Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-09-04
Vermont Agriculture once More.

august - GILL
Vermont Agriculture Once More.
/ have Just read quite an interesting
article in your paper of the 18th ult.,
headed &" Vermont Agriculture - The
Oranges, " and it suggests to nue. the idea
that this is subject upon which other
Vermont farmers may well reflect, and
perhaps publish their impressions and
experience. If it is true, as the writer
repeats, that agriculture underlies all
other interests, then it is important to
know whether this foundation of gen
eral success in the country is itself
healthy and prosperous. Farmers are
certainly our great producers, and it is
important to know whether, as such,
they are adequately remunerated for
their labor and expenses. I cannot
speak as knowingly of all other sections,
but in Vermont, generally, this question
must be answered in the negative. Far
ming in Vermont, and | think in many
(if not mOst) other parts of the United
States, just at the present time does not
pay. If any intelligent manager of a
farm, who hires all or nearly all his Ia
Dor, viii keep and render to you a strict
account of his farm receipts and eXpeu-
ditures, it viii appear that, if the latter
do not exceed the former, he has not
realized a balance sufficient to reward
him for his time and labor.
To this | know there are some eXCep-
lions, but they will be found to be those
cases where some salable articles are
produced besides those that comprise the
common list of regular and legitimate
farming crops-Or in some other par
ticular instances, where, by superior
skill in manufacturing and marketing
some particular thing as a speciality,
such as very choice and fancy article
of butter, an extra, and consequently a
renuuerating price is obtained. TObac-
co, as raised in the Valley of the Con-
necticut, as far up now as Windsor cOun-
ty, is one of those exceptional crops
which, il q good growth be obtained,
well assorted and well cured, pays well.
Hops, on some farms, and in some years,
when they command a good price and
ready sale, ana are not injured by YER
min or other perils to which they are
liable, are quite remmerative But
these are exceptional crops, and not
make up the general result of the great
mass OF farming business. In former
wears, when western grain had not been
brought here and sold in competition at
so low a figure, corn being worth dol
lar and not unfrequently dollar and a
half per bushel, was a paying crop; but
at present prices it costs more than it
will sell for, and the same result, al
though, perhaps, in a less degree, fol-
lows the raising Of wheat, rye and
oats.
But there are other productions of
New England farms, which, ten years
ago or less, and for twenty or thirty
wears before that, were quite remunera-
tive. Wool then sold at from SOC. to
75c. per pound, and the mountain pas
lures, many of them well adapted to
sheep and to nothing else, could be
stocked with them, and our hay, and
perhaps some grain, could be fed out to
them. and the pasturing and winter fOd-
der could be thus turned to good profit.
Then, too, young cattle could be fed on
our coarser fodder through the winter,
fattened in our pastures in the following
summer, and sold for beef at prices that
paid us well for wintering and pasturing.
In those days pasturing was the most
profitable part Of farming, while hay
WAS, I)Ctld IIlC uCNIs anu NOOlg l4AhS-
ton, pork and beef were very large cash
items in the farmers account of re-
ceipts.
But these cash receipts are nearly, if
not wholly, lost or suspended; and,
whether they can be revived, is a ques-
ton that remains to be answered. West
ern competition, with the increased IA
cilities for transportation, has brought
down the price of beef and pork so that
they cannot be raised and sold high
enough to pay the expense of raising,
and farmers do not consider it an object
to raise any more than they want for
their own consumption they do not
pay.
Wool and sheep seem to be fast disap-
pearing, and are likely soon to be talked
of only among the lost and obsolete
sources of profit in New England farm
ing. | know of no reliable census of
them being taken, but | think | am cor
rect in saying that the sheep in these
northern States, do not number one
tenth part as many as they did ten years
ago. Most of our farmers have got rid
of their f1ocks entirely, and those who
do keep any, have now only corporals
guard, instead of numbering them by
hundreds. The reason of this is they do
not pay.
In this state of things, hundreds of
acres of pasturing that used to be more
productive of profit than any other part
of our farms, are now unstOcked and I'M
occupied, because we know of no stock
that can be put into them and be made
to pay. In feeding our hay crop, too,
as we like to do in order to keep the
al, e.. 4l,O Iii Of
difficulty is encountered, because it is al
most impossible to find any stock that
will pay for wintering on it. Even from
the West, where greater fertility OF soil
and easier cultivation enable them to
raise crops at less expense OF labor, we
hear complaints of farmers that they
cannot make it pay and it looks, on the
whole, as if agriculture, which should be
the sure, steadfast and thrifty founda-
ton of all our other business, is wanting
instead of increasing in strength.
know this is rather dark represen-
tation, but it is true to the way in which
it looks to me. If any one can give it
better coloring, and show better state
of our agricultural enterprises, | shall be
clad to see it. | believe myself that this
evil is only temporary, and, in the pro-
gress of events. will be remedied, so that
the great pulse of our agricultural life
will beat again in strong and healthy ac-
ton. Of this and other circumstances
connected with this subject, may say
something in some future communica-
tom Correspondent IN Country Gentle
man.
The Oneida Communists say that they
are Destered with applications from re-