The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1877-03-10
Agricultural Department.
CONDUCTED BY ALBERT CHAPMAN
Meeting ortheiVermont State Board o
Agriculture at stowe, Thursday and
Friday. Feb. ~, and 2j, 1877

planned the object of the meeting.
Mr.. r. X. Waite of Stowe was chosei
chairman. MIR. Newell Bigelow Q.
Stowe gave the address of welcome. 1
1t is fitting that the powers that be
should furnish us the facilities for hold
ing this meeting. The farmers callinl
Is II that needs more culture of thos,
engaged in it to prosecute the calling
probably. 1t has been said that all W,
know, and what we do not know, woulC
make a great book if it were printed
If the volume of the knowledge of the
farmers about here were DIVIDED | dc
not know which would make the larges
volume. In the name of the inhabi-
tants of Stowe of all classes. he woulu
bid the honorable gentlemen of the
Board, sent to us by the State, welcoin,
to our Inequalities and homes. He
hoped the intercourse would be mutu-
ally pleasant aud profitable. He hopet
he should be able to learn many thing
that he did not st this time know. Man
of the implements he used were not per-
feet or profitable; he would like to
know what other mes he could pur-
chase with e certainty the2 would prove
better than those he was using. He had
great trouble with brakes, in fact, he
was not certain that thes would not yet
drive him from the farm.
Mr.. Chase gave 81 account Of bio sue.
cess in killing breSee by having q boy
follow the pillow, old throw the roots o.
the brakes up Oh the plowed land
The brakes were nearly all killed the
first season, the few thot wcie left were
left were all finished when the land was
plowed the next year, by the ssme pro-
cess.
Mr.. Bigelow remarked that his land
infested with brakeA, wac too steep and
stony to plow successfully.
Mr.. G. 5. Fassett of the Boerd read q
paper upon "The Dairy
After reading this paper, . discussion
arose upon the same subject.
Mr.. Fassett said in answer to Q CUES
ton that in the churn lie used the but
termilk could be drawn of, and the
butter rinsed without the capsules OF
butter running out before it was gath
cred.
Mi. Robinson gave an account of Sc
Letting two cows, the one be thought
much the best proved much the poorest
for butter; her butter came with q great
deal of difficulty, was very ANAL in
quantity, and very poor in quality. He
tried the milk of these two cows for
cheese, and found that the one that made
the least butter, made more than double
the amount Of curd for cheese than the
other made. He also raised two calves
on her milk, and they were very large
and thrifty.
Mr.. Fassett, in answer to q question,
stated that he chose to place his salt
where his lows could get it whenever
they wanted it, he uses good clean salt,
1t should never be dirty or impure. A
gentleman said he had used rock salt
TOR four years for the cows of a large
dairy, and found it excellont every wav.
A lump was placed in the stable within
the reach of each cow. The COWS were
stabbed to milk summer as well as in
winter. lie said he thought bone meal.
and perhaps a little sulphur, excellent
to mix with the salt.
Mr.. Chase said in the case Of one
farmer. the cravings for sticks and bones
was satisfied by feeding ashes after try-
ing bone meal. Another gentleman
said his cows had not eaten u bones
or sticks since he fed bran.
Mr.. McAlistcr, by careful trial had
come to the conclusion that by cooking
the meal thoroughly, he made a gain or
saving of one third. He had come TO
the conclusion hat it was no better 70
wet it with cold water, than to feed dry.
c. &. Pringlc of Charlotte, read a pa
per upon "Slnut and Ergot."
Thursday evening, DR.. Noah Cressy
was first introduced, and occupied about
two hours in presenting the claims of
veterinary Science" and answering
questions in regard to the diseases Of
domestic animals.
After DR.. Cressy's lecture, Mrs. En-
nice Patio read a very interesting paper
upon Cooking An Essential in the Ed
ucation of Farmers Daughters. We
hope to publish this paper soon.
Friday morning, the fret exercise was
a paper entitled, "Have Vermont
Farmers cause for Discouragement?,
1t was read by Mr.. W. w. Delano ofEl-
more.
We often hear it said that farming
does not pay. We hear this from those
farmers who are farming quite as much
at the corner grocery, the store, or the
country hotel, whose crops testify to
their poor management, want of brains
and industry. While 80 many farmers
produce crops and products so much SUI
perior to the average, by using brains
ID Introduce improvements, and indus
try to apply the knowledge that brains
supply, and not to be conducting their
business III q thoughtless aud careless
IL Many farmers in our state
would hardly believe that 1t was posi-
BILE to realize 800 lbs. Of butter per COW.
yet thanks to science and the great i'm
provement in dairy stock, plenty of
farmers have realized more than that
amount for the past year. Knowing
that many farmers by using brains to d.
rect their industry, have been able to
double the amount of their products
above the average, have the farmers of
Vermont cause for Encouragement? 1t
Is easy to show that the present value
Of farm products Is much higher than II
was in years before the war, when
farmers bought their farms largely on
credit, aud paid for them, and accumu-
lated property by the products gained
from them. IL there had been less emf
grafton nom Vermont, her resources
might have been developed, her manu-
.iactures doubled, TO such an extent that
q reliable and ample home market
would have been established that would
have very materially increased the prof.
its Of farming Ia our state. l very much
doubt if tho two hundred thousand of
Vermonters have gained much In prop
erty by leaving it, and they have GER
tainly lost much in those things that
cannot be purchased by money, dear
associations among the old home, and
the friends and privileges of a refined
aud cultivated society. By carefully
prepared statistics, the speaker showed
that Vermont stood higher than any Of
the Western States, IN the value of the
Amount of farm products 10 zach indi- 4
vidual engaged IN It, and very much
larger than the average. "Brother
farmers, my advice is, stick to the old
homestead; the farmers Of Vermont
are making moro on an average than
those of the west. Those that think il
so nice to 60 west and scold about our
deep SHOWS and long cold winters, Will
d I'd a greater pull.back In the four