The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1889-12-12
THOSE DESERTED FARMS" AGAl


Like "a. G. WI have been inter-
ested in the newspaper talk over Yer
mont's deserted farms" ga. G. W."
thinks the Mirror and Farmer has hit
the nail on the head when 1t says, CYAN
kee farmers are not raising up children
enough to take their places" Well, it
may hit one nail on the head, but it takes
more than one nail to hold box or
theory together. As far as my observa-
ton extends, the Yankee farmer raises
more children than the Yankee denizen
of village or city. 1t is fact that can
not be disputed that the genuine Yankee
is not as prolific as in the days of his
fathers and grandfathers, but this de-
generacy is still more apparent in towns
than among the rural inhabitants OF New
England. How many back hill farm
in Vermont has raised doctor, a lawyer,
a college professor, an editor, merchant,
one or all, for some distant community &.
And is it an unmitigated evil that these
master minds did not stay on the farm
to dig bitches, shovel manure, drive the
mower or plow =? Not that there is any.
'hihk IilC IL lF
simply problem in arithmetic. If Az
braiD-work produces enough in given
time to hire B, G and d 10 work with
heir hands an equal length of time.
then A can hardly afford not to do the
| brain-work.
The fact that farming is at present a
less prof able business than almost any
other has something TO do with the de-
sertion of the farms. 1t is not, perhaps.
really less profitable, but the return
come in slowly, and the educated, go
ahead sons of Yankee farmers can find
business that appears to them more prof
ltab e, and certainly brings quicker re-
tnrns. Another thing hat has more in
tluence than appears on its face ls tn,
| scarcity of good reliable farm help al
living prices. While almost every pro-
duct OF the farm is down to, or below,
ante bellum prices, the help the farmer
has to hire, both out and in doors, de
mands wages nearly as high as in the
easy money times that followed the war. =.
when butter was forty cents a pound
and other products accordingly high
There has been steady depreciation n
values of everything except wages ever
since the resumption OF specie payment
And there has been depreciation in tht
value of the services of farm help in two
ways-the products of the farm that la
Dor helps to produce are of much les,
value than formerly. and the average
hired laborer does much less work in
day than he used to do so that on many
farms that require hired help, when tn
crops are secured and the surplus sold
he hired help has the lions share of th.
profits. the poor farmer being thankful
II he can make both ends meet, which IL
not always the case, am afraid.
Now is it any wonder that, as the far
mer grows old and is dependent on hired
help, he is glad to sell his farm on al
most any terms rather than carry 1t or
at a loss There is profit in farming il
rightly carried on, but there can be nc
profit in making butter at fourteen to
fifteen cents pound and Vermont far
mers have depended largely on their
dairies IN the past. To what they are to
turn their attention in the future re.
mains to be found out, and il is not one
Of the least of the problems the farmer
must solve. We all hope the colonial
ton scheme will be success, and that
our deserted farms" will blossom aa the
rose. II "a. G. W." or the Mirror and
Farmer can sugge It any way to persuade
the Yankee farmer to increase the olive
branches that surround his table to the
old-time numbers, there IS ample room
for their missionary efforts in New Eng
land L. B. B. in Wdtchmdn,