Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1883-08-22

y
and must be before a full measure of sue
8 cess can attain to the labors of the farmer
5 And now permit me once more to urge
, upon the farmers the Importance of direct
, ing the labors of their hands by their
minds. Let thought be constantly on the
, alert and you will find that you will be
! ever acquiring knowledge that will be
! useful to you and add to your success in
J this laudable pursuit. | hope it will not
, be regarded as breach of modestv on
/ my part TO give you some incidents whicd
come from my own observation and
/ study.
, visited the farm in Middetown. some
; nine miles from this place, on which was
born, reared and lived for more than
thirty years. partly for the purpose of
calling up the scenes and incidents of my
childhood and youth, and partly for
thought upon the subject 10 which | have
alluded. l left that farm in 1868 Since
then it has been in the possession and care
of very good farmers, and the buildings
: fences and meadows have been mucl
improved but the pastures have not
Since left it n bush or shrub has grown
upon the pastures known in this vicinity
as "hardhack" and is now quite extensively
found in pastures in that and the neigh
boring towns. Said farmer to me,
"Hardhack will ruin onr pastures unless
we can get rid of it," To get rid of it his
idea was that the weed must be cut at a
certain time in the moon, pulled up by the
roots, or in some way by direct attack
Gf may so call iD upon the weed itself
Well, now do not believe there is any
science in that idea. believe the fault
or rather the cause of the growth of this
shrub, is in the soil on which it grows;
believe, if can be allowed the expires.
sion, that it il the product of an exhausted
soil. 1t is certain that very little of it is
seen on any other. 1t might be necessary
to NOW it Or pull it up by the roots to get
it out of the way, but unless the life of the
soil can be restored and put in II condition
10 grow grass the shrub will continue to
grow nevertheless. In other words. my
opinion is that this so. called "h rdhack,'
now so common among the pastures IN
this region, is the result of worn out soil
and the only way to kill it is to put the
pastures in condition to grow grass as
they once did. This opinion have formed
from observation but believe | am right
The farm named in MIddletown, on
which l was raised, walked over at the
time l was there in September. Where
the ''hardhack" was the rankest was in
pasture where nv father raised rye for
several years, the first in my recollection
when | was boy of some six or seven
years of age; it was nearly or quite sixty
years ago. When the rye was ready for
reapng (gran was cut with the sickle
then) he called in all the help he could get
,I a ha tnn bor n tho raI
in front of the rye field the large growth
was matter of comment and resulted in
bet that if man in the company, six
feet and two inches in height, should go
in ten rods into the rye he could not be
seen from the road. He did 60 in about
that distance and could not be seen when
he stood still. Year after year for several
years this pasture was plowed and sown
to rye and the last year the growth was
hardly sufficient to hide cat, and this old
rye field found in September last dis.
tinctly marked by the hardhacks growing
there, although the last crop of rye was
taken off as many as forty years ago.
found The shrub growing in other pastures
on the same farm, but no where so plenti.
full as on this field and the reason [ give
for this was the greater exhaustion by the
long continued cropping by rye.
TO me the problem of restoring our
pastures has always been one of difficulty
to solve. Our meadows are mostly in the
low lands, and manuring them is pracli-
cable, but our pastures are in great part
on the hills and fertilizng and cultivation
seems to most farmers out of the question.
But science will bring about the restora-
ton of the pastures though it may require
many years to effect it.
On my visit to this old farm in Septem.
ber found this change, which to me was
more discouraging than any other, that is
the absence of moisture compared with
forty, fifty, or sixty years ago. The little
stream that ran by the house where | was
born. and within five or six rods of it, so
bright and lively in my younger days now
seemed to have lost its sparkle and its
poetry as a mountain stream. There was
so little water in it that what there was
seemed without life and more like dead
water in swamp than that of a running
brook. went to the "Cold Spring" or
where the cold spring once was, but it |
was not there. In walking over the hills
(the pastures) | found them almost as
hard as the rocks themselves from drouths /;
so hard that a shower would not penetrate
the soil, but run from those hills us from
slate roof. We ali know that cur streams
have been growing less and less in their
volume of water tor many years, and that
our lands, especially our hill pastures,
have suffered much for want of the neces
san moisture, and that moisture must be
restored b, fore we can expect a restoration
of these pastures.
1,ttn Of, ,I,a
moisture is perhaps the most difficult of
of all questions arising upon the general
of restoring our lands to their
old time fertility, but 1t can be accom-
plished. science with perhaps several
years time will accomplish the work.
believe it is to be generally conceded that
cutting off the forests accounts for the
lessening of moisture and we hope when
that forestry committee, appointed by the
governor under the act of the legislature
of 1882, makes its report we shall he fully
instructed on that subject My own opin-
ion is and has been for several years that
we should increase the trees, not only by
letting them grow up in pastures and hill
lands, which have become worthless, or
nearly so, for any other purpose, but
should plant them by the roadslde-in
other places-plant fruit trees-increase
them in every way practicable. A tree in
open land has its effect in drawing mois-
ture. do not claim to be scientist on
this branch of my subject, but l do claim
to see the Importance of science in that
and am anxiously looking for
a scientific treatment explaining the work
Of restoring the moisture begun in way
that it will be effected as speedily as pos
sble.
These incidents and observations on my
part are given simply to encourage obser-
vation and thought on the part of farmers,
and my word for it, when you are once in
the habit of it your business will be more
agreeable as well as profitable to you.
Once in the habit of investigation and no
day will pass without something new will
turn up for the exercise of thought.
Thad Stevens used to say that u con-
tented farmer was rarer creature than
white blackbrd. Illustrative of the asser-
tion, he used to tell story of q certain