The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1872-03-19
agricultural department.
CONDUCTED BY ALBERT CHAPMAN.
Vermont as an Agricultural state.

~ Wnlch crmOnt possesses Tor the SUI
cessiul, profitable prosecution of agricu
turc' are but imperfcctly understood, an
appreciated by her people. Else why d
we lind so many OF our farmers desirot
oil leaving their native State, not as
rule to engage in any other employment
but continue the tillage of the soil
some other locaiity2 1t is natural tina
80 long as we have little commerce an
comparatively few manufactures. On
surplus population, the young, and thos
who have their fortunes to make. shoul
go elsewhere for better field. Doubles
there Is better field for such in tn
manufacturing and commercial towns G
ueighboring States, or on the cheap land
IF the West.
But we all know that it is not by an
means from that class alone that the emf
grafton from Vermont is made up. Ever
year, hundreds of substantial farmers
men who own good farms and are FIRE
from debt, sell out, pull up stakes, AM
away to Kansas, Iowa, Wisconsin an,
Minnesota. Why do they do it? If
am right it is done under delusion,
double delusion, [ might say that mag
niles the advantages of the West, an(
woetully undertakes the advantages o
Vermont for the prosecution of the art
of husbaudry.
know the West, and do not say il
is bad country for the farmer Nc
doubt, from its extent and the genera
goodness of its soils, it is to be the seat Of
the greatest agricultural development Of
our time and country But | do say
speaking not without reason that for the
kind OF husbandry to which it is best
adapted, our little Green Mountain
State. las we sometimes call the 10000
square miles that lie between Champlain
and the ConnecticuD has no superior, in
sober truth it has few equals, between
the Atlantic and the Pacific.
1t is not yet SO long as an old mans
Lifetime since everything that is now said
IN favor of the very best regions of the
West was said, and truly said, of Yer.
mont. The natural strength of Vermont
soils, especially for the permanent pro-
duction of grasses, roots and grains, is
not surpassed anywhere. The present
fertility OF most Of our land, it is true, is
exceeded on new land of equal quality
elsewhere; but by the same process, in
less than the life time Of a generation,
these new lands will be brought down, in
vast majority Of cases, far below the
point tc which it is possible, even by the
worst management, ever to bring the soils
C 'ermont. It is one of the grossest
errors to suppose the soils of the West to
be inexhaustabe. In many cases, even
in the latest settled States, like Iowa and
Minnesota, they already refuse to yield
profitable crops without manure; and in
Illinois, Ito say nothing of States like
Ohio the condition Of things in this re-
spect is very fast approaching, and even
falling below our own level There has
been much exaggeration in regard to the
prairie soils. In natural strength that is
LETT when the accumulated vegetable mat.
ter OF the past has been extracted and
carried away in ten or twenty grain crops,
these soils are po0r, compared with those
OF Vermont and it will not be long, un
der the present system, before we shall
hear OF large areas in those States turned
out as waste land, no longer profitable,
either Tor tillago or for pasturage. As a
proof OF what | say, it is only necessary
to consult the columns of the Western
Agricultural papers. The brag crops of
the West are small, even with manure,
applied literally. A late number of the
fra'rfe Farmer says; Mr., Henry Wood
OF Sycamore, ILL.,, reports that he has
husked this year 500 bushels of cars of
corn from four acres of land, and thrcshcd
twenty-five bushels of wheat to the acre.
His wheat land was heavily MANFRED last
Fall. Mr.. Jacob Siglin, who also man.
ured his wheat land, raised twcnty-six
bushels to the acre.
Even in those rich wooded States like
Missouri, most resembling Vermont in
the character of the land, the absence Of
that very winter climate against which so
many object, and which SO many urge as
reason for emigration from Vermont, is
great disadvantage. We do not reckon
at its real value the coating of snow that
lies every winter upon our fields and pas.
lures protecting the nutritious grasses,
giving them that peculiar protection and
support which brings them to the highest
perfection as food for our domestic ami.
mails. There is much truth in the saying
that snow is the poor mans manure, and
no stock raising country that is without
1t, can compete, in certain directions that
are very profitable, with those that pos
sess it.
have no doubt that many of you will
lind it difhcult-perhaps impossible, to
accept my views of the value of Vermont
us an agricultural state, and especially my
anticlpations in regard to her future pros.
perity.
But what | have already said to YOU
in regard to the positive and permanent
value Of Vermont soils, is not matter of
question it is simple fact, and it is in
vain that any dissatisfied farmer goes
wandering over the country, seeking for
land that has more permanent value than
ours. The chances are many to one that
he will light upon land that, however il
may seemlto be more productive now, will
IN the end show itself in comparably in.
ferior to that he left behind him.
1t is true that bad husbandry has, all
over the State, reduced the Immediate
productive value of even our best land
But on this point | commend to YOU,
careful study and consideration the state
ments of Americas best Agriculture
Chemist, Professor johnson, in his re.
cent address on the Exhaustion of Soil,
before the Board of Agriculture at it,
Burlington meeting. A very full report
OF which may be found in the Vernon
Farmer for February 10tn. He then dc
monstrated that every soil has natura
strength that can never be exhausted .apt
if that natural strength is great, no mat