Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1889-02-08
LECTURES TO FARMERS.


Prof. Cooke Speak. on the work of the
Experiment station.
There was good attendance at the second
in the course of lectures TO the farmers ut
the experiment station Friday afternoon.
The speaker was Prof. Cooke who took for
his subject the work Of the experiment sta
ton the past year. He said that after ac-
quiring the farm il was decided that the
dairy should be the most prominent, treat
ing the subject in its broadcast sense, includ-
ing, rs it does. very large part Of the work
of the Vermont farmers. Fruits was one of
the first line, taken up. In apples the re
quisite is "A hardy variety which will be prof
liable for our farmers to raise In this, as
in other products TO secure an early deve-
opmcnt it is necessary TO go north for seed
and ii seemed best TO try some of the Rus
sian varieties. 1t is impossible to give re
suits yet One of the first questions is
whether IA fruit viii stand the winter, and
thus far we have been very successful. The
field of large and small fruits was well coy
cred, 23O varieties being set out. In vege-
tables 2S0 varieties were set out, but many
of the experiments we're not satisfactory
owing to the latpness Of the season when we
acquired The farm and the unusually early
frosts.
The present necessity Is better forage
| crops, as our pastures are rapidly deterorat-
ing. The station has been working i'll two
directions in this line experimenting on those
which we were practically sure would
amount to nothing, coming from a warmer
region and We were not disappointed.
OF alfalfa which had been sent out
to 81 farms the reports in the fall
of 1881 were very nattering, but last spring
the opinion was unanimous that il had win
ter killed ana he thought it entirely insult
able to this State. More satisfaction was
| given by the Japanese buckwheat which
gay, us a tremendous growth; it is much
more Vigorou, than the common variety.
! The horses seemed to prefer it to hay, but
/ the cows did not like it. Two crops from
| the same piece can he obtained in a season.
| IN the cnsilage Corns. the red cob gave the
best >ati~tactAk with an enormous growth
of stock and rs, yielding about 30 tons to
the acre $ kford corn ON plots where
fertilizer ties were made produced about
! - tons to fhe acre planted three feet
| apart and three stocks to the hill.
/ Frickly comfrev should give four or five cut
tiug,, growing till suow covers it, produc
ing abundantly and it is one of the most
| profitable forage crops that can be grown,
| Barley as a forage crop for fall feeding is
very profitable cutting it as it is heading
out Eighty varieties of potatoes We're test
ed and the Rural New Yorker No > and
1 Mutually gave the best results Experiments
| in methods of planting were tried on corn
and potatoes Corn was planted in 3G, p,
| - and inches apart the first producing
the most corn the latter the most ensilage
In fertilizers the work was almost entirely
confined to study of the insoluble and solu-
| bic. In many tests insouble phosphates
have not benefited grass. Soluble phos-
phates have the effect of fastening maturity
in the crop which loses about half in drying
while with the insoluble two-thirds is lost
Laboratory work has been of the same
| character as before, but largely increased
in volume The farmers of Vermont are to
be congratulated on the fact that fertilizers
hay" increased in quality and decreased in
price, being now . per cent less than three
years ago. The margin between the cost
and selling price is yet too great, aud the
fault is with the farmers themselves, be
cause Of long credits with accompanying
| bad debts. Manufacturers claim they could
reduce theirtA es >one third under a spot
cash system. Considerable work was done
in the milk line in various portions of the
State. 1t was found that the creameries
save nine pounds of milk out of 10 and they
are doing moro than the dairymen them
selves. The greatest loss comes in the but
| tcr-milk by allowing the cream to be too
quickly ripcnel or through imperfect stir
! ring Prof Cooke called attention to the
now mill, law which sets standard and all
| milk below that is impure or adulterated.
| Experiments in cnsiiagc were made in cut
ting before the frost and putting in a silo,
| cutting the fodder and stocking it and then
| cutting after being badly frost stricken.