The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1877-05-11
Agricultural Department.
BY ALBERT CuApMAN
ORR DISADVANTAGES.
A paper read nj the meeting of the
board of Agriculture, at Pcnchnm, by
\. II. Abbott, OF Fast Cabot.

Ii Is an old familiar saying, that every
thing has two sides, and ii is doubtless
true that every position, every occupa-
ton in life has its light and its shade, its
bright side and its dark side; its adyan-
tages and its disadvantages, us well.
Its advantages, which IRE real, tangi-
BILE and clearly defined, aud its disad-
vantagcs, which are as real, as tangible,
but not always as clearly defined.
Farming us an occupation forms no
exception to this general rule Perhaps,
indeed, the light and shade stands out
more distinctly in this than in almost
any other, inasmuch us farming as an
occupation Is more varied, extending
over larger field of action than many
q hadalmost said any others in life.
The farmer, in order to successful
prosecution of his business, must not
only be we'll versed in the laws of ma
ture, governing vegetable and animal
life, but, to certain extent, he must be
. chemist, physician, surgeon, ma
chinist, mechanic, and a merchant.
From superficial standpoint Ga
front view as might call i), farming
appears all bright and glorious. The
advantages alone stand out in bold re-
Lief, land the farmer seems the most pros
porous, the happiest and the frecst from
care of any man on earth. He is sur
rounded with broad acres covered with
all kinds Of growing crops, wavering
and sparkling in the sunlight. His ca
pacious pastures are filled with lowing
herds and blcating flocks. In his stalls
stand his fat and GLOSSY teams of oxen
and horses which are his special care
aud pride. Aud in his house, surround
ed by an intelligent family, he has not
only plenty, but luxury, both for the
inner and outer man. All this is very
fine. But just in the background, Just
behind the screen from superficial gaze
stand our disadvantages, tangible and
real to every practical farmer; often
proving q serious drawback to success
in life.
Ii should be the object of every prac-
iical man to seek out and study these
disadvantages, with view of removing
or overcoming or reducing them so that
they shall be rs little in the way as pos
sible.
These disadvantages arc of two class
es. The first are of private or person.
al character, flowing out from the in
dividual and his surroundings, and al
most wholly within his control.
The second class is of n public char
acter, more remote in their origin, al
fecting farmers as community, and
not SO easily removed or overcome.
The first class will call individual dis
advantages, and they often arise from
our ignorance, and the enlightenment of
the individual will remove them at once
and thus leave the road to success clear
in this direction. The man that went
TO mill horseback, and put his grain all
in one end of his bag, and stone in the
other TO balance it, labored under Il
terrible disadvantage; but the disad-
vantage arose entirely from his ignor-
ance and stupidity.
And are there not many farmers, even
in these enlightened days, that in some
directions are practically carrying their
grain in one end Of the bag and stone
in the other to balance it?
The man who fails though cupidity or
negligence to give his children good
practical education, not only labors I'M
der great disadvantage himself, but
commits an outrage upon society, and
entails cruel disadvantages upon his
children which they can never wholly
outgrow.
will mention but one more disad-
vantage of this class, and that is dis
advantage arising from misapprehen-
sion of what constitutes success in life.
know that the popular idea of sue
cess is to acquire the greatest number of
dollars. The man whose bonds and
ceeded best. But tell you that the man
fkatr otl L. 10 tl,at
cess in life means intelligence, means
getting good and doing good, and that
in the highest sense has miserably failed,
and will reap terrible disadvantage,
not only here but hereafter. The rich
est man ever saw you could count his
dollars on your fingers; while the poor
est man ever saw was worth 100000.
The first disadvantage that ! will
mention pertaining to the second class,
IL one that every farmer feels to great
er or less degree, and that is the disad-
vantage under which he labOrs in pur-
chasing his home supplies of such things
as he cannot raise on the farm. The
farmers grocery bill, his clothing bill,
his boot and shoe bill, &C., are grave
items and consume large portion of
his income, especially if his family is
large. But the burden is greatly en-
HANGED by the fact that he is compelled
10 paw very mnch more than thnsa
things are worth; and oftentimes is led
10 take nm article that looks very well,
but proves almost worthless. Groceries
Of all kinds are shamefully adulterated.
paper is substituted for leather: and
cotton and shoddy for wool.
Look at the merchant princes OF our
cities, their palace homes, the splen-
dor or their style and equipagc. Look
At the colossal fortunes amassed by
many Of our country merchants. Have
these men created anythingF Have
they produced anything? Nothing.
From whence then this surplus? 1t
comes from the pockets of the farmer,
either directly or indirectly. Every
farmer in the land knows and feels these
statements to be truth. The union store
and the grange have no doubt done
much to overcome this disadvantage
but feel that much more might and
ought to be done by the farmers in the
same direction to protect themselves.
Next to this, is the school book spec
ulation, attended with serious disadvan-
ta9es to all those having families TO edu-
cate. The discussion of this subject l
viii ioa~o 60 ooolor hoads and less iras-
cible tempers than mine.
The credit system is another evil in
The same direction, the most distinctive
feature of which is, that the man that
pays ready cash, not only pays his own
bills, but also his share of all the bad
debts that the merchant makes in conse-
quence of trusting, which are not few.
The merchant does not lose them, as
sure you.
There is yet another disadvantage
that falls heavily on the farmers of Yer
mont, viz, the way that most of us
market our farm produce. We have to
pay to many middle men. Butter for
instance, as il is usually disposed of in
Vermont, passes through the hands of
at least three middle men, each one TAX
ing from to 8 cts. per pound as the
case may he. This is too bad Farmers
wives and daughters have to work too
hard IN mako huffar IN have 0na- fottrfh