Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1874-01-21

The subject have chosen ior this occasion is
Of no snail magnitude, md should he up.
preached systematically. But with my limited
experience in writing, as well MS in agricultu-
raj science, ! am placed in about the same
dilemma with certain individual once knew,
who had never been to school a day in his life
! until he was about twcnty-one years OF age
and as he was. as we suy sometimes, n " great,
two fstcd green. awkward lellow,' he felt
some embarrassment at the thought Of com
mcncing % get an cducatOn at his advanced
age But finally he was prevailed upon 20 at.
tend w0man's school. The teacher, Of course,
supposed that a man ol his stature and age
must have been somewhat advanced in book
/ knowledge, and lCsitatcd about asking him 20
/ read but MS the time drew near for the first
class 20 read. she says Sir, where do you
prefer 90 rood?' lie having never learned biz.
| letters exclaimed, in his awkward style Of
| Yankoosm II makes no odds at which end
! can read rs well at ono end as tothcr.' So
in regard 90 my subject If | cannot reach IL
systematically at one end, ! can try 10 at the
other, guessing mo whatever experience ard
! it Tor your earnest consideration.
] am aware my friends, that the day in
which We live h. q day of progression and won
dcrful Improvement And If we cannot con
sciCnii0usly apply it to the political, social or
religious life Of to-day, VIC most certainly can
90 agricultural science and industry. or the
latter, however we would not rob our ancestors
OF the credit due them for the pages of his
tory, whose record is 20 be handed down On
generations yet unborn, eau never be erased,
but pcrpctuatcd, until agriculture shall yield
TO q spontaneous growth Of all that pertains 10
the vegetable kingdom, as at first. When we
look around us on every side, and behold the
vast number OF fields for grazing purposes. to-
gether with the thousands OF acres Of the finest
tiilage laud IN superior OF which but few, IL
any, Of our sister states can boast, we say il
is the result Of honest industry and almost ex-
ccssiyo toll and who of as can doubt the con-
scienii0us sCruplcs Of our ancestors in carrying
ont that divine injunction Of our Heavenly
Father by canning their bread by the sweat Of
their hruw2 In the early settlement Of our
| Green Mountain State, unlike the custom and
practice of the present day, men did not aspire
/ 10 high donors and noble positions in life for
pride bad not in those days, as now, made its
uWces 50 much among men. They were more
on basis OF equality--all knowing his neigh
/ Dor only to esteem him ms brother and friend.
| There was no day Of small things to dcspise,
and 10 was then considered no very small thing
/ Tor man TO hold twenty five cents in his
| pocket. ] remember ot hearing m old gentle
| man speak OF a business transaction that took
place IN the early days Of his business life lie
drew n load Of ashes some seven or eight miles
to potash mandatory, and, contrary to the
usual custom, he earnestly pressed the necessity
OF q cash sale, and finally prevailed on the
buyer to cash the whole load, which amounted
to the enormous sum Of seventy five cents.
The increase Of cash capital was so sudden and
so unexpected that pride could not wholly be
subduCd So he started with a high head for
home, and every one he met was nccessitated
10 OutdO the requirements of the law by giving
him two-thirds of the road, because of the
seventy five cents cash capital in his pocket
Truly to him It was multuD in pdrrO. But
are we not thnnklul that notwithstanding, as
Billings has it, We were " horn at an early
period Of our existence we were not born
until business had assumed a different form, Oh
until agricultural products could be exchanged
for their value in cash2 We look along dowr
the ages Of the past, and as the arts and
sciences were 50 little known until within q
few years, We note but little progress that
marked their onward way But since the or
ganization Of agricultural societies and acri
! cultural colleges 10 the United States, strong
men, scientific and energetic men, have eyel
= held uppcrmOst in their minds the matter
! of progression ms their strongest incentive L
= active labor, and so they have toiIed on, spend
$ ing time and money, experimenting and prov
ing by analysis many important facts that per
y tain 10 agriculture and are valuable TO III,
D agricultural world And vet, after all theil
, untirng efforts and expenditures and sacrifices
while they have inspired hope in one, they
G have utterly failed to iayorably Impress tn,
! many with those important facts, and rs a con
sequence, they are still plOddng along in tn,
= same old ruts made by their iurclathors, salts
fed with the conclusion that where ignoranc,
is bliss, Z is folly to be wise
: The principle by which men carry on theii
o farms has its parallel, perhaps, in but few
kinds Of business transactions, and yet all ap
| pnrently have the same common end in view
seeking the greatest amount OF good 10 them
selves for the least amount of labor and ex
j. peuditure. For instance, the facilities for con
n Quoting farm labor are far in excess Of wha
they were twenty years ago, and while oul
!. Grst-class farmers enter into all the mOderr
I improvements of the day with the spirit anC
with the understanding also, and all agre,
c that it is not only paying business, but by i
n labor is made easy, and the bone and muscl,
Of man preserved yet how many of what il
termed our sCcOnd-class farmers are still pur
q suing the same old course, and scarcely deyiat
ing from the old practices and customs of {
Z century ago. They are using tools that arr
h worse than worthless. The hoe, the shovel
the harrow and the pillow, are far too often thu
u purchase at some auction sale, and it is though
4 the strictest kind of economy, for the reason 0
the small amount invested when in fac
they might be all thrown away, with thu
q money they cost, and purchase the very best o
the same kind Of tools, at the highest price o
'' the market, and be far better of financially
. besides the satisfaction OF using tools that ar
tools, and so much facilitate the labor helor
them. How many times within our obserya
is ti0n do We sec such men employing help a
, great wages, and putting within their hand
" tools of AN inferior quality, when reason te0che
Il us that in very short time they have mad
j., sacrifice Of more than the whole cost of til
" tOols-thus leaving them minus, in the cOurs
u of year, OF many dollars they might other
-rl wise had securely stored in their pockets
rendering all their agricultural resources un
il availing 80 far as dollars are concerned. Sue
y men are not only men OF small means, but me
of small faith, even doubling the proprety q
ID investment in any agricultural improvement
e for fear the future will not make return
equivalent 70 the expenditure And in thes
1t extreme cases You may always look for poo
farming for old, diapdated buildings; ur
sheltered manure heaps; cattle and sheep
rs horses and swine, all suffering, not only wit
the cold, but for want of proper food and
sufficient amount of it. The dairy, for in
X stance, that can be wlntered through ON two
" thirds the amount of fodder that they ought I
4 have, is reckoned hy the owner to be one -thir
Is gain, because of the saving of fodder when
in in fact, if they are so fortunate as to suryiy
such treatment through the winter. instead c
d producing from one hundred and fifty to tw
he hundred pounds of butter 10 the COW, they d
not average more than one hundred pound.
- and it would be safe to call it less. 1t
lr thought by some that it you can winter
young colt through, 1t is no matter how 80
20 do II so they are often turned out into col
le yard to pick up the orts and leayngS of othe
stock, and scanty at that, until they become 5
d poor and lousy ere spring opens, that it wi
r. require full half the summer 10 make thef
equal in value TO what they were at the con
u mencement of winter-and in midsummer
er when they are about shedding their coat wit
large patches of unshed, faded-out hair upo
~ either side, with stringlets hanging half wa
d TO the ground from hip and shoulder, on
could hardly tell whether they were, as ii
Y poet says of Kentucky boys, "half horse an
e. hall alligator, or tinetured with bufal
b., blood. In regard to the keeping of swine,
, has been no less a prevailing custom anon
is many OF our farmers TO keep those in store f
4 winter on the least amount of food possible $
," that in fact all they feed is total loss, goin
c. only TO support nature, and often oayin
A. them weighing less in the spring than the
." did in the fall. remember when | WI
D. quite small boy, that farmers got IN the wa
- of turning their swine into the woods in Ill
W fall of the year when beechnuts were plent,
Il and keeping them there nearly all winter, wit
"A nothing TO eat except the nuts they found
- the leaves and shall never forget how the
4 looked, with their brstes pointing ever
IA which way, and so poor that it was with diiI
:, Guilty they could squeal without leaning again,