Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1878-09-04

merely manual labor. All labor should be
IGNORED. But no amount of buster on the
art of demagogues will ever undo either
S to the past or the future the immutable
Judgment of mankind, which awards the
highest honor to the labor Of the mind.
1t is not then by holding our boys
= noses to the grindstone of mechanical
oil that our educational institutions can
,ope with the spirit of the times that de-
oletes the farm and the workshop Of lis
most ambitious material.
For mere handicraft one had better go
10 any well conducted firm. where he can
earn his living while becoming an expert
in handicraft. Such an apprenticeship must
be necessary to bit any young man for the
of farm. And too often the
graduate of the manual labor colleges. be-
fore his ideas have been rectifed by prac.
tice, succeeded in convincing his rural
that book farming is hum
bug that does not pay. consider it GER
tain that in our agricultural colleges, the
greatest good to the greatest number re-
quires that we should educate profession
ally and in the most thorough manner the
future teachers and leaders of agricultural
progress, and these should understand that
The management of a farm is II thing not
10 be acquired except by actual practice
on farm run for profit. And here is one
of the most serious troubles. Neither sons
nor parents are willing to give the time
adequate to the all important work OF
preparation for life. We strive to accom-
plish in four years what in Europe is made
the work of seven or nine. The result is
II high pressure system OF examining; II
little of everything and not much of any
thing, which produces Indigestion, physical
and mental. The teachers necessary for
the best results are as yet few and far BIZ
tween. From the universities must come
the teachers capable and willing to inau
gurate Il new order of things comfortable
10 the mental development of the child
and its needs in its life career, and from
them must come the teachers and leaders
of progress in The several departments OF
| industry.
WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON SESSION.
| DR.. E. L. Sturtevant of South Framing
ham read Il paper on agricultural PLAN
feeding. In opening he referred to tho
great difference in plants in the same hill
or plants in adjoining hills; for instance
one stalk of herd-grass furnished heado
bloom III inches long, while none of its
neighbors furnished any over z inches
long. He then spoke of the complex
character of plant feeding to gain certain
results, and described the various ways il
which the plant is fed from the earth an,
he air, and the forming influences of tn,
plants environment A consideration 0
The subject must relate to the plant, the
soil and the acts of man, in order to elimi
nate the influences which interfere witt
uniform development. He then spoke 0
he prominent methods of fertilizing in thu
East, west and south. The natural sol
con aims all the inorganic food necessar,
for the support of the plant except tire,
observation-disclosures phoSphoric acid ant
potash-which are to be applied in sucl
ways that the plant may most easily Absorb
and use them. 1t is much easier to fee,
the soil than to feed the plant. The prob
EN- is to so put the food before the plan
that as great proportion as possible ma,
e used by it, One of the most importan
Kings to be supplied is nitrogen, whicI
appears actively in its work rs nitric aci,I
When dung is spread on a field the rail-
washes its feeding ingredients into thu
soil. In this way the nitrogen passe
urther down, the potash next. and tn
phosphoric acid lies near the surface
Cons quently this is not the proper way t.
feed the soil in which we wish to grow
plants whose roots 60 far down, an,
which especially need pnosphoric acid Blu
it is a good method for those deep-reach
ing plants which need nitrogen. TIL
,peaker pursued this subject further, show
ing the efficacy of surface manuring il
lItferent cases. The most valuable plan
to the farmer is that which utilities tn
most of the inorganic food in the soil. |
applying food to the soil the farmer need
o have faith that nothing put in will b
jost; to feel that the lands natural fertilit
the most valuable kind to possess i
nay be increased by tillage, rotation G
,rops and other methods; to know thu
when the plant food can be furnished Il
ass cost than what the products will Sc
FIR, it will pay to farm land Under til
force of exhaustion Of land and the 'increas
If population, the need of careful applica
lion of chemical or commercial fertilizer
Increases. The western farmer has so
If great natural fertility, but in the sout
he soils are worn out and there the fertl
zers are needed, as they are in the cas-
Farming must in the east and south be
.ome more and more manufacturing, b
he wise use of plant food. Dung may
compared with the Stockbridge fertilizer
for they contain similar ingredients; bl
,upcrphosphate contains only one of tn
needed three-phusphorc acid. CONNIE
rial fertilizers may be used to suppl
something which the manure does n
4 possess, or to supply something not pre-
4 mt in the soil. DIR. Surtevant continue
It some length, giving excellent advice
, farmers, and treating the subject in an AZ
mirable way.
S r S II imam of Oxford asked if in tn
b dung there was nothing useful as plan
food except nitrogen. phosphoric acid NJ
d potash. He wanted to bring out the Walt
h of dung rs II modilier Of the soil, ;isit
G from its chemical value. Some manur
t. have Il very salutary effect upon sane
d soils. while they do not contain the
II three elements to any useful degree.
l. DIR. Sturtevant said he questioned til
statement. He spoke of variations
G soils. Some don't need nitrogen for orc
5, nary crops, but they do for their be
is crops.
n Mr.. Human said that many Connec
d cut farmers were sure that barnyard m
i, nure had Il peculiar value in loosenng al
e modifying soils, aside from its value
e chemicals.
10 In answer to question the docter sa
that certain amount of elements in col
Of mercial fertilizers would grow more whe
ID than the same amount in barnyard N
n. uure.
II There was some discussion between Il
doctor and Mr.. Moseley of Springlic
7. concerning the comparative value of eac
of ed and unleached ashes, Mr.. Mosel
AS stating that the results produced by a
IN plying the two, were too nearly alike
r attribute all their benefit to chemicals tn
W contained.
is A gentleman from western New 70
ir spoke of the lack there of manure enou
ly to use in the very extensive apple orchard
c. Orchadists there want to know what W
v exactly take the place of barnyard II
oil nure.
in The doctor showed how nitric az
~ nou1I bn aooilu coot floup 10 tbo yoo