Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1874-01-09

VhN Ohieou pttVeos ONueIs hOOu lOilOWeu,
however, till wO have now about hundred
periodicals devoted to the various branches
Of farm economy, some of which are Of q
very high order Of merit. The aggregate
regular circulation Of the journals cannot be
less than three hundred thousand copies, and
they indicate a widespread desire for infcr.
nation which must necessarily have an i'm.
portant influence on the future development
Of this great interest.
The permanent agricultural literature Of
the country, now so extensive and so credit
able, has grown up, for the most part, with.
in the last twenty years. A few books Of a
high character appeared, from time to time,
forty or fifty years ago, among them Coke
on Fruit Trees Thacher's American Or
chardist Arator, by Colonel Taylor, of
Virginia; Fessenden's Complete Farmer,
Buel's Farmer Companion, &c. /; but large
proportion Of the farmers reading, previous
to 1850, consisted Of English works, many
of which were reprinted in this country.
Since that date American treatises, in the
highest degree instructive and useful, have
appeared, and we have works upon landscape
gardening, fruits, animals, dairy farming,
drainage, and, in fact, upon subjects cover
ing the whole range of farm economy, many
of them of unexceptionable literary merit in
point of style, finish, and perfection, and the
results Of accurate scientific research.
Libraries.
TO bring the facilities for improvement
within the easy reach of the largest number
of people, the system of township and dis
trict libraries was first initiated by the State
of New York, in 1887, with an appropria.
ton of 100000 year for three years, aud
subsequent grants of $4,000. This exam.
pie was followed by Massachusetts, in 1889,
and more recently Michigan gave each town
ship the sum of $50 annually for this pur-
pose. Indiana adopted the same policy in
1854, Ohio in 1851 the former appropriat-
ing 100000 year for two years, the latter
$4,000 annually. Illinois and other West.
ern States adopted similar course, and it
was properly regarded as admirably adapted
TO promote agricultural improvement, as well
as the general welfare of tho community.
At the same time most OF the states early
adopted the plan of publishing and distribut-
ing large numbers Of documents upon agri-
culture, gratuitously, among the people.
These documents are, many of them, of high
merit, containing the most recent investiga'
lions, reports Of experiments, and the obser-
walton of the most experienced practical
men. Probably about two hundred thou
sand volumes are thus freely distributed
through the farming community every year,
with the addition of about as many more is.
sued by the Department of Agriculture at
Washington. These and various simil al
instrumentalities, all now in constant activity,
are cxerting vast influence in developing
our material resources.
| Science Ina Agriculture.
The contributions of science to the prog
ress of practical agriculture are by no means
small or unimportant. Agricultural chemis'
try itself in state of transition aud rapid
growth, was never so hopeful or so available
to the farmer as at the present day. Though
Sir Humphrey Davy may be said to have
opened the door to progress and improve.
ment in this direction, in the early part oil
the present century, the accumulation o.
scientific facts was so slow that it was mo-
till 1910 that Lebig announced propositions
that opened new world Of thought anC
study, and awakened the attention of intelli
gent farmers to the Importance of applying
the results of chemical Investigations, and
in some respects, essentially modified thu
practice of all civilized countries.
They were simple words to lead to sucl
results. To manure an acre of land will
forty pounds of bone-dust," said he, " is sui
ficient to supply three crops Of wheat, clio
yer, potatoes, turnips, &C., with phosphates
but the form in which they are restored Il
the soil does not appear to be matter o
Indifference for the more finely the bone
are reduced to powder, and the more init
mately they are mixed with the soil, tn
more easily they are assimilated. The NOR
easy and practical mode of effecting thei
division is to pour over the bones, in tn
state Of fine powder, half Of their weight @
sulphuric acid, diluted with three or fou
parts of water Simple words, and YC
they opened the way to the whole system c
concentrated fertilizers which has extende
so far in modern times and grown to sue
) gigantic proportions as to effect the CON
merce of the whole civilized world.
Special Fertilizers.
GuanO, to be sure, had first been brough
to public notice by Baron Humboldt and b
Sir II. Davy, but it was not till the reseach
es set on foot by the revelations of Iiebil
that it was at all used in England. Twent
casks were landed there in 1910, and /
= great was the confidence in its use, as
: means of renovatiDg the soil and increasir
the products of the country, that the impo
: tation increased to 1000 tons in 1871, an
q to over 100000 in 1916, the English trat
t alone employing, in that year, $40 vessel
In less than sixteen years from 1910 ii
quantity taken from the Chincha Islant
alone reached the enormous figure of 1000
I 900 tons, and the amount of sales in tins
t time was over S1OO,O00,0O0.
: This precious fertilizer soon came to