Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1873-02-07

Tuesday Morning.
The meeting was called to order by N. f.
Clark, Esq, of Bethel, and on motion, Hon.
Crosby Miller. of Pomfret, was called to the
chair. Judge Miller opened the meeting
with the following address
MIR. MiIIer's Address.
OF all the industrial occupations and pur-
suits. farmers are said to he the slOwest to
make improvement; the most firmly welded
to old ideas and old methods, the last to see
that any change can be for the better II
this may he justly said of us what pity tits
true No pursuit in which man can engage
requires more constant, careful watch to de-
tect errors in ideas and methods, and to dis
cover better ways.
The gathering of farmers here to-day shows
desire for Improvement and TINT is the first
great step toward attainment. Seek and e
shall find" No man or body of mon ever
set themselves honestly and earnestly TO the
acquisition ola better knowledge Of their bus
mess without some success. whether the
means they took were the very best, or how
ever blindly they may have CROPPED their way.
Let no farmer say then that Agricultural So
ceties. Farmers Clubs, or Boards of Agricul-
ture are useless waste of time and money.
They are all the evidence of, and the out
growth of n desire to increase the amount
and quality of our productions, to improve
the breeds Ot our STOCK anu our netnOUS OF
keeping Il. II is for this we are here to take
counsel together.
That no one man knows everything, is u
trte old saying but us true Us trte, and of
none more true than of the farmer; unless
indeed we should except our learned friends
OF the State Board but presume that even
they would be among the most ready to adj
init that they had much yet to learn. 1t is
Just rs true that almost every one has deriv-
ed some knowledge from some experience
of his own which would be useful TO others.
Let us then give and take, impart and re-
ceive; each putting the little he knows into
the common stock, and thus we may with the
aggregate make up II respectable capital
stock of information that may he worked for
the common benefit.
Ii might seem at first thought, after so
many thousand years experience of the race
ia producing subsistence from the soil that
very little would now he left for us to do but
to follow in the well defined paths of our IA
theirs that just what methods would pro-
ducc the largest Yields of any given crops -
that Just what breeds of stock, and what sys-
TEN of feed would for the least labor and eX-
pensc give u pound of beef, mutton, pork,
&c, or. that AL the minutest details necessa-
ry to produce pound of butter or cheese of
the best quality for the lehst outlay; that all
these matters would now he perfectly well
settled and understood, and put in practice
by every one engaged in the business, SO that
the mission of State Boards Agricultural
Colleges, Agricultural Societies and Farmers
Clubs. would have been accomplished, and
their day of usefulness passed away. But
when we take only very cursory aud rapid
glance over the field we see condition of
things that ought to satisfy any one that the
necessity for more light for more knowledge
and for better ways, Is more pressing than
ever. When we see one doing the best he
knows, and gathering result of u seasons
hard labora crop of 90 to 30 bushels of corn
8 to Is bushels of wheat, 20 to 30 bushels of
oats, and from to one ton of hay per acre;
and another working on the same kind of
soil producing so to 30 bushels Of corn, the
same of oats, 25 to 40 bushels of wheat and
two tons Of hay per acre ono keeping II
flock of sheep that will produce 3lbs of wool
each; and another ~ flock that will eat no
more, and will yield 6lbs ;-one keeping n
dairy that will average 100 pounds of butter
per COW that will sell for twenty cents. and
another with Il dairy that costs but u trifc If
any more to keep, but producing $50 pounds
of butter per COW which sells more readily
than the other at from 40 to IS cents per
pound when we see all this great differ
ence of results from the same kind OF opera
tons, we may see that the field of labor for
Improvement is broad enough. and the doors
open wide enough for us all to enter in and
find plenty 10 do. Indeed there is so much
to do that one is liable to become discouraged
at once. But we have this encouragement,
and il ought to be ample, that in our business
Improvement pays at every step and pays
down. 1t is not AN investment where the
returns are remote, or doubtful. One has
only to calculate what small annual in
crease in the amount and value of his prod
ucts would aggregate in a short term ofyears,
tO see that we are talking about paying
business. The difference with most of us
here in Vermont is whether we find ut the
end of each year II comfortable gain, or II
very uncomfortable loss.
Just how we shall set about this important
work shall not attempt to describe in de-
tail This is one of the objects of this meet
ing, and to this end each one is expected to
contribute something. The State Board was
established to aid us in this matter, and we
know that they are eminently qualified for
their work, hut they can only point the way,
and we shall each one find that it depends
entirely upon the individual himself, and il
| shall succeed in impressing this fact upon
each one here. shall feel that have con-
tributed my mite to the general fund of good
to be hoped for. Our first great need, one of
permanent Importance, and a prerequisite
To any hope of success in the way of improve
ment is to learn to observe carefully, and to
think. The processes of nature IN all her
operations are 50 intricate, and to the unset
entific mind so mysterious. the varied sea-
sons. the changes so constant from month to
month, from week to week, and even from
day to day, that the most constant and watch
ful attention is necessary to insure success.
TO the thoughtful farmer nothing comes by
chlnce. Whether he meets with failure or
success he knows there is cause for it
somewhere and seeks to find 1t out, and if "A
success, profits by 1t, and if failure, makes
almost perhaps an equal profit by being able
TO avoid in future the errors which caused 1t.
Whatever shall have the effect To arrest
attention and to awaken thought and obser-
walton is lust what we need at all times, and
80 my very absurditles, II you should happen
to so regard my uttcrances, may prove useful
rs words of prOfoundest wisdom. We must
IananH nnrSplVns and pnph fnI' him apl
mainly, for any success we may have. We
must make our own observations and do our
own thinking. No one can do that for W.
with any great advantage to our own bust
ness. do not mean that we can get no help
from each other, but that we cannot get il by
blndly swallowing whatever we hear OF
read.
What we want of others when we find that
they excel us in any direction, is to know
how they do it. What does il avail us that
YOU show us n superior animal? We want to
know how It was produced. how fed, and
what it cost. What does it benefit me when
YOU show me II sample of butter that will
sell for 90 cents per pound when mine viii
only command twentYP | want to know how
YOU do it, and then if | am good observer
and careful thinker will he able by com
pairing your method with mine TO correct my
own mistakes, and approach IN some degree
at least to your superior excellence.
| hope we shall not be told that only mel
of ample means can hope to come up to tn,
high standard OF excellence that we speak of
Some of the most successful farmers in tn,
country, the very best, began with only the
hands and their brains; the latter of COURSE
being the great element of success. Now M
Vermonter need be told that what man ha
done, man can do again or, that what one
does another may do. That is the first arti
Gle in his creed do not suppose there is
farmer here but believes that he can produc
~ good crop of any kind as his neghbOr