The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1893-03-17
ADDISON COUNTY FARMING.


taken to the statement and the Secretary
of the Board of Agriculture replied in
the columns of the Middlebury Register.
The Hon. John w. Stewart writes the
latter paper as follows:
Your last issue contains letter from
Mr.. Winslow, Secretary of the State
Board of Agriculture, which deserves the
thoughtful attention of the farmers of
Addison county The letter seems to be
intended as explanatory of the recently
published unfavOrable criticism of agri-
cultural conditions at present prevailing
in the county, expressed by a visiting
member of the State Agricultural Board.
The letter, however, sharply empha-
sizes the criticism. The severity of the
after is not lessened, but, rather is en-
HANGED by the statement of the supposed
cause of the alleged evil condition.
1t is NO compliment to the farmers of
Addison county to say that they practice
"a wasteful and shi tless way of farm
ing, and that it was only the great nat
ural resources of the soil that prevented
the utter rum of the farmers" nor is it
fiattery to say that what MIR. Sanford
styled the garden of Vermont" would
be capable of immense production if
farmed like some of the hill towns of the
Eastern part of the State" This is COM
mendation of the soil and condemnation
of its owners. Nor is it pleasant to be
informed that despite these natural adj
vantages 1--WE find our best kept farms
and most thrifty farmers in those section
where nature hes done but little for the
farmer, and that the hard struggle for a
living has developed in those sections an
industry, thrift and economy that were
perhaps not necessary in the Champlain
valley" which, he says, by contrast,
'looked shiftless and wasteful to him."
etc.
All this, reduced to plain terms,
amounts to this, namely: That the
methods of farming prevalent in Addison
county are slovenly, wasteful and dis
creditable; that there is noticeable gen.
eral lack of thrift, industry and economy;
that the superior natural advantages here
manifest are neutralized because our
farmers are voluntary subjects of "a gen.
eral law of nature that men in general
labor only to support life."
The farmers of this county should OBJ
serve that these grave charges come from
responsible source, as the result of
personal observation during an official
visit
The writer is not farmer, but is ma
tive and resident of the county, proud of
her past record, jealous of her good
name and sincerely desirious of her pros
perity.
The present purpose of the writer is
not to suggest remedies for the evil con-
dition which Mr.. Sanford says he OBJ
served, but, rather to call the general
attention of his fellow citizens, who are
farmers. to these grave charges, and to
put the inquiries; First, are they true,
and, if so, to what extent; and, second,
IL u uO, Nh"b OuldIlNO pIOCeSS Sldll Ue SET
on foot?
For years all sorts of machinery has
been enlisted in behalf of the great in
terests of agriculture, which are chiefest
in our State. We have with us the
Changers, Board of Agriculture, town
and county agricultural societies, and a
pallaH nollana ;o1 lo
contrived to spend hundreds of thou
sands of dollars. What is the present
outcome of all these instrumentalities
Is it true SO far as our own county is
cOncerned-by far, believe, the richest
in natural agricultural resources in our
State-that Mr.. Sanford gives the net
result of all these mechanical contriv-
ances and all these expenditures alluded
to above? If these have all failed either
to ad yance or to sustain this great inter-
est, what next? If Mr.. Sanford is cor
rect in attributing present evils to lack
of thrift, industry and economy, then it
would seem that the agencies referred to
haYe failed at vital point. The virtues
enumerated are personal. They cannot
be formed in the lecture room, nor on
the race course, nor at agricultural fairs.
They are cultivated and have free play
in the home and on the farm. They are
exemplified by some in every school dis
trict in the country. What can be done
to make them so universal that such pub
lished criticism as have quoted shall be
an untruthful libel?.
Rev. F. b. Phelps of Ticonderoga re-