Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1877-01-10
agricultural,
The Wastes Of the Farm.

At the recent Farmers Convention in
Connecticut, J. B. OleOlt Of South Nam
thester treated the above subject in II very
original manner. The following report OF
the address we take from the N. q. Farm
Cr:
He said he had been trying to collect
and arrange his thoughts while trimming
out small wood in the woods, and he was
not sure but small wood is II good subject
to begin on. Do we not neglect our rot
TING carbon in the woods, while we are
working hard to buy coal? Has the soil
no rights? History would seem to answer
the question in tn negative. Keeping the
soil fertile for future generations seems
not to be principle of nations. We rob
our soil till ii cannot longer support Us in
idleness, and then we move on to impOv-
erish new fields. The Jews had to be
kept in the wilderness forty years, before
they could be trusted to enter the prom
ised land.
We are an extravagant people, whether
in saving or spending. We may waste by
not expending on our farms. The wastes
of the farms are the bottom leaks OF socl
ETY.. A nation with in Impoverished soil
is IL poor nation. Neither paper, nor gold,
nor silver are essential 10 good agricul-
ture. The soil Of the earth is sacred, and
it is great waste to take enough of its
dust to make doubling farmer.
Chemistry is = hybrid between medicine
and divinity, and us much better than
either us is II mule better than II horse OF
jackass. We are now setting the under
pinning of the nat on's next hundred
years, and we should take special pains to
secure solid foundation, We have been
SHINING and robbing, and wasting the
land 100 long already. We have been
carrying our wasteful habits westward,
and about us far as we can go, and now
tie people of the West, US well as we OF
the East. are beginning to view this sub
ect in its true light 1t is not gold dig
ging or soil robbing that pays, but is thai
system of agriculture which gives the la
borer support, while it leaves the soil as
good or better than he found it.
The speaker then left his notes and told
The story of Il California miner whom he
once met in the mountains. He had spent
many years in the diggings, sometimes
making big hauls, but otener meeting
only disappointment and discouragement.
When gold came easy it went easy, and
he was now without any. He left the
mines, he said, because he could not make
S15 per day. and he was going up in the
mountains to dig Il place for Il home. lie
was going to work on farm, till he
conld learn to plant tree, and earn mon
ey to buy one, and then he was going 10
begin farming in small way, on his own
account. He would have II little garden,
" COW and pig, and II little home all his
own, and, perhaps, when he got things to
looking little us he wanted them to- and
had raised enough to eat for himself and
another, he might think about taking Il
little piece of calico up there with him.
And this story of the miner turning farm
er, said the speaker, well illustrates the
tendency of our civilization. We have
rot about tired wishing for help, and we
are now going to work. Even our tramps
are looking for homes. When he was II
boy, there was very little to waste. The
family drew their support direct from the
farm. Now our supplies are retaied Out
to us like lard in little tin pals, paying
somebody profit. Reading farmers,
who are looking Tor patent fertilizers and
overlooking the bones and filth which de-
file their backyards, are waslelu farmers.
People talk of over legislation, hut we
can't begin to make laws enough to take
care of all the fools. Our boys are too
apt to be caught waiting for some grand
fathers or uncle's shoes. Farmers should
be the teachers of their sons, instead Of
sending them off foraging for IN educa-
ton among strangers. He once knew Il
boy to leave the farm because his incon-
siderate father refused to lot him shave
tie well-poIe down to suitable proportions
for his small hands We may cause waste
by onr choice of help. Choose men to
work for you whom you ,can respect.
Neither man nor animal is soft to handle,
or to have round without brains, and they
of kindly nature. His subject, he said,
increased us he approached it, and he
should be obliged TO conclude without Il
conclusion, and to leave of where he be
gun, fearing that he had wasted i'm hour by
his endeavOr to show up the wastes of 9TH
ers. The address caused continued morr-
ment, and WAS loudly applauded at the
close.