Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1874-02-06
Communications.
Windhanl County.


The population of Windham County, as
given by the census of 1870, is 26,O3G which
makes it the sixth among the fourteen
counties Of the State, Chittondon, Franklin,
Rutland, Washington and Windsor being
ahead Of it, Duringthe ten years between
1850 and 1870 we have lost some ten thous-
aud inhabitants, chiefly of the agricultural
class, and have gained about a thousand of
The manufacturing class, making a dead
loss of about one thousand.
At the first census, of 1890, our county
stood first for population, having some two
thousand moro than any other county in
the State, its number then being 1903. In
1slO 1t was larger than it is now and its
highest limit was reached in 1850, when il
was 20,O62.
The granting of public lands for railroads
and homeseads, and the richness of
Western soil, and chcapness of transporta-
Hon, all combined, have reduced the value
Of our New England farms to "A very low
figure. 1t was alike tho policy Of the slave
power and of monarchial governments to
break up and dissipate the hard nodule of
republican sentiment that had become To-
Gated in New England. Tho New Eng
lander is apt to lose considerable degree
Of his native force by the time he has be-
come acclimated TO other lands. If the en-
terprise and intelligence of our society
leave us and lose by going else where, the
general society. of the country suffers
double loss though the European settlers
Of the West have need of New Englanders
10 set the example Of free government.
Within the county there has been great
change in the distribution of population
and wealth. In 1880 the population of Brat
tleboro was only about one-thirteenh of
that of the county. 1t is now nearly one
ffth. In the order of the towns, Brattlebo-
no then stood first, Rockingham second,
and Guiiord third, as they do now, but in
the other towns there is a great relative
change. Nottingham, which then stood
ninth, is now fourth, and Londonderry,
which was then the fourteenth is now the
ffth.
On the grand list Westminster still stands
third, as it did forty years ago; Whining
ton is the fourth and Townshend the fifth.
The town of Putney, which was the sixth
on the grand list, still holds that same po-
hlblOH anu IL Is pIoDaDly ablc 10 compete
With the West in the production of its own
corn.
II stock raising is the chief interest with
our farmers, the question is whether by a
little care in the way of organized effort,
the value of such stock as is raised, may
not be doubled, or even trcbled. 1t would
take no more of Western corn to fatten
blooded stock than it would stock OF the
most ordinary kind.
Whatever ideas may be adopted for i'm
proving the farming interests of Windham
county, it seems very certain that those Of
the Changers offer no advantages. 1t is
not easy to see how agriculture can he ben
efiled by a system of signs, winks, inuen-
does, and secret grips and understandings.
These are filter agencies for aiding the
sharper, or inside politician than they are
for making farms productive and valuable.
The price of corn will be determined by
the general laws of trade, as the weather is
determined by the general laws governing
the atmosphere, and not by a secret grip,
or crook of the little finger.