The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1889-12-25
EDITORIAL NOtingS.

WESTERN EXPERIENCES, as mar
rated in another column by an esteemed
and reliable correspondent, need, per-
haps, little relief from their dreary
horror. We learn that the party named
there gave up hope in Nebraska and
returned to Vermont, some two years
ago, his wife dying soon after. Since
then he has, by the help of friends,
been able to establish himself in Aroos-
took county, Maine, where his first
crop, the present year, has been, in
the words of the friend who gives his
western career, three hundred barrels
of splendid potatoes" We may say
here that we know the Wild and
Woody West" pretty well, and we know
Areostook; and, knowing both, we do
not hesitate, for ourself, to prefer 100
acres of AroostoOk to a whole prairie
in Dakota or Nebraska. BY the advent
of railroads, Northern Maine is in the
way of being rapidly settled; but there
is there to-day, still unoccupied, more
rich farm land than in all Vermont
land that can be bought cheap, too.
Why people will wander so far abroad,
when better homes are near, is prob
lem hard to solve. We suppose the
easily-deluded will be " doomed" out
of New England for some time vet.
But this overflow is evidently slacken-
ing, and by wise efforts can soon be
stopped. -
A NEW Cow FEED We see it
stated that palm-nut meal, which is a
favorite dairy food with the English,
costs $50 ton and contains eighteen
per cent of rich, sweet, yellow oil,
which seems to be readily assimilated
by the COW and converted into butter.
A writer for the Neu York Times says
he procured ton and fed it to his
cows, and the result was that the amount
of butter was largely increased and the
flavor improved. He says the cows rel
ished it exceedingly, and that it can be
easily procured through dealers. Has
our Vermont Station any information
to give about this meal?
SUFFERING IN DAKoTA.-Some of
the papers deny the stories of famine in
North Dakota, but young man we'll
known in Orange county, who lives
there, writes that it can not easily be
exaggerated. The amount of suffer
ing there is appalling, and unless relief
reaches them from some source great
many must continue to suffer terribly,
if not actually die, of famine. The
crops were entirely cut off by drouth,
and most of the settlers have not a
dollar in the world. Their farms are
all mortgaged and they are helpless.
DOGS AND SHEEP.-The Mirror and
Farmer says: "The dog, in the state of
Massachusetts are valued at between
$685. and $4,000. Now if this sum
could be expended in the purchase of
first-class breeding sheep, how long
would it take to stock every abandoned
farm in New England? If this could
be done, within ten years every wooden
mill in New England would be over
stocked with this much-desired product
for manufacturing purposes. Dogs are
a curse to their owners and the commu-
nifty in which they live" And amen
and amen, say we.
TRIPLET STEERS. - Many readers
have heard of, and not a few of them
are acquainted with, Josiah Kenerson
of Barnet, the "discoverer of the
famous Jersey Queen, cow which
sold for $4,000. TIE same ubiquitous
Isl" now reports himself as the
owner of a noteworthy triplet of steer
calves. They were bred by Mr.. j. w.
Morrison of Fairlee, and averaged each
one hundred eighty-three pounds in
weight on the 81 of August Septem-
Der 3 they averaged one hundred
eighty-three pounds; October 3, two
hundred twenty-seven pounds, and No
vember 3, two hundred seventy-two
pounds. They are colored exactly
alike, with white hind legs, white
switches, and differed in weight only
about two pounds at the last account.
WELL WORTH DEMONSTRATIONS
and farmers know how destructive the