The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1891-08-26
How to MIKE Farmin, Attractive to
the Young.
BY II. Q. WARD.

The fact that the city population is
increasing at the expense of the country
is not sign of social health. The boys
leave the farm, in many cases, rather
because farming has lost its attractions
and become drudgery than because it
is Improbable. But it is the belief of
the writer that agriculture can be made
the most attractive of all occupations
to the intelligent mind, as it is the
most natural of all occupations.
Drudgery is not attractive to any one,
and he who fancies that the soil can be
successfully cultivated without the eX-
ercise of much intelligence is likely to
become a mere drudge. He gets the
lowest price for his productions because
be has not mixed thought with muscle
in his work. Selling at such prices, he
loses the profits and tolls in kind of
treadmill, ever struggling but making
no advance.
Farming can be made more attract
i've, then, by putting more thought into
,cork, even if less work is done, and
consequently doing work of a higher
order Brute force is cheap and poorly
paid, while skilled labor is as valuable
on the farm as elsewhere. But to be
more specific, in this article l wish to
speak of the value of scientific knowl-
edge to the farmer, and so partly
answer the question or solve the prob
lem before us.
In the first place, some knowledge of
chemistry is indispensable to one who
would cultivate the soil intelligently
OF course, the more chemistry farmer
knows the better, but profound &C
quaintance with this or any other
science is hardly practicable for him.
Yet few of the principles-a smatter-
CURED in few weeks study, will be of
| great value to thoughtful man. To
analyze soils qualitatively-that is, to
find out their principal constituents
would require laboratory ami hardly
pay for the time and effort req uired;
while quantitative analysis, which
would be necessary to ascertain the
relative amounts of those constitu ents,
would be only possible to specialists.
Yet such simple facts as the following
based upon the study of the first prin-
ciples of chemistry, and not perfectly
appreciated without such study, won Id
be valuable to farmer in two ways:
(D They would set him to thinking in
a practical line. (2) They can be ap.
piled at once in the production of crops.
The plant may draw most of its susie
nance except the mineral part from
the air. The mineral part of the plant
is found in the ashes; therefore an
analysis of the ashes will show what is
absolutely essential for the soil. The
ash of the pear tree shows that, amo nc
other things, it requires food that con
tains iron. The potato vine contain;
potash in large quantities. Phosphate:
and soda are the bulkiest mineral ele
ments of indian corn. We know that
wheat cannot be raised without phos
phate of lime; and furthermore, be
cause the phosphate of lime is found il
the external covering of the grain, the
bran is fed to young growing animals
to produce bone, while the bones O
slaughtered animals should be applied
to the soil to supplyft with the phos
phate taken out by the crops.
! The man who is entirely ignorant o
chemistry does not know either how
to feed his cattle to the best advantage