Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1872-09-20

Of blowing for corn had been effected by the
middle Of May. Now the sky clears, the
soil dries, and everything invites TO blowing
and planting; but there is hardly time to
put in half a crop before seeding must give
way 70 cultivating, and the planted area can
be no further enlarged. With steam plows;
quadruple the present number Of acres may
be fitted to receive the seed in week and
so all the risk and loss TO which q rainy sea-
son in spring now subjects us may be obvi-
ated.
Of course, New England will nevermOre
grow all her own grain; she can do better.
But that she might advantagoOusly grow more
grain, and larger average crops Of it, fully
believe. The chief obstacle Of her grain
growing inheres not in her climate, nor even
in the qualities of her soil, but in its vicious
topography. An arabic, fertile acre or SO,
with rocky ridge on one side and morass
or sodden, weedy brook margin on the other,
affords no scope for the profitable growing of
grain. Our eastern agriculture is too frag-
mentary-a thing of shreds and patches. As
l sat beside q New England born farmer in
Illinois, and looked off across his quarter Sec
ton of dry, fertile prairie, maialy under fence,
1 asked him, elbow much corn do you grow
annually 2" about sixty acres" with
what help9" "None." "What area do you
plant in a day." fourteen acres" 1t
would take man a week, on an average, to
plant fourteen acres hereabOut and then it
would not be so we'll planted as by the ILL
noisar's seod-drill, dropping and covering two
rows as fast as he wanted to walk
Now the billy, swampy, irregular surface
of New England is an unalterable fact, and
as such to be respected But, while it can
not be overcome, il may be modified. Here
are two strips Of rich, arabic soil, with a
swampy intervale separating them. Drain
that efficiently, and you have field Of twelve
or fifteen acres, all of which may be this year
in potatoes, next year in corn. then in oats,
and then laid down in grass, OF cropped in
whatever rotation experience may suggest
If the arabic fields Of this state were thus
enlarged, by the sweeping away Of fences, the
removal Of superficial rocks, and draining Of
bogs, until ten to forty acres might be given
to one crop, instead of patch Of ono to five
acres as at present, she would grow far more
grain, and to a greater profit, than is now
possible.
Let me indicate few more points at which
Improvement seems to be feasible and com
mendable
!. Irrigation. the original basis
ard Indictment Of tillagc, is. In my view, one
Of its later requirements also. God taught
men to prepare the earth and SOW seed BY
setting them the example in the annually in
undated valleys Of the lower Nile and Other
rivers. From this to damming back watel
and thus keeping it for application to the sol
when thirsty, is but step; yet man was long
in taking that step. At present the grea
plain Of LOmbardy or upper Italy, slOpinG
from the Alps to the Pc, and crossed by thu
Adige, Mincio, and many smaller tributaries
affords the best subsisting example Of com
prohensive, successful irrigation; tho Utel
follows at some distance, and Colorado il
treading rather timidly ia Utah's footsteps
That irrigation is desirable in ITSELF no on,
doubts; the practical question to be an
swered is, "will it pay2" On this point,
proffer some suggestions based on extensive
observation and some little experience.
Follow any of the streams that start nea
the crest of the Green Mountains down to tn
Connecticut on the one hand, or to LAX
Champlain or the Hoosac or the other, an,
you will note many places where water nigh
} be taken out, by the help of a cheap dam o
ditch, and conducted along hillside or acros
a swale or valley so as to be gradually let Of
: in rills or petty rivulets to mOisten and fer
tilize the slope between it and the strear
whence it was taken. Very little of it wo'
J reach that destination, as the thirsty cart
would drink it up by the way. estimat
, that of the total area Of this State, 10000
acres Immediately, 100000 ultimately
might thus be irrigated at an average cost Q
$50 per acre and with an average increase @
their annual product by at least IS per acre
, or an interest on the Investment Of % pc
, cent There are doubtless gold mines in Uta
or Colorado, as there possibly may be diO
: mond mines in Arizona that would pay bel
t ter interest than this, but should prefer nc
| to designate them. In fact | do not knov
, another enterprise which seems to ME so Gel
| tnin to yield large profit as that of irrigat
! ing the hillsides and intervales of this sam
Vermont.
Almost any one who has on his farm eve
, the tiniest streamlct with considerable ia
/, in it, may experiment in irrigation on a sma
scale, as | have done, and satisfy himse
that it pays, before proceeding further. YO
! do not need an engineer; il you had one,
5 could not make the water run up hill
whereas it will run down hill at you
solicitation as readily as though you wei
: the bet engineer on earth. If you try
= make it run up hill, it will prove obstinate
f. respect nature and her laws and you will fin
! her trusty servant and friend. Your ow
D observation will soon tell you where you ca
c most easily dam your stream so as to have
Il considerable body Of water in spring and rain
= weather, in order to have it ready for appl
! cation when needed, and how you can lead
/; off SO as to irrigate the largest area at moo
e crate cost. Begin by irrigAting two or thrc
o acres, and you will soon be satisfied that 20
{. nnn n Hnrd 10 Lo mana N .L;u ... ~ !.