The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1879-04-11
aud have the ordinar, comforts of lie.

tuu nave tht ofuilliill teinfoitn oi NE.
In view Of these lncts, II Is We'll for us
to look around our farms and see If we
arc making the most of our opportuni-
ties. have found out in my own OK
periencc that in no business are there so
many wastes as in farming. No BUSH
ness can thrive unless details are well
attended to. The question of profit in
II large manufacturing establishment
often depends on proper management
of the wastes of that establishment, and
were our manufacturers 10 do business
in the way many of our farmers do, il
wonld only he short time before the
profits would he lost. The fact is, that
were not nature indulgcnt 10 those who
seek her favor, many farmers wonld be
without calling in life.
One of the greatest wastes on our
farms is waste of labor. We under
take to accomplish too much; TO cult
vate too much land; we spread our eff
forts over too much surface. What
would he thought of man who at
tempis TO paint his house with pint of
paint2 This only illustrates orr efforts.
Having land in abundance, we think we
must cultivate il all, either IN raising
crops that do not pay, or which we can
not take care of well. The result in
many cases is that We arc behind in our
work and cannot catch up.
Many farmers waste their efforts on
two hundred acres of land, while if the
the same were done on fifty acres the
result would be profit. In this partic-
ular waste | am certain there is an as
tonishing loss in New England. There
is another waste on many of our farms,
and that is poor stock. There are many
cows kept that do not pay for the hay
they cat. 1t may be they are naturally
poor; or have grown old in the service.
| While in dairy of say twenty cows
there are some that pay well. still we
find that there are some usually carried
at loss, and the profit from the good
cows is lost in that way. "Thc lean
kline eat mp the fat kline
In this connection loss is occasOncd to
many by want of proper care. Cows
kept on bog hay, and wintcrcd tn the
south side of a stack, watercd at some
slough hole, or even stabbed, if allowed
to lie on their manure without ventila-
ton, cannot he expected TO make good
butter, or much of il. II is often cheap
er TO buy lumber and nails and hire n
carpenter, than to buy grain. Poor
stock, with poor hay, makes poor ma
nure, and he who keeps them will grow
poor.
Another great waste is poor tools and
a lack OF good ones. 1t might do in the
days of our ancestors to plow with the
old wooden plow that scratched the
surface of the soil, and harrow with the
old A harrow that turned the turf bacl,
again. Then the principal tool was n
hoe, and it was necessary TO chop hole
in which to put seed: chop the grass
from around the hill. and turn over the
ground by the hardest kind of labor in
order to make crop grow. That Kind
of labor has all gone by, and the farmer
who persists in cnltivaling the soil in
that way, will find his sons all ego
west" Good tools mean less labor and
better cultivation with better crops. II
is cheaper TO do it well, and the crop is
certainly more than half better. No
farmer who has them would he willing
to 60 without moWing-machnc and
horsr-rakc, as they will get the grass
faster and better. Then why 90 with
out good plows, smoothing harrows. al
of which accomplish as much in thcii
place as they do?
Another great waste in New England
is waste in fencing. We have too MANY
small fields which ii is impossible tC
cultivate rs they ought to be. Horse
machinery cannot be used to advantage
in them. There are too many fence
corners in which brush and weeds ar,
allowed to grow, rs they cannot he 90
to advantage unless the fences ar,
moved. MANY of our best acres ar,
are taken up with fences, and il is will
great labor they are kept up. It Is mncl
cheaper to remove the inside fence
than to keep the farm divided into small
fields. We can use machinery in larg,
fields TO better advantage. am in in
vor of n law which will allow our road
sido fonoes to ho rnmov"l and ,yhioi
would make the owner of the stock re
sponsblc for all damage done.
would be great advantage TO all on
farmers.- lIAuTRof in Country Gent