Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1882-05-24

KOuuH ldHO lGit oOllo VI lnO BOOANA
Of Vermont farms, hardly esteeming
them worth taking as a gift, so elated
were they with the hope OF speedily I
acquired wealth. and after n few years
earnest trial of unremitting toll and much
discomfort, have returned with eager sat
isfaction TO the former despised Vermont
home. These are facts which have come
under the observation of every one, and
what do they show? If they show any
thing they prove that tho average Vermont
farm has In il the elements of comfort
able living and success, ready to yield
them up to him who has the intelligence
and the will to develop them.
Numerous well authenticated instances
can be cited of crops grown in Vermont
fully equaling the largest yields reported
elsewhere. Fifty bushels of wheat, one
hundred bushels Of oats. three hundred
bushels of potatoes and three tons of hay
per acre have been harvested in many
instances, and sometimes even more. |
Corn has been raised many times at a cost
not to exceed thirty five cents per bushel.
Census returns show that the average
yield per acre of our staple crops is far
above the average Of most other states.
have as yet said nothing of the mex
haustible deposits of marble and slate
found here in their greatest perfection and
many other sources of mineral wealth.
Nevertheless, these too are most import.
ant items In the resources of Vermont,
furnishing profitable employment to thou
sands of her citizens in working them,
and in turn making a home market for
what other thousands of farmers can raise.
We have thus passed in rapid review
some of the advantages which Vermont
offers the young man to make his home
within her borders and gain his living
from her soil. Let us suppose a case of
the average young man of Vermont who,
after mature delberation, has decided to
become a tiller of the soil of his native
state. "Will it pay" him to be content to
jog along in the ruts worn by his fathers
without attempting any improvements?
Will it pay for him to sneer at scientific
investigation and book farming, so callede
Will it pay for him to think that all of
successful farming depends upon the
amount of muscular force exerted and
none upon the brain power employed? III
he does thus think and act it will not be
many years before he will be ready to
exclaim with the croakers, Farming is a
slavish life hero in Vermont and never
pays anyway, pointing to lis own life as
the adjoining illustration.
The conditions of successful farming
have greatly changed during the last
thirty years and the wide awake farmer
will change his plans accordingly. Much
Of the soil requires different manipulation,
markets have changed, routes of trans
portation have multiplied, competition has
increased, and as a natural consequence
mediocre or inferior products meet with
slower sale than ever before. While the
inferior product, If sold ut ALL can only
| be sold at price below the cost of pro-
rior merit, rarely fails to bring a remu
| nerative price.
viii it not pay, then, for him to call TO
| his aid all the assistance that he can?
| While learning all that he can by his own
careful observation let him not hesitate to
appropriate the results of others investi-
cations. thus reducing book farming,
which is only an epitome of others trials
and researches, to practical form-a
form in which it always pays.
! 1t will not pay to raise twenty bushels
of corn to the acre when the same land by
more thorough tillage and a little iudicious
| fertilization can be made to produce forty
| bushels. 1t will never pay to keep cows
producing no more than one hundred
| pounds of butter per year, or to make
butter that will have to be sold in The
market for less than oleomargarinc. 1t
will not pay any farmer to spend his time
| loungng about the village store complain
Jag Of the hard times and enumerating
the reasons why farming cannot be made
to pay.
| The present has been called an age OF
| industry. If it is so. it strikes me that
| the age of the stone Ratchet. the wooden
| pillow and the sickle must have been an
age of most intense industry. They may
havo answered their purpose in their duy,
but that time is past, and no man can now
rely on muscle alone. Drawn may accom-.
plish much, but brain accomplishes more,
and it is only when both are properly
combined that the best results are obtained.
No farmer of the present day can reason.
ably expect success unless he directs his
labor by proper thought. and the more
study, the more intelligence he combines
with his labor, the more he applies prac.
tically the conclusions OF his own and
others most careful observations the
greater his SUCCESS will be.
All this involves something of n new
departure in farming. Will it pay? By
the light of the past let US gather wisdom
for the future. Nowhere has the cutiva.
ton Of the soil, the application of fertil-
izers, the raising of crops, the breeding
and care OF stock been reduced to such a
system and science as in England. There
it is made to pay, and is the only kind of
farming that pays at all, for their condi-
tons are not so favorable as ours. Here
we have no fearful burden of the rent roll,
no exactons for the support of royalty,
and the natural conditions are certainly as
favorable, thus showing that the same
method and system which has elevated
| the agriculture Of England to so high
plane, patiently and persstently applied
to the husbandry of Vermont would
change what is doubtful or Improbable to
that which is certain and remunerati,e.
viii it not pay. then, to make every
acre. whether meadow or pasture, produce
to its utmost capacity See to it that
expense and labor are not wasted in keep.
ing worthless or unproductive animals.
Judicious caro- and skillful management
always pays, fills the gamers with plenty,
produces wealth sufficient to satisfy all
reasonable desires and causes peace,
plenty and prosperity no prevail through
out the commonwealth.