Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1872-09-27

years ago, ana consider that the very fields
on which that wheat grew luxuriantly
would now yield but half crop, and that
precariously, halt, and ask whether that
can be good farming which disqualiiies
land for producing the very staff of life.
But "the insect'-the weevil, midge, or
1y-I hear IL said, has stopped the growth
of wheat in New England. do not admit
the apology. regard the alleged cause Of
failure as itself an effect Of bad husbandry.
l may not be able-nay, l am not able-to
trace the evil to its ultimate source but 1
find clue to that source in fact related to
me from his personal observation by the
late Gov. VIM. +. Packer OF Pennsylvania.
Said he, 81 am familiar with the narrow
valley Of one of the petty tributaries of the
Susqu ehanna, up the middle of which
highway ran for forty years, with a narrow
field in cultivation on either side. AT
length, the road was thrown up, and the
entire width of the valley, roadway includ-
ed, became one field, which was sown to
wheat. AT harvest time there was good,
sound grain for the full width of the roa,.,l
way, while the strip on either side was
mere straw and cbaff-the grain having
been devoured or destroyed by an insect"
1t was something lacking in the soil which
weakened the plant and invited the ravag-
es of the insect.
1t is quite currently assumed in our day
that our youth shun agriculture because
they bate work. This assumption is one of
those partial, imperfect truths which have
the effect of fasehood. Our boys do not
choose to lift, and tug, and strain, when the
ends Of such exertion can be attained with
out such expenditure 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 to the top of his
head and carries il there f; the school-taught
freeman prefers TO trundle it before him
along the ground. The hay crop of today
IL saved with less than half the tax on hu-
man muscle freely paid by our grandlath-
ers. Admit that cur boys do not choose TO
bend their back bones into hoops and in
durate their muscles into whip cord If they
can achieve comfortable livelihood other
wise, l see nothing in this to provoke in
vective or justify reproach. An intellectu-
al age and people naturally prefers 10 sub
stitute animal or mechanical power for that
of human sinews, wherever it can do so
with facility and manifest advantage.
Now, it is the simple, manifest truth that
far greater progress in this substitution has
been made in other industries than in agri
culture. Commerce, which once employed
wagons, and caravans, and row-boats, has
nearly dispensed with these by the aid of
| wind and steam-of sailing vessels, steam
| ships, railroads and locomotives. Steam
| takes our cotton, corn and other staples,
| from station near tho grower, puts 1t on
sh pboard by an elevator, speeds 1t across
| an ocean, hoists il into the merchants loft,
and lowers 1t down again wherever it is
wanted. Mind directs and guides, while
steam supplies all the physical force that is
needed. So in almost every department of
manufacture. The brain-power required
is of human origin; this commands, I'M
| pels, and regulates, all the other power re-
quired. In agriculture, this is but partial
| ly, imperfectly paralleled; and agriculture
loses in consequence the services of the
brighter, ADLER portion of our youth. We
must remedy this, not by fruitless, sense
| less railngs at the boys for doing what
''.''
D'' ~ Wv ~
Let me barely bint-for 1 can only take
"ino W nin' s' '0'ii0 y. ."0 =,
wn,cn ,n's e"'a' se''o"' 10 ~ '' '0's"' anu
iea''@u'
| l. ""o', q" ,o"s, y, . 'nous""u ."''
W'nu n"s pay .1.o ,s ~, o,,,ii'a,;one rr nea.
'on ~ r..o-,,,, ,,,,,,a
"".u, .o,st.,o 49,, ae-,,;oo.,Ao -,
,,o,or brt NOT on land, Men have ground
,..a;,, h., ,,,,nd rowor for ot Ieast n bnpdred
ooraro,;o,s. ,vby no, thrash n no wall
Nav. whv sbopld II not nrcss cheese. and
,rrn crirds,opes and saw wood and nump
water and even ultimately. plow fields
WIZ dreams that tho inventions of the
,,e, hoor onv nronortion totbose of the i'm
,,inopt f,tpreo We have ot length learned
,ho, spcb ia the e,asticitv of air that wind
,,v, rpnnirg tbrougbout the night NAV
,horohv accumulate mower to he expended
d,r;nn ,ha orsn;no dav or davs. Can Won
srnroso that we shall mucb longer allow
,his opormo,s aggregate of mower. which
hos bi,herto tbrnst itself into our very faces
rrrooorded or at least uncomprebended
% oxnond tic onoro;es In tonnling over our
chin news and blowing the apples from our
,roes, ,e,l Won that This is not possible.
have nothing 10 saw of AS or BIS or Cs
oon,ri,anoo Crr utilizing the mower NJ wind
IN tha soryico or ogricpi,ure. If Won insist
that all these are fantastic and absurd I
~, no, oon,,oa,o, ,,o,. 7 shall onIv in
s,s, IN nv ,nrn that tbo mower ia there
,ha, II sweens over every fcId on almost
60, da,, ana ,hot Tho means of utnizinc
:, 70 r,ot ~, d,sooworad coon will and n,rst
=,