Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1872-11-22
FARMERS SONS AND WHAT THEY
SHOULD STUDY.

A Paper read Before the Verm ont board OF
Agriculture Ht its Meeting I'm Newport
August 2, IsT2, by james &. Kennedy,
Esq., Of Troy.
No fact is much more generally known in
the farming community than that farmers
boys often grow up with decided distastc
for farm pursuits. No sooner are they " Of
age than they turn from the home Of theiI
growth to seek for more varied and less la.
borous occupations in town and city life
Thus the noble art Of agriculture, which was
ushered in when our first parents were ex.
PEELED from Paradise, and which will only
cease to be practiced when the human race
becomes extinct, is yearly robbed of what
should be its strength and hope; and aged
parents are left in their loneliness to depend
upon hireling labor to carry on the old home.
stead.
This state Of things should not exist; for
tilling the soil is, or may be made one Of the
most pleasing, healthiul, and even intelectu-
al pursuits in existence. If agriculture was
what it might be, there would be no place
where so much happiness could be secured
where there is such an opportunity for i'm.
provement, as upon the farm. Human hap
piness seems to consist in the healthy and
harmonious exercise Of all the faculties Of
the mind and organs of the body that God
has endowed us with, and in no other single
occupation can the enjoyment Of existence in
this respect be so well attained as in the pur.
suit Of agriculture, taken with the broadest
meaning of the term. Nowhere is there SC
good position for the exercise of brain and
muscle, and exercise is the grand motor
power along the ilimitable highway of hui
man progress.
There are other reasons why all farmers
sons should be retained upon the farm that
can be- 1t is necessary that this should be
done in order to preserve the proper balance
Of power among the different vocations oI
mankind, and to maintain healthy and live
ly action in commercial and monetary affairs
The agricultural is the most important inter
est of nearly every nation Of Importance OF
the globe, and should. therefore, DO possessed
Of like proportion of influence; yet, in the
United States at least, scarcely any calling
is much more poorly represented in national
councils according to the number engaged il
it. Farmers complain that lawyers and 9th.
er professional men compose the majo part
Of our state and notiona legislative bodies
and make every proceeding conform to Their
own interests. This is true in a great meas,
ure, but farmers have only themselves to
blame in the matter. 1t is true also that the
election Of this class Of men to positions Of
honor and trust is but the natural effect oI
existing causes, arising not from want Of
native intelligence in the tillers of the soil
but from the lack OF proper amount Of gen.
eral knowledge, failure in combination aud
cooperation, and the loss of large portion
Of their intellectual stamina in the largo mum.
Der who annually leave their rural homes tC
join the ranks Of non.prOducers. This dis
proportion between the producers and the
non.producers is very detrimental to the
prosperity of our country, inasmuch as it il
the fruitful cause Of the scarcity and high
price of farm labor, the fluctuations and in
stability of the markets. and the dificultie,
met with by large number in procuring
their daily bread, thus giving rise to al
enormous amount Of speculation, frauG
and crime. While the high price which
farm products usually bring in the markets il
advantageous to agriculturists in pecuniary
point of view, it is not favorable to agricul
ture. Owing to the high price of breadstufii
during late years, the difficulty in procuring
farm hands, and other things, farmers have
become inclined to raise and sell off all tha
was possible without making much effort t.
keep up the fertility of the soil, to bring 4
into higher state Of cultivation or to i'm
prove their farms and buildings to caus'
them in measure to approach their ideal o
home, This skinning" method Of farming
will not answer in the future. More ant
better skilled labor must be obtained, anC
the soil must receive better cultivation
Some may say that labOr.saving machines