Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1878-03-06
Board OF Agriculture.
LCnnclndcd from An Pade.l
tRrpAY-NtoRNING SESSION.
Hon. Crosby Miller. Chairman.

Hon. Crosby Miller. Chairman.
The first matter before the meeting was
the paper by G. Horace Hubbard, Esq, of
Springfield, upon /" Contrasting in Yer
mont before reported.
After Mr.. II. IS paper Miss Ella +. Pierce
Of st. Johnsbufy, gave recitatlon-Wmt-
tiers corn song-which was nicely render
ed.
Mr.. Vail of Pomfret, next read short
paper OF " Corn-raising," in which he
differed from those who had spoken:
| am AN advocate of corn-raising, but so
much has been said of late by public speak
ers, in New England, on the absolute ne
cessity of every farmer raising all the corn
he wants to feed and the great Importance
of making the farming class self-support-
inc, the agricultural journals are pictur-
ing to us the danger of giving the west the
balance of trade in this matter, and all
the horrors of this state of things has been
so pictured and the community and state
so alarmed that have doubted whether 1t
was safe for any man to do otherwise than
TO fall into the public current aud be swept
along with it, and plant his whole farm to
corn.
That corn can be raised in Vermont and
New Hampshire, and is raised at n good
profit, have no doubt, but the question
seems to me to be, not whether it can be
raised at profit, but whether it can be
raised ut greater profit than other crops;
or the proper question for the farmer Is, to
what crop can he devote his land and en-
ergies and receive the greatest profitP If
this is decided rightly the balance of trade
will regulate itself.
If l have space of land that will raise
Il hundred bushels of corn to Il good profit,
it seems to me if use this land for some
other crop and raise value enough to buy
one hundred and ten bushels of corn ut
the same cost of production | make Il clear
gain of ten bushels of corn by discarding
the corn crop To u man that is alarming
himself about this balance of trade and
the depletion of eastern purses for western
corn this immense and growing shipment
of grain is something fearful; but in it is
there not little consolation in the idea
that we may trust while longer the
shrewd business faculty of the New Eng
land Yankee for turning an honest penny
or have the great mass of the close, con-
sentative farmers of these hills become in
sane and struck the road for the poor farm,
and need some great political economist to
stand as guardian over their business
transactions? If this vital principle OF
selfinterest of pecuniary gain Is bellelng
itself to this magnitude, it is the first In
stance in the human family from the time
of Adam down. | believe it to be one OF
the established principles of our civiliza-
ton that we must recognize that labor and
the industries of the country are becom-
| l;,; IoI nj l;uiIa1 and that
cannot 90 back to the good old days of our
fathers. and make ourselves isolated and
self-supporting without turning back civ
ilization just so much.
wish to be distinctly understood us ad-
vocating raising corn on every inch OF
land in our state where it can be raised
cheaper and at a greater profit than any
thing else, and no where else.
In the little valley where live there is
a small cluster of dairy and sheep farm
ers, and they are living illustration of
this question. The land is good corn land,
and yet these ill-advised people take
twelve, fifteen or more car loads of western
corn every year, sending their hard earned
dollars to those boated western corn grow
crs; working their wives and daughters,
and some of them even working them
selves, to send for corn and the most as
tonishing feature of it is, that the amount
of corn bought increases every year.
And when the tax collector comes for
taxes, they put their hands in their peck
cts and pay up, and as one evil leads to
another, their farms increase in produc-
tiveness, so they are obliged to build
anew, to send off more of those dollars
wrung from bitter toll, for lumber and
nails, and several of them are here to-day
, on half fare tickets, and will manage in
some way to pay their hotel tbills, and, in
spite of all that we can say to them, will
on their way home, order Il ton or two Of
meal, and 90 home and 60 to work smil.
ing Us if they didn't know that they were
: destroying the balance of trade.
, Mr. Sherburne of Pomlret followed Mr.
t Vail, sustaining his views. He did moi
WISH when he had paid for his farm anC
, could call it his own, to have one depleted
; and worn out by grain raising. lie
] thought the question Of fertilizers Was il
fair process of solution by way of buying
western meal, which pays profit in feed
z ing and in ferLilizing the soil.
} DR.. Hoskins said the discussions of thu
f gentlemen We're new rendering of thu
+ old quarrel of the knights whether thu
| shield was of gold or siiver-both wer'
c right and both were wrong. The human
Il, race was II grain eating race, and if thu
S farm could not be brought up by raising
e the grain it consumed, the race was doom
ed to extinction.
S Prof. w. G. Atwater spoke of specia
|. fertilizers. Will it pay to use them-whel
il and where and how? and that will depent
+ on circumstances. No plant will grow i
there are not present, in every case certain
ingredients. Take, for instance, n wisp O
n hay; put it in the oven and it parts with
a portion of its weigllt-that is water; pu
=. in the fire, and it loses most Of the re
q naming weight, leaving only an ash. Al
n these parts which have been lost have
k with one exception, been taken from tn
air; those remaining and the nitrogen car
n ried off in the fire, came from the soil
|. The ingredients necessary are potash, SC
da, lime, magnesia, sulphuric and phos
phoric acids, chlorine, iron and nitrogen
o The absence of any of these will affect til
ii crop unElvorably, and in some of the NOR
!. important ones will cause it entirely t
j, fail. Soils have Il natural strength. Soil
NJ are like wells, and not like cisterns, Il
u you draw II ON llcLn you lower tnc leFeI
l. In ci:terns, when you have taken 10 tn
o bottom, there is nothing left; in the wei
II it fills up again. But in soils the strengt
u is not all on one level, like water in
well, aud it is only necessary to bring u
). the lowest ingredient to the level OF til
Il rest, when You will secure good crops
I, He spoke of the necessities of Il loose
! frable soil, with good drainage, and ye
- not too dry-ior the best soil and the high
n est manuring will be valueess withou
&c water. Every one must determine fo
+ himself what is needed on his own soil. |
r. he were to make IN analysis, II thoroug
one would cost almost rs much as the farr
= was worth, and when made would be {
> Lille value. OF these ingredients nance
most were present in sufficient quantitie,
d and only lime, potash, nitrogen or phos
+, phoric acid are generally wanting and tn
d lack must be determined by experiment
g Superphosphates often fail because the
Of are poor-but oftener because they ar
t, poorly used. Clover is an exceller