The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1892-07-29
EAST AND WEST.
An Oldtime Vermonter Compares Them
With Satisfactory Results.

dear TO my hearG nave WaJcneu inc us
cussions in your paper regarding Yer
mont's prosperity with a great deal OF
interest.
think you are looking upon the dark
side of the picture. You are taking
your own section as the only one that is
on the decline, when if you will compare
Vermont with other States you will at
least obtain the negative comfort of see
ing others in as bad condition as your
selves. In all of the older States by far
the greater part of the gain in population
from 1880 to 1890 was in the cities, and
as Vermont has no large cities the de-
crease of farm population was more no
ticeable. There has been a general de-
crease in the price of farming lands
throughout the entire country east of
the Mississippi river. 1t commenced on
the Atlantic coast first and has now
reached the Central States. Here in Illi-
nois there has been decline in prices so
great in the last five years that man
irving to pay off the mortgage on his
farm has seen the selling value of his
land decrease as fast as he could reduce
his mortgaged indebtedness.
Take all the comfort that you can
from the old adage that misery loves
company.
If farmer sells his land in Vermont
for the low price now ruling and goes
West to engage in the same business, he
must go to the extreme West for Gov
eminent land, and scarcely an acre now
remaining is worth the price of recording
the deed, so far as practical use is con-
cerned, except some portions of Dakota,
and their crops are very uncertain and
the winter climate not fit for white
to endure. Or he may go the older por-
tons of the new West where he will pay
500 to $40 per acre for fair land with i'm
provements hardly sufficient to give him
a decent home. Or lastly to the old
West, say Illinois where land is now
worth $50 to $75 per acre that few
years ago sold mole rapidly for SIS to
800. From this land he will get 80
bushels of oats per acre worth 20 cents
per bushel, 80 bushels corn worth 40
cents or to Il tons of hay at So to SO per
ton. He should know also that the hay
produced here, or the grass for pasture
is not as nutritious as that grown on the
Vermont hills, and stock fed on it, espe-
cially on the hay in winter must have
grain with it. The only advantage a
farmer in the West has lies in his ability
| to till more acres of land. He must here
lllNCob PlO,OOO III OCuIl tthN liAeNSllAh
cry before he is properly fitted out. Let
him subtract his cash capital from that
and he will know how much indebted
ness he must pay per cent interest on.
There seems to be a scarcity of RENE
dies for your ills. One of your CORE
spondents suggests that you resort to
improved methods of farming, but no
special directions are given. am not a
farmer, but was brought up on farm in
Vermont. For several years past have
been riding among farms in Illinois and
Kansas where l could watch the process
of the work and see the results obtained
and thus haye learned many things l did
not know when farmers boy in Yer
mont. The great secret of successful
farming is to know how to obtain large
crops and at the same time maintain the
fertility of the soil. Notwithstanding
the statements that the prairie soil is in
eXhaustible it will run down under the
drain of constant cropping and the agent
resorted to here to keep it up is clover
/ have long thought that Vermont
farmers ought to use the same means.
A piece of land may be sown to any
small grain and seeded with clover. The
Following season O crop of hay may be
cut not later than the 10th of July, and
the last of August or first of September
the after growth plowed under. Let
this be repeated every second or third
year and you will see an astonishing in
crease in the productiveness of your
fields. This plan is no longer an expert
ment 1t is success beyond question
in any place where clover is reasonably
safe from winter-killing. If it looks
wicked to pillow under clover knee high,
mt IN nlynI rrOurlag an1 oh
Many farms in Vermont are better
adapted to raising horses than dairying,
and the reputation of Vermont Morgan
horses is as wide as this whole nation.
Contrast your ability to raise fine, per-
feet colts where they have stone to bound
their pastures with those of the prairie
States where fully 20 per cent. of the
colts are more or less mutilated by wire
fences before they are three years old.
Young man, do not go if tits not abso-
lutely necessary for you to do to provide
for your earthly welfare. Many young
man has followed great Journalists adj
vice to 'go West" to his sorrow. They
are scattered all the way across the con-
tinent. Ihave seen them in their homes
in every State as far as the crest of the
Rocky Mountains, and thousands of
them would be glad to-day if they were
as comfortably situated as before they
left their old home. Young man, my
advice to you is, remain in your old
home. Improve the old farm. Spend
your life where your fathers have spent
theirs. But put forth every effort of
hand and head to improve the old sys-
TENS of farming.
What have said of course intend to
apply only to such young men as intend
to make farming their occupation. One
of your correspondents fears that the
young men if they stay at home will in
vest little persperation in their bust
ness, but he should remember that the
decree went forth many years ago that
Sin the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat
thy Bread" and very few have been able
to set aside that decree and earn an hon
est living.
Fathers, encourage your sons to re-
main with you by giving them personal
interest in the farm. Counsel with them
regarding the business of the farm
while they are still young and thus de-
velop their judgment and awaken in
them an interest in your work.
Yours truly,
GEO. NJ. HAINEs.