Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1879-06-20

/ were sacrificed on the altar Of starch. Far
mers took stock in the building OF mills, ex
hausted their lands in the production OF pota
toes and exhausted their means in buildina
factories. Starch went down. the potato bugs
came and now the largest crop produced viii
be the bugs. tt VI
do not forget that I am now addressinn
| Vermont farmers, and l should fail in part
should neglect 10 speak OF the hemp Insanity
that swept over portion Of the Green Noun
tain state. This mania ragged higher than all
the others. Scarcely any other crop was
raised. II became legal tender I'm trade and Il
called out the inventive genius of n Fairbanks
who made the scales by which he could weigh
the immense crops produced. The people be
come so crlzed upon this hemp question that
the evidence Of that insanity still fingers I'm
your state and we have witnessed within the
past few years strong determination to make
Use of the crop that they have so long had
on hand. They are using it by hanging men
believed to be innocent of the crimes charged
against them, and one of the honored descend
ants Of him who invented the scale Will
which TO weigh this hemp, came at last to the
rescue and by refusing his pardon, gave the
people to understand that this hemp insanity
should bear some good fruit and that they
should know that they raised good article
but whether it was Phair to put it to the use
they did or not, leave for you to answer.
II would seem with all this experience, far.
mers would exercise more reason that all the
| medicine they have taken would care this dis
case, but it is not so, When you stop it IN one
direction, it win manifest itself in another, and
| as soon rs we begin to feel that the minds OF
our people hal become settled, we find the
papers starting some new swindIc ana scat.
tcring the seed that will cause another wide
spread insanity. -...
We are told that tons upon tons of sugar beet
seed have been imported and our agricultural
papers arc Oiled with glowing accounts of the
| immense profits in the production of sugar
beet. This seed has commenced to sprout,
and people are again becoming insane and
will rush into the beet raising business with
out regard to the character or condition of
their soil, but only consider the fact that they
can get four dollars a ton for the beets and
have been told they can raise IS tons to the
acre. The price presume can be depended
upon at present, but have you stopped to ex-
anime your land, and satisfied yourself that
your soil is adapted to beets? Have you ex-
amined your manure pile and found il sutfi-
cient to fit your land SO you can depend upon
fair crop? VIII 1t pay to rob every other
crop to feed the sugar beet? If you send the
crop to Maine, have you considered how
much, and what materials you are removing
from your soil, which will soon leave your
fields barren waste, unless what is taken Off
is returned in some form? Those living near
the factory, who receive hcrcfusc of the beets
to feed their stock, may do better than those
at Il distance. -r ..f rI4 .r.
But yon say wo are told by the agricultural
papers that 1--WE can use IA special fertilizer.
prepared specially for this same CROP Yes,
that is so, we are told this, admit, and in my
mind this is the secret of this sugar beet insan-
ity. The manufacturers and spectators in
the special fertilizers are ut the bottom of this
whole craze. If they can get the people to
rush into this sugar business they will have a
grand opportunity to swindlc the farmers
Old tricks could not be played with success,
and something must be given them, little
sugar coated 80 they win swallow the dose be-
fore they cn taste the bitter.
Papers and circulars are sent all over the
country. Agricultural papers are hired to adj
Vocate the extensive culture of this root One
mail brings these papers and in the next
comes the circulars telling what u wonderful
thing has been invented by some learned Pro
fosSor, in some of our agricultural colleges
That will make beets grow, almost without
soil or seod, and n little placed anywhere upon
the farm where beets are to be raised, will
produce roots of such enormous size that
when they arc pulled you can stone up the
hole and use it for a well. No sooner arc these |
flaming bills circulated than you see the
agents of this same manufacturer in every |
town establishing agencies to sell this won
lerful material, and on each bag will be some |
big words, giving the chemical analysis of the
contents of the package, and also you are in
formed that this fertilizer is manufactured es-
pecially for the beet, and in many cases the
farmer will be the biggest beet and win find
himself sweetened but not with the sugar
rom the factories in Maine. Do not under
stand me as condcmning the raising of betts,
1ither for sugar or for food, as consider them
worth more than the four dollars ton as food
or your cattle. What / do wish to caution
you against Is not to rush into this business
md stake your all upon this one enterprise.
% not become insane or imagine yourself
Immediately wealthy. No matter if eggs are
worth only ten cents dozen. Don't put them
IL into one basket or all your labor and mon
y in the production of one product, and that
me an experimental business, for should Won
10 that you will find failure and ruin lying in
our path.
The result Of all these insane movements
as been to discourage agricuturalists, and ,
lake our farmers discontinued, their bows :
isgusted, and they leave the old homestcads :
seek some more promising avocation, {
there they hope failure will not follow them ,
rhereyer they may go. This course pursued /,
rushing into every mtried enterprise has !
iade many afarmer feel ii does not pay to raise |;
ayfhthg, and we find many in New England !
'-day who are not raising enough to supply /;
leir own tables, but sit around the stores and
blooms discussing politics and complaining !
the hard times. You ask one of this class !,
ow much wheat he will raise and his answer :
Ill be "none,I can buy my flour cheaper than :,
can raise it." allow much corn have Won :,
anted I" mot any, we can't compete with :.
lie West; they must raise our corn" No pota- -
res for fear the bugs will cat them up. His :
lstures have grown up to brush, and where n
ice he could count his fine herd, he now can 9,
sep but one poor cow to furnish milk and
litter for his half starved family Thus we G,
I'd our farmers depending upon the great ~
est to raise all that he eats. But how does \,
} buy it. He may have credit but pay day a
mes, and with it no money. A mortgage is
ven of his homestead, and in time unable to
Get the int rest the mortgage Is foreclosed
ID he is driven from his once happy home. A
ID with his wife and children, turned into s.
e street to subsist on beggary or crime, or p
supported at the poor honse at public ex- ID
nse. ",
Have / over-drawn this picturep tbin,, b