St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1890-01-23
Gbe Californian.
VERMONT DAIRYMEN.
Profitable Sessions at Rutland.

Profitable Sessions at Rutland.
The Goth annual meeting of the
Vermont Dairymen's association was
held at Rutland last week Wednes-
daY. Thursday and Friday. Presi-
dent F. d. Douglass of Whiting call
ed the meeting to order and intro
duced as the first speaker c. w
Minott, horticulturist at the Yer
mont experiment station, who spoke
on Fodder Crops" He said next
to grass, Indian corn is the most
profitable crop to raise. Corn,
though se1ni-tropical in its nature,
easily adapts itself to any climate
The season of rapid growth is very
short In this section May Is is
about the proper average time to
plant. Almost constant attention Is
needed. Much can be done, with
trueeconomy, to increase the growth
and the crop by carefully selecting
seed. The ears should be well form
ed and small at the butt and the
husks soft and loose when ripe.
Keep in mind that like produces like
and procure the best seed. Corn be
ing tropical plant loves warmth;
therefore plant it near the surface
where will also be found the best soil.
PlOw not over five or six inches deep
and plant at the depth of l y inches.
Make the rows 312 feet and the hills
2 feet apart In the cultivation of
the land 90 deep; narrowing should
follow blowing and precede the APP
plication of fertilizers Whatever
fertilizer is used it should be thor
oughly mixed with the soil Depth
of planting must vary with the soil
and season. There are three objects
of cultivation: ID Checking of leaf
growth on the plant, o. controlling
Of moisture in the field and 3d. the
killing of weeds. Plant deeply if a
wet season, and shallow if q dry sea-
SON.
Wednesday afternoon George A
Smith of Frankfort, n. Y, spoke on
Perfect Cheese" In the evening
Rev. Dr. Phillips of Rutland delivered
an eloquent address of welcome, pay
ing a tribute to the agricultural in
terests of the state on which SO much
depends. He believed that the time
was soon coming when the boys
of Vermont will stay here. Yer
mont has grand future. Let us be
lieve in it President Douglas thank
ed Dr. Phillips for his kind words and
skctched the progress of the assOcia-
ton during the 20 years of its exist
ence. with what it had accomplished.
He deprecated the opening of vast
domains of public lands in advance
of the need fOrit, and said that trusts
and cheap freights from the West
did not augur well for the future sue
cess of Vermont farmers unless they
in their intelligence devised means to
overcome these adverse influences.
Col. Hooker said that the welfare
of Vermont today depended on good
butter and good horses. If he could
and had time he would go among
the towns and establish creameries.
He gave an account of the establish
ment of Il creamery in BrattlebOro
and told how butter had gone up in
price as a result. He urged the i'm
pOrtance of cleanness in every depart
ment of farming; to make good but
ter; raise good colts and sell them
before they become trotters, letting
some one else do the training. Then
there will be no abandoned farms in
Vermont
Alpha MeSSer, master of the State
grange spoke on cooperation as d1-
rectlv in the line with the work of
the Dairymen's association and of
the grange He thought the farmers
might take lesson, from the COM
binations now so successful, individu-
al effort being almost fruitless in the
present day. If prejudiced against
the grange, farmers clubs for the dis
cussiOn of farm matters, energy and
enterprise, with cooperation will
build us up.
Speaker circuit being called upon
as the official speaker" of Vermont
said that dairying was the leading
industry of the state. He did not be-
lieve that butter made nowadays
was any better than that made by
our mothers by hand, in the former
DAYS, but did not favor going back
to the old tedious methods, but
would make use of all labOr-saving
machinery possible. With other
speakers he paid a glowing tribute
to Vermont character and Vermont
ers who have helped build up other
states.
In the afternoon Prof. G. H. Whit
cher of the New Hampshire Agricul
turaI college at Hanover, n. H., read
his paper on THE Effect of Food
upon the Quality of Milk" Most of
Prof Whitcher'S talk was in the ma
ture of statement of the results of
many experiments made at his eXper-
that the amount of fat in milk could
be much increased beyond what it
now contained, but was willing to
try an experiment that any one could
suggest to bring this about.
The election of officers for the ensu-
ing wear, resulting as follows: Presi-
dent, F. d. Douglas of Whiting; LIST
vice president, Alney Stone of West
field; I'd vice president. ]. c. Newton
of DummerstOn; secretary, E. l..
Bass of West Randolph; treasurer,
H. w Vail of Pomfret; auditor, NJ.
o. Stoddard of Rutland.
Thursday morning Acting Secre-
tarv Vail of North Pomfret gave a
talk on ensilage. The speaker first
traced the history of the silo from its
first inception to the present time.
The speaker then told how he came
to build silO, being driven to it as
it were by a short hay crop. He con-
sidered corn the best for use, but had
used rye, oats and peas. He believed
that stone or brick silos did not pre-
serve ensilagc as we'll as those made
of wood; spruce will last he said from
to s years and hemlock much long
er would cut the corn by putting
II IN the Siln he said nheca11Se Il L