
en- dollars per cord, twenty-five cords of four
loot wood, worth in market five dollars per
cord, fifteen cords of bark worth eight dollars
per cord, and three or four hundred logs
worth, board measure, at a mill near by, ten
dollars a thousand feet. Such men viii live
as long as the wood lasts, but some of the
farms along here do lack tillage land, and
the lodges are too prominent z.E.J
ASHES AS CATTLE FEED.-The Maine Far j
ner says One of our substantial subscrib- !