The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1884-09-24

north OF the village was leased and en-
closed, buildings erected, a track laid out
and the equipment for an elaborate exhi-
bition supplied. The society prospered
under united, energetic and judicious
administration, and permanent grounds
were finally purchased and fitted up about
mile south of the village, alongside the
railway. There for twenty years annual
fairs have been held without interruption,
save by the unwecome but very brief in
terpolstion of the state fair. Its custo-
mary annual exhibition was held last
week. OF this exhibition and the infu.
ence of the society upon farming in Gale.
donia county, the Lyndon Union says:
1.-THE results OF the society's work and influ-
ence are plainly seen by visit to almost any
Caledonia county farm, where In old times
farms stocked with raw-boned cattle, scrub
sheep long-nosed hogs and dunghill fowls,
all possessing large stomachs, with a straight
intestine from stomach to outlet-machines to
masticate fodder and manufacture manure,
without visible effect upon the ribs, we now
find animals we'll bred to points of excellency
in milk and flesh. Farmers are beginning to
comprehend that a dollars worth OF feed
passed through good animal will produce
twice ~ much meat, or twice rs much milk,
or twice as much wool as it will passed through
a poor animal. They begin to comprehend
that there is difference In soils, and that
each soil requires treatment peculiar to its
kind; that proper treatment produces profitable
results, and that ignorance and guess work are
liable to result In waste of industry, manure
and seed This high intelligence in farming,
which Is attended with profitable results, has
been largely produced by the fairs, by the
annual gatherings OF the farmers where they
compare opinions, note the result of each
others theory and practice, and then return
home with new ideas, new courage and new
energy. These annual exhibitions, growing
better and larger year by year, have stmu-
lated stock-breed ing to remarkable degree,
and have occasioned the establishment OF stock
farms in the county, which are producing
class OF thoroughbred animals to give Caledo-
mia county good reputation far beyond the
limits of the Green Mountain state Our best
stock breeders are indebted in no small degree
to the influence of the county fair for their
success, and the county is indebted to the sue.
cessful breeders for the reputation they are
giving the county. Among the Jersey men the
| reputation of the Fairbankses Kenerson, Bron-
son and others is not confined to Vermont
The names OF Hall, Batchelder Drew and 9TH
ers are familiar among Devon breeders. Har-
ris will soon be familiar name among Here
ford breeders, and all others who aim to pro-
".
soon to step to the front with his poed Angus
breeds. The Bemises, Higginses, Kenersons
and others are familiar names among
sheep breeders. The names of SWEET, Miles
and others are crawling to the top OF the
poultry roost year by year. The Roys have
long stood at the head on growing big oxen,
though they are this year. with a fifty-five
hundred pound yoke, obliged to step down one
round and let Livingston take the top of the
ladder with his yoke of six thousand pounds
The second place, however, is no disgrace, as
it would be first in any other county in the
state. II not in New England. In the growth
OF splendid oxen it is not a great stretch of the
truth to say that Caledonia county fair has been
the principal stimulator for the past dozen
years. The liberal premiums for fat oxen
and town strings have produced a competi-
ton, giving better results than are found any
where in the state. Ten years ago four thou
sand pounds drew the compliments from the
crowd and took the cake. To-day five thou
sand pounds are necessary to provoke special
remark, and the burrah doesn't come much
under six thousand. Let us give the originators
and longtime conductors of the society credit
for calculation, patience, perseverance, and
good management, resulting in the rapid ad-
vance and permanent improvement of the ag-
ricultural interests of the county"
OF one of the exhibits mentioned above
the Union further says:
luoLo HoNcT WcTo bU many thoroughbred AMI
mails on the ground before. new exhibitor
appeared this year in the person of L. B. Har-
ris on the Sanborn farm in Lyndon. little
over year ago he imported six or eight Here
fords from England, at an expense of some
81 200 each, and has since been breeding them
His exhibit was in new enclosures at the east
end of the ground, where he had a half dozen
! thoroughbred cows with calves yearling bull,
two or three year old bull, and fifty COM
mon cows with fifty grade calves. Including
his two yokes of oxen his exhibit numbered
one hundred and twenty eight cattle, the larg
est, and, we venture the opinion, the best sim
| gle exhibit ever made on the ground. The
| chief excellence of this kind is beef, which is
| made with far less expense than any other
breed Harris yearling bull would bring ST.
| OO0 quick, and his heifer calves mot for sale)
would command $500 to $500 each. He has
| one bull calf valued at over 81, 200. This was
| the only Hereford exhibit ON the ground, but
we expect, in few years, to see any number
| OF grades from this stock exhibited by differ
| ent farmers in the county.
As farming country we believe Gale
donia and the Passumpsic valley is by ma
ture superior to Washington and the
Winooski valley. We believe it would
not be difficult to show that, largely
through the agency of a well-managed
society, Caledonia is farming better than
Washington. For various reasons, Wash
ington has not been fortunate in her eff
forts to establish and perpetuate an agri-
cultural society. Two local organizations
are serving salutary purpose in the COM
munities which have had the enterprise to
establish and maintain them. In New
Hampshire many towns have their indi-
vidual societies and annually hold town
fairs, but what this section of Vermont
needs is such an organization as Caledonia
county possesses. If the means cannot be
had to start on large scale, the example
of Caledonia teaches what may grow from
a small beginning with resolute purpose,
a judicious management and united coun-
sells. A fair at a central point in this
county might be held under the auspices
of society which should comprise such
portions of Lsmoille, Caledonia and
Orange counties as are lily accommodated
within their own county limits but which
come to the Winooski valley as their nat
ural base of supply. This matter has