Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1883-07-04

| ~ lh'S thu tuc THIS uTV up dllOSeIHcr-
whyP 1t is but little more than century
since Vermont was covered with the pri
meval forest-the moisture was NOR,
equally ditfused and the little brooks
instead of being raging torrents for a time
and dry gullies for the rest of the season
flowed on continuously towards the sea
Only little more than century and vet
the age OF the pioneer and the lumberman
! denuding the soil of its forest, has
caused this change and still the work goes
| on more rapidly than ever before. yet nc
practical measl re has been devised as n
remedy. | ask you to consider what the
| conditions of the state will be if this work
is to go on for another century, unless
some effectual means are adopted for the
preservation and perpetuation of our for
ests. Will it not indeed, be the very
picture of desolation, waste OF barren
rocks and shifting sands? The preserva-
tion of the forests means fewer drouths,
fewer floods and Il more uniform rainfall.
Then cherish the forests AS the very apple
| of the eye, as the great conservative pow
er which will preserve for you, intact,
uniform and undiminshed. .lue supply
of this great life giving element-water
that private enterprise cannot be relied
upon 10 accomplish this work and you
must look TO legislative action for the
remedy. see that the governor has, by
authority, appointed a commission on
fol- estry to inquire into this matter. and
your part of the work is to sustain and
encourage them and to see and insist that
suitable recommendations have that
attention at the hands of your Legislators
which the Importance of the subject
deserves. Craftsmanship seeks 10 preserve
and develop the resources of a country
denagogue1y takes up popular cry and
seeks to out Herod even Herol him solf in
its zeal for the topic of the hour. Can
there be truer craftsmanship than that
which seeks to restore the forests to the
hills and retain for this grand old state the
character of land of ler'is fields and
pleasant homes.
Your legislature can 60 wild over the
taxable age at a pup, can get enthusiastic
over measure of doubtful constitutional.
ity and still more dubious justice, like the
Hooker law of the past session, even
the cheek to ask intelligent and able
men, capable of giving us instruction and
good advice in regard to our wants and
needs like those who have come to meet
us to-day, to work for the pay of com
mon laborec-why then not wage it for
once to rise to the dignity of statesman
ship and give a careful consideration to
this question which is of such importance
that all the dog laws, hen laws and other
legislation of the kind that ever was or
ever will be enacted, sink into insignifi
cance beside it.
One more depression and / will close.
The latest fashionable hobby in farming
is ensilage and the silo. Some of its most
enthusiastic friends make great claims for
this plan: even going so far as to recon-
mend storing all forage crops IN this way.
The nhabitant OF the tropics may feed
on bananas and rice but the Esqulmos
feasts on blubber and irrigates mis- inter-
nal economy with train oil; this is in
accordance with the well known law of
natural adaptation and teaches us that the
food of men and animals as well, must be
adapted 10 the conditions and climate in
which they live-and the lesson we should
draw from this fact is that the food that is
perfectly adapted to the wants of our
stock in the summer does not contain
enough of the carbonaceous and heat
producing elements TO make it adapted to
the wants of the same animals during the
severity of our almost Arctic winters-and
that if you would feed ensiage, you must
feed with it sufficient amount of rich
concentrated carbonaceous food to make
up for the deficiency of such elements in
the ensilage. 1t is claimed by some that
there is very much more nutritious matter
in an "ensilaged" plant than in one cured
in the ordinary way. A very large per
centage of the weight of green plants
consists of water and while there may be
some loss of nutritious matte in drying, it
is difficult to see how that percentage of
loss can be large one in properly cured
fodder. | apprehend that the silo will have
its place on the model farm ofthe future
but believe its place will be an auxiliary
and subordinate one, limited 10 supplying
your stock with an agreeable change of
diet-Keeping their digestive powers in
good condition and thus contributing to
the satisfaction and profit of the farmer.
And row, gentlemen, to sum up the whole
question in brief the elements necessary to
plant life are the organic ones, carbonic
acid, water and ammona; and the
inorganic ones, potash, lime, soda, phos-
phoric acid, etc. Given these in due
given soil rich in humus so
that the little rootets of your plants en-
penetrate it and draw from it their neces
sary food; and with Gods own sunshine,
light and air there is no excuse for failure