Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1888-06-01
AGRICULTURAL.



Tn. Cause Of Low Prices fot Farms.
Hon b. D. Douglass Of Whiting has
two articles IN the Rutland Herald. one Of
which we copy this week, treating of the
cause of the decline in the market value Of
Vermont farms We have CHANGED 10 see
only the second article. in which, as well as
in the former one 10 which he makes refer
euce MIR Douglass aims To show that poor
farming is the principal cause Of the decline
in the market value of farms in Western
Vermont 1t Is not probable that he would
assign "A different cause for the decline IN
farm values IN other parts Of the state.
Mr. Douglass is an able writer, and his
yinvs of the chief trouble with Vermont
farms and farmers is forcbly presented.
lie is himself a wholesale farmer, dispens
ing almost entirely with the old methods
and using machinery wherever It can take
the place Of hands. According TO the thee
ry which he advocate, hi, lands should sell
at an advanced price We have no knowl-
edge Of what the facts may be in this case,
but we can point 10 many instances in this
mart of the state in which farms that had
been skilfully and proiitably cultivated and
improved in productive capacity have been
sold at a great reduction from their former
market value. In one case where the i'm
provement was very marked farm was
lntelv sold for less than one half the price
which it sold Tor twenty years ago. 1t IS
fact that farming lands are generally de
preciated in market value in most OF the
older states. hut nowhere else is the depre-
citation 50 great as in Vermont. The cause
is not that our farming is defective beyond
that in other states. for it is not. Vermont
farmers are no less ready 10 adapt them
selves 10 the changed conditions of agricul-
ture than the farmers Of other states Yer
mont has always stood among the first of
the states in the average Of her agricultural
products per acre, proving either soil or
"A culture above the average or both. IL
cannot he a poor soil or exceptionally poor
farming that causes the decline in the mar.
ket value of Vermont farms The chief
causc is found in the fact that emigration
from Vermont is, in proportion to popula
ton, % per cent greater than that from any
other state that there is very little immi
grafton into the state. and consequently we
have no people to purchase and occupy
half the farms that are offered for sale.
Referring to the fact that annual rents
are paid in England, more than equal to the
price Of farms in Vermont, for land of no
better quality than ours, and to exceptional
cases which he has known here where the
gross income from farm products, exclu-
sive Of money paid for animal food and
fertilizers, was from $50 to 500 per acre
Mr.. Douglass asks "What would he the re
suit in Western Vermont Of the general ap
plication Of such farming as this = and says
IF one half the farms in this section could
bee brought up to one-half the average ca
pacity named, and this by improved skill
we should hear no more complaints of tn,
low price of farm lands and the scarcity Of
buyers But we do hear complaints of tn,
low price Of good farms in a high state Of
cultivation, and we can give repeated in
stances in which such farms have lately
been sold for less than they would hav,
brought years ago when they were less pro
ductivc When farm is to be sold, tn,
price now depends upon location even NOR,
than productiveness Hundreds of very
productive farms in back locations hav,
been abandoned because it was impossible
to sell them for more than their value a
out pastures. Yet our agriculture is no
50 defective as 10 cause "A decline in the av
erage productiveness of the state As Mr.
Douglass seems to assume. While there ha
been falling off III some things, the los
has been more than balanced 10y the gain il
live stock, especially in mich cows and il
dairy products. Our most valuable crop
hay. Each of the last four censuses show
ed a considerable gain in the quantity q
this product-the last census 1885 03O ton
more than the census of 1850 The staff.
ties Of Vermont agriculture. As whole
make an excellent showing for the state
They prove Vermont to be, compared ac
cording To area in cultivation one of tn
most productive of all the states
To say that farms 90 a-hegging for pun
chasers because our agriculture is defectiv
hardly accounts for the situation when the
are sought for in other states whose agr
culture is more defective than ours TAX
for example the state of West Virgins
Every intelligent person knows that thu
state is far behind Vermont in progressiv
agriculture yet farming lands have aC
vanced as much within the last twent
years i'll West Virginia as they have d,
clned in Vermont. The simple explain,
ton of the difference is found in the fac
that West Virginia has during this tim
added POO, 900 to her population while Vel
mont has sent her people away, invited u
immigration, and narrowly escaped an a,
tual loss of population