Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-04-02

seed, and perhaps trine to lay by for some
unknown calamity or mn unexpected sick
ness, and they wcro wholly unprepared for
losses by insect enemies. II IL certain that
some had no knowledge Of farming, Tor they
had always lived in thickly settled commu-
mites, and their main idea in coming West
was TO have houses of their own and to be
removed hom the apprehensions OF dcpen-
dence and dstressful poverty which they saw
awaited them; indeed. thousands of this
class have been coming West every year for
the last 10 years, and 1t is known that they
have in the end succeeded rs well rs many
who knew more.
The season of 1874 was q dry one, and the
crops could not have been full average ex-
cept on moist ground in valley or intervales.
All at once, and in the height of the growing
season, while corn was nearly fit to be roast
ed. while vines were beginning to yield,
while flowers raised from seed sent by East
ern friends were bright with blossoms and
buds, the grasshoppers came, and they cover
ed every green and living thing The insects
glistened from aloit in the bright sunlight;
then they came In still greater numbers ;
darkness and despair settled on every house
hold, almost rs much so as if the lirst-born
were about TO DO carried to the grave. In
two days, in three days, in a week, every
thing was gone, the green grass turned
brown, the foliage of the trees disappeared,
and yet neither frost nor winter had come.
This was the end, and no more can be told.
| In q long settled community, much more
could be told, because there cultivation is
extensive, and parts of fields and corners of
gardens would be saved; or in the crib or in
| the cellar, or in the barns and in the rooms,
aro the fruits and earnings OF other prosper
Gus years. Years which were calamitous
taught them how to combat and how to sur
| vive; but these poor folks, fresh on the prai-
| RE sod, and almost rs inexperienced us their
own dear children. were bowed to the dust.
The disaster would have been Insignificant II
there had been only few. for these could
have been relieved, but here was enough to
make "whole city full, scattered through
| the frontier counties, n concentration of in
experience aud of want. II they had been
| there five years they could have helped
| themselves. | have seen whole counties in
| Ohio where the drouth was so severe that
not enough was raised to keep even the
cows, but there WIS no suffering, for the
farmers had money enough to purchase
grain from abroad.
Of course, men and women and children
must have food or they will perish, and in
some way food reaches these people; but to
my mind, knowing, rs L do, the resources oil
these plains in winter, or rather their want
of resources, the fuel question is quite rs
| important rs that of food. For this winter
| is terrible one, both Fast and West, and
even over the sea, and none has been sc
severe for 40 years; and here on the plains
in these houses, made of cottonwood or Of
sod, the frost and cold work their way.
know that on the coolest days good chop
| per will be kept busy in providing wood FOL
1t has to be hauled from milo to five ant
ten miles, and it is green and sappy. Dur
ing most of the days the sun shines clear
and the stars by night, and after the sun sets
| and darkness comes on the cold is so intense
! that it seems to settle down from the sky
like huge covering of steel blue, or o
seml-transparent mist, and the silence i:
profound. Ii is n long time IN the morning
before the sun warns the air but the mar
of the house, with weak team, has 10 pust
through snow to the timber, perhaps to haul
n single log ut time-caled smaking -
and then he has to chop with n dull AK ant
| undertake to split that which requires q
charge of powder, "whilo all around the
winds do blow" and while from the low
dwelling, standing by itself on these wide
plains, Il thin smoke arises, making one i'm.
agine that all the rest of the world is dead
The journey to the station Is still worse fol
how shall his furnished team haul the Wagon
over the untraveled way, or how shall h'
ride horseback, in the cold, the houses in
places miles apart? lie has to be gone ovel
night or, perhaps, two nights or more, /
provisions are not to be had. He may trave
on foot with n sack in his hand in which t
what anXieties arise in his mind in regard t
the family ut home-what anXIeties, too, the
family feels in regard to his lonely and lon!
journey! There in the confined rooms, frost,
or damp with steam, live the mother AM
children, melting snow or ice, for no well:
are dug and creeks are frozen to the bottom
In that whole country there are neither pc
tatoes nor cabbages. If there chance to b,
any, they are frozen through and through
1t may be expected that scurvy and Other
diseases such us follow devastating armie
will prevail in the spring.
Supplies Received.
But in these days many households ar,
made joyful by the arrival of supplies O
flour, bacon, butter, molasses, vinegar, an
garments for men, women and children
supplies sent from warm Eastern homes, o
purchased with money voted by Congress
and Legislatures, or contributed by tn
Tribune readers.
1t is certainly true that these " home
steaders" look inefficient, and rs If the
would better return whence they came
Take any refined family to these plains t
live in dug-out," give them their clothe
and scanty food, and feeling that here the.
must live and make the desert blossom, AM
they will look no better than these home
steaders." | have seen hundreds of refine
and even wealthy families come hther +
make new homes They lived in shanties o
tents, they had neither privacy nor conven
ence, and they did not appear much ditieren
from those who earned their bread by dali
toll but when they moved into new houses
and carpets were spread, and visitors wer
made comfortable, they seemed differeI
people, and with each improvement the
looks improved. 1t Is comfortable HON
. which makes people look bright, and such
home is to be secured only after n lapse
, years and by well-directed labor. A velve
lawn shaded by trees cannot be created wit
: all the money in the world in single sun
t mer, and such things will grow as quick
for the poor man as for the rich man; IN
- so, too. strawberries and grapes and rOs,
and creeping vines will flourish rs well on
e homestead of 80 acres rs on the grounds Of
= millionaire.
, Let nobody be concerned as to the abil
, of the people of this frontier to succee
Largely they belong to the cultivated classe
poor and ambitious, but temperate and u
4 dustriOus, and they know what kinds {
{ homes they want, and, the time being glvel
i, they will make them. From the first 1t HI
been Il hand-tO-hand conflict to makea HON
G west of the Missouri but hundreds of tho
I sands have succeeded, and in so doing thu
f have acquired larger powers which the
. impart to their children. In n few years {
you, my Massachusetts friend, come to tn
I dividing line, that EMBRACES the advantage
) of two climates and the evils of neither, m
= you will sec u charming land rich in OrChart
and green fields, and u land powerful in mt
, and in women who triumphed over the
h cold'an dark winter days.-N. &. NJ,
, NeiO York Tribune.
, RaniGs' DeuartmEut.