The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1889-09-11
Editorial NOtings.

Wnlte ASH ~ apple-lree ~, reu OAK %,
white beech G5, black walnut 60, black
birch so, yellow and black oak 60, hard
maple Sc, white elm So, red cedar So,
cherry So, yellow pine "a, chestnut 81,
yellow poplar 81, butternut and white
birch 43, and white pine 80. But it
should be remembered that the quality
of wood depends very much upon
where it grows as well as upon what
it is.
ENsILAGE ERRORS. - Those who
have failed with ensilage are very few,
compared with those who find it profit
able; and generally these have failed
because they have fed it too exclusively.
AS the Minnesota Station Bulletin says:
"The great danger in feeding corn en-
silage in practical way is in feeding
too great proportion of this and not
enough dry, rough fodder and grain.
Corn ensilage should never be fed
alone. Our own experiments and those
reported by other stations indicate
that corn produces the most digestible
feed if cut in the glazing stage or when
the ends of the grains are beginning to
harden"
SOME HAsTY READERS, and some
hasty writers, too, continue to assume,
because we so strongly assert the farm
er's business rights, as against monop-
al, Nf oil hat a. 4
even emphasize the idea that " farming
don't pay" All who do so must read
very hastily. Farming never was
better business in America, taken by
and large" than it is now. But just as
merchants and manufacturers insist on
fair treatment from transportation COM
panies, so must farmers. If farming
were five times as profitable as it is
now, we should still cry out for justice
in this respect. 1t is mighty poor plea
for robbing man that he is making
money,-especially if he is making it
by farming,-the trade that feeds the
world
"STYLE" ON THE FARM.-A writer
in an exchange says: 81 doubt if
farmers, generally, at this day, with all
the modern improvements, average
much better than they did when I was
younger. To be sure, with horse hoes,
cultivators, smoothing harrows, etc., a
man can grow much more of any crop
than he could then, yet fewer farms
were mortgaged then than now. The
style of living was simpler and conse-
quently family expenses were not so
great" Average much better! Well,
we thought the croakers were all claim
ing that they average much worse. AS
to "the style of living" we believe
that to be thing which settles itself.
If farmer is clear of debt, he surely
has right to spend his income in what
some call "style," but which others
consider to be comfort. "This is
free country"
WHAT PRICE WILL PAY?-In an ac-
count of the dairy farming of General
Mattocks of Portland, Maine, which
lately appeared in the Mirror and
Farmer, it is said: " His cows were
pure-bred Jerseys. They were fed
three quarts of grain each per day, half
corn-meal and half shorts, with an &C.
casional feed of oil meal, about three
a yUnnR q mint OF n tip,a
They were allowed all the hay, the
best of herd's-grass and clover, that
they would eat, and between twelve
and fifteen pounds of ensilage daily,
fed at noon. He does not believe
there is any money in butter, made as
carefully as his was, which sells for
sixty cents per pound; nor does he
think that profit can be made in first
class handmade butter selling at fifty
cents pound. lie says he lost money
on his butter, Notwithstanding it was
so much thought Of"
SNAP CONCLUSIONS. - The Home
stead says that: can experiment re-
Gently conducted by Henry Roby of
Burlington, VT, conveys hint which
may be of use in the future. In an eff
fort to discover the cause of blight which
affects pear and apple-trees, he became
convinced that electricity is the primal
cause, and secured large copper wire
over some trees beginning to blight.
This appears to have acted as perfect
protector, as the trees experimental
upon have during the present season
remained in perfect condition. The
ends of the wires are of course i'm
bedded in the soil to make the electric
circuit complete" We fear that Mr.,
Roby will discover that more than a
single trial will be needed to establish
the truth of his conclusion. Some peo'
pie seem to think electricity can dc