Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1888-06-01
IERuONT'S PROBLEM
Causes of the Decline in the Market
Value of Farms.

EDUCATED SKILL VERY ESSENTIAL IN MOD.
ERN Neutrality-suspicious. CARE IN CROP
PRODUCTION THE SOVEREIGN REMEDY.
Written for the Rutland Herald by Hon f. D.
Douglass
! have claimed that defective a.ricul-
ture is chiefly responsible for the ruinouslv
low prices received for farm lands in West
ern Vermont, when thrown upon the mar
ket, and that the field for Improvement in
this direction is broad enough if occupied
10 offset all other adverse influences. ! am
aware that this claim is not particularly
complimentary TO those who till the soil
But if the position is IA tenahle one, there is
no occasion for compliments and flattery.
The financial condition of those industries
upon which people rely for support and
development is a matter of vital import
ance, and not a fit subject for thoughtless
trifling. We should know and accept the
truth IN such matters, whether pleasing t.
our vanity or not.
Success or failure in the prosecution of a
calling is not necessarily a measure of in
telectual power, or of general intelligence.
A profound philosopher may be a failure as
"a farmer. To succeed in agricultural pur-
suits under present conditions, a man must
have special education for and adoption u
his work. This will be secured only through
realization OF its necessity, and a diligent
application IN its requirement. Few of our
farmers seem To appreciate the necessity
for educated skill in their calling, but fol
low the example of their fathers, apparent
ly unconscious of the changed conditions
which have been forced upon us since the
time of their fathers The less the special
training for their work the less the real
lzation of its necessity.
Had we never had any medical schools
and trained physicians the world would not
now realize the necessity for them The
wonders performed in medical and surgical
practice would not have been wrought. or
supposed possible The medical quack would
still impose his vile nostrums and the priest
his incantations for the cure of disease. up,
ON Il credulous public. The possibilities and
Importance of scientific accomplishment in
any field of labor can never he appreciated
until practically applied to the business t.
which it pertains
The possibilities Of Vermont agriculture
are vet unknown. Could the skill acquired
and applied in the calling and practice of
the agrlculturally educated farmers of Eng
land and Germany, he adapted and applied
u Vermont farming, it would result in a
complete revolution IN the department of
crop production among Us. The annual
rents paid for lands in England are higher
than lands of the same natural characters
tics and quality sell Tor with US Macaulay
m his history of England, tells us that large
portions of the most valuable farm lands of
that country were once exhausted aud bar
rem heaths. Some 10, 900 900 acres of these
worn out lands have been reclaimed bv the
educated skill Of English farmers, and now
rival IN productveness the best farm land.
IN the world
But We need not look a. foreign lands for
examples of practical skill, which il pos
sessed and applied by the mass of Western
Vermont farmers, would accomplish like
results for this locality We have in New
England, If indeed We have not in Vermont
self educated, practical farmers, who, il
placed upon a SO called worn out farm IN
Champlain Valley, of average natural pro
ductiveness, would within ten years quad
ripple its present productive capacity, while
the increased pecuniary returns would pay
the cost of the improvements from the ont
set,
| have visited farms the natural capahili
ties Of whose soils were at least not superior
10 those of the lands Of which am speak