Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-08-21
vermont AgricuIture--The Oranges

changed in the last four weeks. YER
mont will have fully an average yield OF
hay, and some farmers say it will be
above an average. The low lands ana
river meadows which did not suffer by
the drouth in June, will indeed yleld
more than their usual amount OF grass;
The pastures, which were brown and
scared on the 1st day of July, are noW'
on the 1st of August, fresh and green as
they were in May Corn and potato
crops are looking finely, and it seems
now that all crops in Vermont, except
fruit, will be good.
It is said that the Farmers Move
ment" has reached Vermont. A Leading
newspaper in the State, some two weeks
since, announced that there were over
twenty oranges in the State, and that
they were increasing; but have re-
ceived no information where they are
located. This movement, as everybody
knows, is recent one, and originated at
the West, High freights on railroads. IL
is said, gave rise to the movement. Inc
western farmers may have just cause Tor
omplaint-probably have, but to my
mind il is not clear that they have chosen
a remedy that will prove efficient and
successful in removing the evils COM
planned of. They are, however, better
posted in the matter than we at the East
can be, and we ought not, perhaps, to
take upon ourselves the responsibility OF
advising them therein.
If this movement is to become general,
and extend through the East as well as
the West, as seems now quite probable,
it is important to know the object and
purpose of it. If it is political move
ment, or especially if its purpose is an
tagonistic to other industrial interests,
in my opinion it will do more harm than
good. If its object is an associated eff
fort of the farmers to educate and en-
tighten each other in the business of
their calling, then | would say to them,
go ahead; you are on the right track,
and | care not whether YOU have your
deliberations with open or closed doors.
The great want of farmers in this
country is educatiOn-I mean education
in their business. | do not mean that
the farmers, as a class, are Ignorant, fol
history would give the lie to such an
assertion. The first President of the
United States and several OF his success
sors were farmers. Offices in all de
partments within the gift of the people
since the organization OF our govern
ment have been worthily filled by farm
ers. The farmers as a class, in point OF
intelligence, always have ranked well
with other classes. But it is well
known that farming was commenced in
this country, and carried Oh well along
into the nineteenth century with the
idea that no knowledge was necessary to
prosecute that business, except to know
how to plOw, hoe, NOW, or in a word,
to know how to perform the necessary
manual labor after the way and manner
it had been done from the immemOrial.
Many farmers in Olden times were edu-
Gated. but that education should be eX-
tended to acquiring any knowledge of
farming as a science would have been to
them an absurdity. About 1920 a few
men attempted to get out of the old ruts.
They began to think-to use their own
reason and common sense, and ventured
to suggest that improvements were pos
sible. From that time there has been
progress; great improvements have been
made in the cultivation of lands and in
agricultural implements. This has been
effected, in a great measure, by assOci-
ated effOrt-by means of farmers clubs,
boards of agriculture, public exhibitions
of farm products, and the like. These
efforts have disseminated information,
and stimulated inquiry and improvement.
But with all the advance made in agri-
culture, which is very considerable, that
most important branch of the worlds
industry has not reached the perfection
in this country which other industries
have. The skill exercised in the man
agement of commerce, manufactures,
and the mechanic arts, in the United
States, is by far superior TO that shown
in agriculture. Why is this? No bet
ter minds have been engaged in the one
than in the other; but more study,
thought and mental energy have been
devoted to the one than to the other.
This, in my judgment, has made the diff
ference. This difference should not ex-
list, and if it is the purpose Of the oranges
to raise the standard of excellence in
farming in this country, they should
have the good wishes of all, and the
hearty cooperation of as many as
may be.
Farmers should know their rights and
assert them but | deem it of the highest
importance to avoid anything like hos
tility or antagonism between different
interests. Necessarily there is nothing
of the kind if it arises at all, it is
forced. Vermont, it is said, sis an
agricultural State" and some would-be
wise men among us go so far as to say
that it cannot or should not try to be
anything else. But every well-informed
man in the State knows that every dol
lar judiciously invested in manufactur-
ing adds to the agricultural wealth of
the State. For an illustration, let us
take Rutland county, VT, in which
your correspondent resides A large
portion of the Vermont marble and the
Vermont slate interests are located in
this county. There are also several
prosperous manufacturing establish
ments in the county, among which are
the Howe Scale Works at Brandon,
Gray's Horsepower Mandatory at
MiddletOwn. the Bachelor Fork Manu-
factory at Wallingford, several manu-
featuring establishments at Rutland and
other towns. The quarryiEg and manu-
featuring interests in this county have
mostly sprung up within the lasttwenty
years, and now support about one-third
of its inhabitants, and one living here in
the time must be dull scholar if he is
not able to see that this business has, in
effect, very much added to the prosperity |
of the farming interest. If any class
more than another has been benefited by |
the growth of business in Rutland |
county, it is the farmers.
1t was said by Washington that sag
riculture is of primary importance :" by |
another writer that it ''underlies all 9TH |
er interests" We all know and concede |
its importance; yet we should know that
it will thrive best in the midst of di- |
versified industry, and instead of being
or in any way conflicting
with any other interest, it is directly
benefited and fostered by any and all
other useful industries, and they in turn
are fed by the farmers. All trades, pur-
suits, industries, are mutually dependent
IN each other, and each is more or less
Interested and benefited by the success
md prosperity of the others. 1t is suici-
ial to get up any conflict or antagonism
between them. With the same propriety
n the physical system, the head might
quarrel with the hands, or the hands
With the feet. Whatever be our occuna-