Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1888-01-27


obtained from this observation. Compe-
| titon has driven us all to smaller margins.
| How keenly and sharply competitors
utilize every particle of every product in
order to make cent out of 1t. In my
| town 25 years ago teams were ENGAGED in
| drawing straw for the manufacture of
paper; but III "A few years farmers came to
see that they could use this straw to bet
| ter advantage BY observation we eau
| learn for what We are fitted. The first
| element of success is a love for the branch
OF farming taken up, whether it be horse
raising, dairyng, Or any other depart
ment The farmer must not only be in love
! with and adapted to his work hut Il steady
application is also necessary. a God pas
ture with plenty of nutrlment very
strong element of success. GoOu udild
| ings enter largely into successful farmInS
| Further elements are good cows. 1t is the
man who gets the largest product of but
ter who also gets the highest prices for It,
| The executive ability that enables him to
get large product also aids him in the
marketing of this butter. Mr.. Davis then
sketched a plan by which the annual
product of each COW could be increased
A COW has capacity, to which she can be
brought, but she can never be made to 90
| beyond that capacity. An effert should
be made to get the kind Of COW adapted to
the desired use. We should aim to get a
COW that will produce 300 pounds of but
ter annually We should test each COW
and get rid of those that do not come up to
the standard. A peculiar characteristic OF
a herd of cows Is that the butter globue
in the milk varies greatly and an effort
should be made to get those that are alike
in this respect. A good test is to place
some milk from each COW IN a glass pre-
serve jar and watch the rise of these
globues. The farmers of Vermont are
wasting their money In buying Western
corn and feeding it out. Cotton seed
! f.IN
is of much more nutrtive value. Instead
of buying SO much corn, raise more.
Farms that raise two tons of hay to the
acre should not be disturbed, but when
the yield gets down to a ton, corn can be
more protitably raised Find the capacity
and capabilities of your soil and act ac
cordingly. A time will come when people
VIII come Eastward instead of going
Westward aud Vermont farms are worth
holding. The multiplicity of cows 10
years from now will be wonderful. All
business is done by cooperation and farm
ers should carry on their facms in this
way And yet along with this cO-Opera-
ton we should be able TO compete. Friend
ly rivalry is a stimulus which will result
in wedding ont the poor cows. a slig :
heating of water given to cows will result
in a saving Of food, which must be
given to sustain warmth, just as more
food is necessary with cattle kept in cold
barns. Water should be heated to a tenn
perature of 60 aud stables should be made
warm. Another element of successful
farming is a good wife, and the wife
in turn should be trained in all the details
of farm work. This knowledge will do no
harm, and in case of emergency is very
desirable thing to have. The question of
hired help is perhaps the most difficult
one with which we have to deal. Twenty
five years ago it was not necessary to get
the hired man up III the morning, or to
follow him around throughout the day.
Get rid of all the hired help possible and
make labor saving machinery take their
place as much as possible. Raise those
crops that do not exhaust the soil, and
spend less money in fertilizers. Better care
of manure so as to save he fertllizlng quail
tiles, IS an element of success. The speak
er related an incident of farmer who
used all the money he obtained from the
sale of butter in the purchase of meal to
feed out. This is not successful farming
Learn how TO take care of animals in
cases of sickness. A hospital for a
sick horse or COW should be attached
to every farm and the temperature
kept the same as i'll the stable from which
the sick animal is taken. Admitting that
it was hobby with him, Mr.. Davis closed
with an earnest plea tor the raising of
more corn by Vermont farmers, Instead of
buying it from the West.
Although Mr.. Davis spoke for nearly
two hours his remarks were so full of
practical and forcible suggestions that he
held the close attention of the audience
throughout. A brief discussion which
followed brought out some additional
thoughts from Mr.. Davis and the meeting
adjourned till evening. when Prof Cooke
delivered an address.
PROF. COOKIES ADDRESS.
The lecture Friday evening by w. W
Cooke was on the subject OF "Fertilzng
by Feeding" This is comparatively a
new idea to Vermont farmers. 1t is Il
fact abundantly proved by careful expert
ments, that much of the tertilizing mate
rial in fodder passes through the animal
and is found in the manure pile. 1t is
probable that about four-flfths of the plant
food is thus recovered from the feed of
mich COWS. Most of Nermaut farms have
diaries, and these offer the best chance for
the farmer to obtain both cheaply and
easily the fertilizer his farm so much
needs. But it should be remembered that
folders vary greatly in the amount of fer
tilizing material they contain, and hence
this as well as the feeding value should be
in deciding what feeds to buy
1t is proved by the experience of many
Vermont farmers that "a man who has Il
farm and build ngs suitable for the care
OF stock, can buy grain to feed to COWS
and get back in the milk or butter pro
duced the full cost of the feed, leaving the
tertiliZing value of the various feeds now
in the market, will show that Western
corn is about the most uneconomical feed |
that farmer can buy If we call
each pound of nitrogen worth II cents, a
pound of phosphoric acid 6 cents and a
pound of potash &c, and subtract one
fifth of the total amount for the wash in |
passing through the animal, the fertilizlng |
value of ton Of timothy hay is 81, Of a
ton of corn meal 81 50, oats 81, bran sli42, |
gluten meal 3l32S, linseed meal, new
process AZ, and of a ton of cotton seed |
meal So 43. But these prices we have
used of nitrogen phosphoric acid and
potash, are the New York or Boston prices |
To obtain the same amount in Vermont |
in the best grades of fertilizers sold in the |
State costs about one-third more. Adding |
this third to the above manurial value |
cotton seed meal, we have $50, lie, when |
you buy ton of cotton seed meal, which |
in this vicinity costs f26, you not only get |
It's full feeding value, which is twice as
much as an equal weight of corn meal,
but you also get as much plant food a
you could purchase for $50 in n flrst-class
fertilizer. Surely this method OF fertiliz-
ing is worthy the closest attention of Yer
mont farmers