New-York tribune., 1872-09-13
IMPROVED FARMING.
THE FIELD OF IMPROVEMENT IN AGRI-
CULTURE.
InpREss DELIVERED AT THE sTAJ'E AGHcUL-
TTTRAL FAIR OF VERMONT ST. JOHEsBURY,

TffRAI FAIR OF VERMONT 81. JOuNSBUbI,
SEPT. -, 1872, BY HORACE GSEELEY.
When l. a child of scarcely ten years, first crossed
Che Connecticut on the ice in tie Winter of 1S2o-2
seeking opportunity to NY bread by helping to
till the soil of Vermont this State contained some
2p5OO0 inhabitants, 100000 less than her present
number. But the intervening half-century mas W.T.
messed n signal MULTIPLICATION and growth OF her
cities and villages het Quarrying and her manuiac-
lures so that Il is D obable that those who 1--we by
agriculture in this State are hardly more numerous
and NAV even b. fewer in 1872 than they were Ill
1921 The area of her cultivation is doubtless larger
and her annual harvcsts more bounteous, whie
these command far better prices, in 1877 thah
in 1871; but very much work formerly
done in the field has been practically transIerreu
t. the workshop and the factory: the nowihg-hF
chine and the hOrse-ra1e shortening as well as gnV
ening the husbandman's toll in his meadows, but
trehHng the cost Of the implements by means OF
which he fills his barns-that is, Transferring aDor
from Summer to Winter-from the field TO the shop
from the quiet, slOw-moyiug, rural township 10
the bustling village And yet the fact remains that
Agriculture is not advancing in this State-that'
when compared with other industries, it seems to be
retrograding Absolutely its rewards are greater
than in my early boyhoOd; relatively, they are ac-
counted far less OF the more intellectual capable
aspiring youth of your State l apprehend that but
small proportion choose and follow the farmers
vocation; and judge that this proportion IS still
diminishing cannot be mistaken in my assump-
tOn that no more than moderate per centage OF
the Vermont boys to-day foremost in school or
seminary are expecting and aspiring to be farm
ers even when Agriculture is was, their fathers
vocation: and of this minority the larger mum
Der purpose to pursue that calling elsewhere
than upon the hills in the valleys Of their native
State.
Far be il from me to dcprecate since did not re-
sist the constant silent iuepressble impulse which
has led and is leading so many Of the sons and
daughters of Vermont to seek employment and
homes elsewhere than upon her soil. 1t was best
neither for them, for our country, nor for mankind
that all TO whom this State has given birth should
have cnng obstinatcly, persistently, like banacles
to tire spot where they first began to be. Ihave been
widely miSrepresented rs urging every one to " go
West" when / give such counsel only to those who
cannot find satisfactory work and adequate bread In
the East If you have or can secure all you need
where you are advise you not to go West" nor go
anywhere but to remain where you are; for pioneer
life is ragged and toilsome at best involving years
of prevalent hardship and priyation It's hard for
Iueu. il often proves too hard for women, to find
themselves suddenly transferred from a snug, warm
cot, costly nestled among these hills with the
scbool-house church, store, mills, &c, within easy
reach to rude cabin oflogs orrough boards located
or bleak Western prairie where everything seems to
the unfamiliar eye coarse, ungenia repulsive Time
softens the harsh outline, revealing beauties and
advantages which replace, in greater less degree,
those which were renquished by removal; but,
when every mitigation, every offset has been
fairly considered, the wrench given to the
affections Of even the humblest New-Englander by
migration to the West is a great and perilous
deal; othat home-sicIness has killed many loving
wife and mother who braYely consented, for her
ohldrens sake be torn up by the roots and trans
planted TO Illinois or Iowa. whose attractions great
as they are could never her from her fervent,
absorbing love Of the green bills amid which her
childhood was Graded. I DO believe in going West
but cannot recommend it to any who have passed
the meridian of their days; and deem its undenia-
Die privations lightly regarded more easily
borne by young couples just setting out to traverse
ar1n-in-am alike the aowery and the thorny byways
Of life, than by almost any others.
l have not meant to deny that the last half-cen-
tury has witnessed progress in the Agriculture of
this State and do not cite the fact that, whereas
she formerly grew her own bread-gain and some
what more she now buys the greater part of it,
discreditable. IF she can make her bread cheaper
by grazing than by plOwing-by selling Wool and
Butter than by growing Wheat and Rye-so be it.
But when recall TO mind the interminable process
sion of wagons laden with the Wheat of your north
western counties that used to pass on their way to
market at Troy or Albany, down the turnpike III
Westhayen-besde which l was cutting brush and
burning logs fifty years ago and consider that the
very fields on which that Wheat grew luxuriantly
would now yield but half crop, and that precari-
ously halt and ask whether that can be good farm
ing which disgualifes land for producing the very
staff of life.
But (" the insect"-the weevil, midge or fy-I hear
IL said. has stopped the growth of Wheat in New
England. do not admit the apology. regard the
alleged cause of failure itself effect of bad hus
baDdrv. may not be able-nay, am not able-to
trace the evil TO its ultimate source; but find clue
TO that source in fact related to from his per-
sonal observation by the late Gov. VIM. +. Packer
of PENNSYLVANIA Said he II am familiar with the
narrow valley of one of the petty tributaries of the
susouehanna, up the middle of whicha highway ran
for forty years, with narrow field in cultivation on
either side At length, the road was thrown up and
the entire width of the valley, roadway included
became one field, which was sown to Wheat AT
harvesttme there was good sound grain for the full
width of the roadway, while the strip either side
was mere straw and chaf-the grain having been
devoured or destroyed by an insect" 1t was some
thing lacking in the soil which weakened the plant
and invited the ravages of the insect.
1t is quite currently assumed in our day that our
youth shun Agriculture because they hate work.
This assumption is of those partial, imperfect
truths which have the effect of falsehood Our boys
do not choose to lift and tug and strain, when the
ends such exertion can be attained without such
penditure of vital force-who ever did AS we come
TO think and reflect more we learn to moderate our
physical exertion and be sparing of our muscular
force The Untaught unthinking slave raises his
wheelbarrOw 10 the top of his head and carries 1t
there the school tauQht freeman prefers to trundle