Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1882-08-23
The New Methods OF Farming.

and the feedlng Oh livestock nad 10 De done
without any guide but experience is comv>
to an end, and very fortunately SO, since the
old farming is becoming Improbable on all
worn soils. The science of fertilization and
the science of feeding had their birth just
as the old-time farming was declared not to
"pay." As natures bounty seemed to be
exhausted and the earth TO refuse her in
crease all along the eastern edge of our con-
tinent as well as in Europe, the investiga-
tions of science revealed the fact that there
were other manures beside those of the
farmyard. 1t revealed also the fact that by
a proper admixture of the old and the use of
some new food materials, domestic animals
might be reared far more economically
and satisfactory than before. And this
helped by the application of science to the
breeding of these animals, by which breeds
are now produced which are especially
adapted to each distinct purpose for which
such animals are desired.
Scientific study applied to farming,
though yet in its infancy, has done noble
work in solving its most difficult problems,
and has much more than accomplished the
proverbial feast of making two spears of
grass or grain grow where one grew before.
The immense and constantly growing use
of commercial fertilizers, all over the civil
lied world, attests what science has done in
that direction, which is yet but drop in
the bucket to what we shall see. The
wonderful improvement in every species of
live stock is, to the eyes of every middle
aged farmer, a constant subject of surprise.
The fat oxen, the strong or fast horses, the
deep-wooled sheep, the round and bulky
swine, the milk-yielding COWS with their
great records of butter and cheese, are as
much cause of wonder and a mark of the
progress of this new age as are the mechsn-
ical discoveries, the steam engine the iron
steamship, the railway, the electric tele-
graph, electric light and electric motors, the
moving machine and the sewing-machine
and all the other wonders of the time.
But as the old-time stagedriver cannot,
without much instruction, become locomo.
tive engineer, nor the old-time postmaster
become the skilled telegrapher without
training, so neither can the work of the farm
now be successfully conducted without the
possession of more knowledge than was at
tainable by our fathers. Farming is rapidly
becoming skilled profession, success in
which will require liberal training, equiv
alent to, though not the same as, that which
has heretofore been given in what are called
the learned professions. AS much and as
varied knowledge is now about to be applied
to the production OF farm crops and their
profitable use and disposal, as ever went to
make the best lawyer, minister or doctor of
medicine.
1t is hard to realize, at first, what all this
really means. 1t is no wonder that so many
old farmers have thrown scorn upon book
farming" The history of the world from
the time of Adam reveals the tiller of the
soil as always an unlearned man. "The
times of this ignorance God provided for
by storing up in the primeval soil fund of
fertility which should last until mankind
grew out of its infancy. But now the time
has come for all men to open their ears and
learn, by the study of Gods works and ways
in nature, to provide for their own wants.
This, then, is what we must do we must
study nature, and in doing this the farmer
becomes an educated, and may become a
learned man-as learned as Solomon, who
was said to have known all plants in his
day, and more learned, for we must not
only know of plants and animals, but we
must learn the laws of their life and growth;
and not only that, we must have skill to ap-
ply those laws practically, and make both
plants and animals grow according to our
will, so as to give sustenance and wealth.
In short the day is now at hand in which
the farmer is to be raised through knowl.
| edge, not from labor, but from unintelligent
drudgery to intelligent production, and a
mastership over nature in the place of his
old slavery to nature. Understanding ma.
tures forces, we are TO direct them, instead
of being directed by them. With more
than the subtlety of Jacob, we are to mould
the cattle to our will and profit. With more
than the wisdom of Solomon, we feed and
nourish as well as study the plants of the
field. Are the middle-aged and older farm
ers of the time rousing themselves to these
great facts, and taking them in in their full
significance If so, then they will be found
aiding and favoring every means to fit the
growing generation for their new and won