Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1877-11-16

4 Revival in Farming.
That a revival is going Oh IL all that relates
to agricultural interests Is plain enough to the /
most ordinary comprehension. The success |
of the farming occupation, but especially Its |
reliance for a man. lis on almost all tongues |
The great crops of the present year have |
come forward to prove the value of this occu- |
patton as il has never before been demonstrat-
ed in this country. Men are at last convinced |
that agriculture is at the bottom Of our ma
tional prosperity. They comprehend III al
entirely new way how all branches of bust
ness depend on it. But for this years crops,
we might still have waited. as we have been
waiting for the past four years. for a start il
trade and manufactures. Any person can see
that il would have been impossible to do any
thing whatever if farming had not put it,
long and powerful lever under and pried the
country out of the nut in which it was set.
The facts and figures about the corn, cot
ton and wheat crops we have been furnishing
from week TO week III the columns of the
Ploughman. and their reclpitulation at this
time Is wholly unnecessary. They have all
the attractions of a romance to the thoughtful
reader. They are cumulative evidence of the
greatness of the countrys agricultural re
sources of its substantial wealth. and of It's
permanent prosperity and power. Ii We
could imagine these taken away, We should
picture to ourselves n country that had, Us it
were but single leg to stand on. Ii would
be country that relied on other countries for
its support that could not so much as un-
dertake the work of self-defence without first
having to gain foreign permission through a
foreign alliance. We cannot, in fact con
ceive the change that would be wrought in
our condition by the abrogation of the sus-
tanning agricultural interest
Since the war, there has been an unparal-
1eled drain Of the population of the country
10 the towns and cities. The delusion operat-
ed III u great many minds that there was an
easier way TO make a living, and even 10
make money, than by the ancient process OF
patient labor. A great many persons fancied
that the handling Of products was an easier
thing to do than production itself. notion
possessed them that it was somehow Il more
dignihed occupation TO be the agents and SER
wants of producers than to be producers them
selves. They saw IL the class of middlemen
persons who appeared TO them TO take life
easily. who were all the time handling money,
and who seemed to prosper and grow rich.
And the strong social instinct likewise came
into play TO allure them from the compare
tive solitude of farms to the quick and close
contact of the cities.
We are not to forget either that the in
creased employment of machinery i'll farming
operations was an element of influence i'll the
matter. made necessary, as it was, by the tax
ing of so many able-bodied men for the war.
The staple crops sufficient for the sustenance
of destroying army and Tor the nation be
sides. could hardly have been produced with
ont it, aid, and it made its appearance IN
prompt obedience to the urgent demand
When the armies were disbanded, the same
machinery was still in operation to do the
work which before the outbreak of hOstilities
had been done by hand. To certain extent
therefore, it was unavoidable that the agricul-
turnl interest should undergo process OF re
mobilization.
During what is known as the imitation term
which was an cru of high prices and specula-
ton. nothing occurred 10 draw back the at
tention of men 10 farming. and there appear
ed to be no business that prospered like trad
ing and specializing. Everything was fictitious
intangible, unreal People thought they were
making money when they were only giving
and taking credit The plain prose of farming
stood a small chance IN the romancing of max
ing fortunes without work. They fancied that
all the Old conditions Of life Of which labor
Is the bottom one, had undergone IA magic
transformation. The good old New England
farms were deserted 10y the sons, many Of
whom had had strange taste of the outer
world by the war, and the hOnored old home
steads were too many of them left tenantless.
The stranger came in and bought what had
been the steady and ample reliance of fami-
for much below their real value. Country
towns lost the flower of their youth when
those who 80 lately We're boys became discon-
tented and went away. 1t was lamented by
those who had not the power 10 help It, and
who constantly uttered warnings against the
fatality Of such a course. There was obvious
~ nothing left TO do hut to await the event
with such patience as could be commanded.
Wise men knew that all would come right at
some time, though they could not tell exactly
how. The bubble finally burst from its own
tension, and tho panic. with four years OF
business stagnation succeeding, opened all
mems eyes At last
From that time to the present there has
been conviction steadily taking possession
of mems minds. that after all there is no oc-
cupntiOn that Is so safe and so independent
rs that Of farming. And those who abandon
ed il for trade and other dependent Calling
are now looking back to the land as the best
resource aud the surest support. And other,
who are tired of the uncertainties and ineyita-
bic anXieties OF traffic and all that is associated
with H. are looking eagerly for small farms
on which they may do no waiting but upon
kind Providence The tide has turned. ant
farming is coming into the ascendant again
Agriculture is uppermost IL mems thoughts
In the interIninable list of bankruptcies tn,
faithful farmer very rarely appears. Ii is tn
ERA OF an agricultural revival. and it is fitl,
ushered IN by the exceptionally great crops o
the current year
The agricultural fairs all over New Englan,
this fall attest the fact of this revival The,
show distinctly that new spirit is abroad
leading men back 10 the land they went GU
10 occupy it in days gone by. If We here d.
not produce the great staple crops which ar
yielded by tine West aud South We have GU
specialnes and they are good ones. Farming
mas not yet gone out of fashion in New Eng
land, and 1t never will More men of mean
and character are to-day interested IN II thai