Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1877-08-06
agricultural department.
THE AGRICULTURE OF NEW
ENGLAND.

several States in New England will be
found of special interest to Vermonters.
The article is from the American OIL
tirator and written by A. L. Murdoch,
Jamaica Plain, Mass.
Recognizing, in the present depression
of mercantile and manufacturing inter-
ests of New England, an inducement
| for thousands of idle hands to turn
their attention to agricultural pursuits,
and desiring to prove the fallacy of the
prevalent notions that farming is over
done in New England, or that it is I'M
profitable as compared with other Sec
tions, 1 submit few facts perhaps new
to your readers in this connection. Peo-
pie who are out of employment, business
men and mechanics who left the rural
districts years ago in pursuit of greater
wealth in the cities, should be brought
face to face with the actual situation,
should learn that no occupation pre-
sents the same possibilities of quiet in
dependence, of certain though moderate
reward of industrious effort, as New
England farming We need more pro-
ducers and less consumers we need
less shop-keepers and more farmers.
New England can and should raise her
own food, then will prosperous days
return, then will our vast earnings
remain at home to beautify and adorn
our prosperous communities.
Let us analyze the position of agri-
culture in our New England States, and
learn therefrom the weak as we'll as the
strong points of the situation. Maine
produces seventy-elght per cent. of her
consumption. She exports twenty per
cent. of her oats, and seventy-fve per
cent. of her potatoes, raises her own hay,
butter and cheese, but strange to say
she imports seventy per cent. of her
meats; fifty per cent. of her -four. in
GLIDING wheat, rye, buckwheat and bar
ley, and seventy per cent of her corn.
! With the fertile valleys and luxuriant
pastures of this State does any one be-
lieve her agriculture has developed its
, full capacity, or that her sons need 60
West for land to till or markets for the
products of the soil?
New Hampshire farmers raise seven
ty-6ve per cent. of what the State con.
| sumes. They export ten per cent. Of
: the oats produced, also eighty per cent
of the potatoes; raise an abundance Of
hay, butter and cheese for home con.
sumption; but yet they import seventy.
; five per cent. of their -four, sixty per.
e cent. of their corn, and ffty-eight pei
il. cent. of their meats. Are those who
. are conversant with the resources of the
= Granite State satisfied with this result
u Cannot our worthy friend James o
= Adams, secretary of the New Hampshire
Board of Agriculture, show his constit
e uency where, by improved culture, more
, abundant manuring, use of thorough
bred stock in the production of grad,
: animals, this situation of dependence OF
a the West for -four and meat may b.
h materially changed even In singh
year? l know he is doing all he can
and feel certain that the farmers o
that State are gradually waking up t,
o the possibilities of the situation.
:. Vermont, in point of agricultural de
a velopement, stands at the head of tn
New England States, since she raise
ninety per cent. of what she consumes
. in doing this she exports fifty per cent
h of her oats, eighty per cent. of her pOta
toes and two thirds of her butter. Ha,
d and cheese are produced in abundance
! Yet Vermont imports forty per cent o
her -four, fve-eights of her meats. Tn
IL farmers of the Green Mountain State a
a whole are better read than those Q
f, any other State, are enterprising, pre-
W gressive and fully alive to the import
, ance of improved cattle, more manur
and better farming in general. Th
rapid spread of intelligence Throughout
d the State is fast making its people sell
" supporting in point of soil products.
N Massachusetts, agriculture is ovel
= Swallowed by the attraction and impol
io lance of its manufacturing interests, an
+ she only raises twenty five per cent. {
&c her consumption, and has really no az
ricultural product for exports unless
st may be a little tobacco. She impor
o $l,000,000 worth of food per week.
d. ninety four per cent. of her -four. sixt,
OF seven of corn, sixty of oats, thirty
ly hay, fve-sixths of her butter and chees
We and eighty-fve per cent. of her meat
% Presenting thousands of acres of valu
BILE yet abandoned land with an abul
'm dance of capital and unemployed labo,
On unusual facilities for transportation pc
IRE sessing the best local markets for produ
N. in America, there is every condition f
No successful farming except the dispositi,
e of its people, many of whom prefer /;
'n- uncertain existence in manufacture
nd village to healthy, prosperous. ind
pendence in the rural districts. Sti
ba continued hard times is convincil
- many man of the necessity of getti
'n' back again to mother earth"
ITO Connecticut raises two-thirds of b
a consumption, making grand showi
a for State so largely devoted to man
mo- featuring interests. She exports fort
o five per cent. of potatoes raised, J
imports eighty per cent. of her fol
DO fifty of her corn, one-sixth of her GA
~ one-sixth of her hay, two-thirds of
JUG meats, and one-half of her butter a
wo cheese. Experiment stations with
die creased attention to agricultural progr
I'VE are stimulating her farmers to renew
effort and local markets for their p