The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1873-10-14
n.. .linral department.
5NDUcrED by ALBERT CHAPMAN.


Icitcr hom Maryland.
Farming interests here have be d AZ .
pretty low ebb for several VIZ, r. luz: paos ~
consequence OF the conli''eu nature OF
wheat, our chief me'y crop "u' .no
tide seems now ,,h;s ,nor = rood crcr
turned We hp+ inns year Il good crop
or tho host w'eat that has been raised IN
,h;s conne within the past thirty years,
' Ill.,; r y worth from 81 60 to Sl75 per
'Lshel Corn will be fair average
crop there is a larger acreage of rye
than We have had for :hirty years, with
good quality and yield. Hay is better
than last year, though not much more
than a half crop-price from S25 to SIS
in Baltimore. Oats good crop-pricc
from 80 to As cents Some few farmers
have good crop of potatoes, but it is a
general failure There are but few
grapes, and peaches are total failure
except in few isolated situations. APP
Piles arc perhaps half a erop-rricc from
50 to SO per barrel.
The fine crop Of wheat seems to have
impaired fresh impetus for the applica.
ton of fertilizers. Phosphates Of various
brands are used, but the greatest demand
is for bone, believing that this affords
the surest guarantee for a crop Of grass !;
and many have concluded, in view Of the
frequent failures Of wheat, that hay is a
much more reliable and remunerative
crop. Farm labor is not so high as in
the north good hands are paid from So
to $50 per month and board.
Our farmers have caught to some ex.
tent the infection so prevalent over the
country. Of forming associations for the
ostensible purpose, no doubt, of promot-
ing their own interests, and in so far as
this may tend to their elevation, without
pulling down other interests on whose
prosperity they are greatly dependent, the
move is good one. What are the par
ticular grievances that are to be re-
dressed, appears to be rather underlined
at least complaints are as discordant as
locations are distant from each other
While the great complaint from the far
west, where the agitation first com.
menced, is too high through freights,
requiring three or four bushels OF corn
to transport one to tide water, our farm.
ers complain that with the price Of land
here and high local frcights. it is impos.
sible to compete with the prolific west,
with its land almost at nominal prices,
and its low through freights.
1t is very evident that the demands OF
both sections cannot be met. ANY con-
cesson made to the one section must be
at the expense Of the other. Railroads
do not Low pay an average Of six per
cent. upon the amount invested, and cap
taists will not continue to invest in un.
productive enterprises. The question
presents itself whether the great on
slaught upon the railroads made by west
ern farmers may not be largely RESPONSE
BILE for the unprecedented commotion and
financial crash that New York is now
suffering, and which it is feared may yet
extend to all parts Of our common couu-
try. 1t is certainly the interest Of the
west to offer every inducement to eastern
capitalists to increase the number of rail-.
i,
thereby securing by competition the low
est possible treights. But they may be
assured that the blow these interests are
now receiving is one from which they
will not recover for some years, as with
the losses sustained, and the antagonistic
attitude of so formidable portion of the
western people, capital will be very chary
in future investments in that line An.
other consideration that presents itselfis,
that with the prostration Of railroad in.
terest must follow that Of the iron inter.
est in all its qualifications, including
mines, furnaces, torges, etc, and indeed
all else required to build, equip, and op.
crate railroad. These thousands or
hundreds of thousands OF men with their
families, who now provide the best mar
ket-a home one-ior the farmers pro-
duce, will cease to be consumers, and in
their turn become producers-competi.
tors in an occupation already filled to
repletion. Many other views present
themselves, but | fear my communication
is already too long-certainly much lon.
ger than / thought of making it when |
commenced. | will therefore conclude
with the hope that if these crude ideas
have any merit in them, although feebly
presented, they may provoke profounder
minds and more fluent writers to correct
the public mind, and, to some extent at
least, avert the impending catastrophe
7. II. N. Baltimore Co, 9mo. %