Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1883-08-17
Agricultural.


Let Us Treat Our Own state Fairly.
There are in our bleak northeastern stua-
zion no special breeds Of cattle, no herds Of
Jerseys, Holsteins or Guernseys A very few
farmers may have COW with q strain of Jer-
soy or Shorthorn blood, but nothing strange
or remarkable in their achievements or rec
ords. A full boodod COW, bull or OK is great
rarity, and one of record is unknown.
Our inhospiable climate is very unpropi.
tious. Apples and scrubby Canada plums are
tho only fruit raised. No tobacco but very
few hops, and the smallest of corn land that
very unoertain) is produced. The farmer is
compelled to wiring bare subsistence from
the ungratefu soil. Mono are rich most Of
the farms are mortgaged, and the soverest toll
remunerates the laborer with but poor re.
turns We raise a few potatoes mot too many,
ordinarily, for our own use) when the bugs
grubs and frost will permits a few white beans
under favorable circumstances, and, by the
grace Of God, oats and barley.
Sheep are mighty onsartain," but what
are left after the bleak winds and frosts of
spring and the dogs have taken their share,
give us good crops Of wool but the distance
from market, the cunning of SPECTATORS and
lack of judgment as to the best time to sell,
rob us Of the best prices.
Some men like the Fnirbankses (of scale
notoriety) or Gen. Grout (member of Con.
gress) may have few nice cattle. Mr.. Pack
ard, who receives 50 per day as chief archi-
tect Of tho Messrs Fairbanks, has some. But
none entirely dependent on their fatms in
dulge in thoroughbred stock.
A farmer of some property (made in earlier
life by distilling potato whiskey), now 9G years
Of age, tells me that q man can farm here
just as long as his money lasts. When that
is gone, he must go into something else
Thousands are going west and the farms arc
dOublpp nm in tlp vain bOna that puantity of
land, in place of quality, may work a change
We skim over acre after acre to get small
quantity of produce, and each year the yield
grows less and less moss, brakes and other
weeds gain ground, golden-rod Canada this.
tie and ox-eye daisy usurp the place of more
profitable yields, and meantime the interest
on the mortgage increases.
We once had oranges they are played
out" Our fairs present a meagre account of
empty pens a few of the Farbankses, Pack.
ards or CIRCUITS presenting specimens of fancy
cattle and getting all the premiums. But the
horse stables are full All along the line are
ck-kneed, spawned, wind-galled old "pelt-
ers, with their followers and hangers ON of
drivers grooms and swabbers These ami
mails are paraded on the course and clicked"
around the ring in the inevitable and indis-
pensable agricultural horse.trot" to draw
custom and make tickets sell. The prizes are
pair of oxen draws the pitiful stipend of So
which is not enough to pay the expense of
driving them to and from the fair. square
trot, or rather an honest one, is as rare as
prosperous farmers in Caledonia county
Caledonia Go. correspondence IF tile Home.
stead
There are, no doubt, people in every state
who speak of their own locality in terms of
depreciation and complaint What is true
that is said above about Caledonia county is
equally true of hundreds of other places
Caledonia is, in fact, good farming county
in one of the best agricultural states. Few
counties in Vermont will average better 1t
has the finest maple sugar orc hards that can
be found in the world. It was the home OF
Jersey Queen, the most famous dairy COW on
record. Its farmers have more comfortable
homes and will average worth more money
than the farmers of most of the western
states. SO far from running down and going
to the dogs generally, as this writer in the
Homestead seems to believe, it can be proven
by the census statistics that the annual prod.
ucts of the farms of Caledonia county are
worth so per cent more than they were thirty
years ago.
Vermonters should have better apprecia-
ton of their own state. Such kind Of talk
as this writer INDUCES in drives our young
men away and helps to people other states at
the expense of Vermont. Those who have
left the state are not, in a majority of cases,
better situated than those who remain A
more general knowledge of the facts shown
by the census statistics would inure greatly to
the benefit of this state. In the amount and
value of agricultural products per acre, Yer
mont stands among the first states in the I'm
ion. No Vermonter ought to be ignorant of
this well-estsblished fact