Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1877-10-03
Do We All Know Enough!


sive acquaintance among our brother farm
ers, that the most skillful and the most sue.
cessful amongst them are those who have
been and are the most anxious to learn every
detail I'd their business. They are the men
who most constantly attend the agricultural
meetings, read agricultural books, and sub
scribe to agricultural papers The time is
past when the book farmer " can be sneered
at by the unintelligent of his profession, or
pointed at for his broken fences, weedy
fields, scrawny cattle and improbable
crops 1t is now commonly admitted that
knowledge, both general and special, is as
useful to the farmer as it has always proved
to be to Others We no longer hear of the
fool of the family being kept on the farm
as the one most likely to succeed in agricul
ture. The bright boys, even though they
may temporarily leave the farm, return to il
with joy, bringing with them, and apply
ing, the knowledge and the business habits
gained in other avocations. 1t is not too
much to say that there are ten men of edu
cation and culture employed in farming to-
day, in New England, where there was one
twenty years ago. And they are almost all
good and successful farmers. Tt is the in
crease of this class in numbers and practi
cal skill that is the hope of the future for
our country. So long as the native fertility
of our soil was unexhausted, scrub farmers
might live, and even make money. But
not now
1t is notable fact too, that the better
man is fitted for his business by education
the more important it appears to him to
promote education for all the people. Stu
dious himself and profitng by study, he
seeks with earnestness to increase the means
by which all may receive like benefits. As
farmer it is his daily experience that thou
sands of dollars are lost in every neighbor.
hood from lack of the knowledge and skill
that may be acquired by that special train.
ing for the business which is yet to be pro
vided. Consequently he is earnest in the
advocacy OF education, not only general, but
special.
In urging his ideas upon his friends, or
on the public, if he have opportunity he
will speak of the losses he has himself suf-
fered from lack of knowledge, and the gains
he has made when he got knowledge He
confesses his ignorance of many things yet
which he hopes to learn. He takes ad-
vantage of every opportunity to increase his
store of practical information as well as of
theoretical principles, testing the correctness
OF the latter by the former, He enjoys the
generous company Of the hundreds he meets
at farmers clubs, dairymen's associations.
agricultural board meetings, fairs, ETC., etc.,
and is as ready to give as take in these ex-
changes of knowledge. Generally his expe-
Fences at all such meetings, and in the or
binary encounters with his brother farmers.
are eminently agreeable. He finds nearly
all to be in agreement with him in thinking
that much is to be learned every day, and
he rarely finds any one who is of the opinion
that men are born farmers, and that when
they are big enough to hoe corn they know
it all. lie knows that such men exist; he
is convinced of the fact when he reads the
reflects upon those terrible failures, that
must exist in dairying, for instance, that
bring down the average of our oest dairy
states to hundred pounds of butter to the
COW in the face OF the two hundred pounds
average of hundreds of well managed herds.
1t is such state of things which amply
jnstities his desire to see the sort of knowl-
edge which will prevent such results pre-
vail upon every farm.
Figures will not lie, and these crop aver
ages cannot be got away from. We need
more knowledge, and we need to have it
more generally diffused. The man who
says so is not insulting the farmers, and
any one who makes such charge is a dem.
agogue, or an ass, whom every intelligent
person sees through at once. 1t is no more
ami INSULT TO the farming class for one of our
selves, or for any outsider, to say we need
more knowledge, than it is for the minister
TO tell US we need more religion The man
who feels insuted in either case is the man
that is most in need.
No man in his senses will claim that
farmers, as rule, are inferior in natural
ability and intellect TO those engaged in
other pursuits. The contrary would be
more nearly true. But every one knows,
and the farmer best of all, that until recently
it has been supposed that, while an educa.
ton was needed for the successful prosecu.
ton of every other avocation, the farmer
IA A.
themselves that are crying out against this
doctrine. II is the farmers who demand an
increase of knowledge and of the facilities
for knowledge, both for their children and
for themselves Whether in comparison
they know more or less than their neighbors,
is not the question. The question is, do they
know enough to do this business to the best
advantage If not, then they need to know
more.
We have heard of young man of energy
and enterprise, reared upon Vermont farm,
but apprenticed to mercantile business in his
youth, who was so deeply impressed with
the Ignorance Of his negbbors at home as 10
their true interests in the matter of dairy stock
that he expended five hundred dollars from
his earnings to introduce there some choice
Jersey blood. This young man, now older
grown, has returned to the old homestead
and the farmers trade, and we looked upon
specimens from his Jersey herd at the last
state fair with delight. More than this, in
his neighborhood, and in part at least from
his example, the improvement of dairy stock
has been so great that a yearly average of
two hundred pounds of butter is looked
upon with contempt, and three hundred