Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1893-02-17
FARMERS INSTITUTE.
The Second Days Proceedings.
Friday Mornings Session.

Friday Mornings Session.
Complete reports of the farmers insti-
tute meeting at Londonderry last week and
OF the first days sessions held on Thursday
at Brattleboro were given in last weeks
Phoenix. The addresses at the session
Friday morning were by c. d. Whitman
and Prof. Hills upon maple sugar.
Mr. Whitman urged better methods in
sugaring and marketing. Each individual
sugar maker, who is doing his best, is a
help TO every other sugar maker-especial-
ly to adjoining men. Gather sap early. he
said, boil as soon as gathered, and keep
clean. Uniformity of packages is very i'm
portant. So many diverse sizes of cans
and cases with varying quality of contents
dlscourages buyers and throws the control
OF the markets into the hands of outside
dealers and adulterators. Combination and
organization is necessity for sugar makers.
and standard quality with uniform pack
ages must be adopted. Whether the boun-
ty is retained or not, it has been of great
value in obtaining for sugar makers
standard of saccharine strength.
The Sugar Makers association, organized
at Morrisville, and of which there are now
10 members, is working to insure a grand
exhibit at Chicago, and an increased inter
est IN better methods, better product and
better markets. Sugar men in all parts of
the state are urged to join this association
and help to do its work. Sugar makers
should write to A. l. Croft, Enosburgh,
| for information with regard to the organi-
cation.
Prof. Hills said that he had seen a good
deal of the inside of the bounty work in
connection with his position at the station
and the sugar tests that he had charge of
at Montpelier last spring. He described
the methods of testing sugar with the po-
lariscope, which is sort of spyglass on a
tripod, with a mechanism which measures
the divergence of ray of light as affected
| by the sugar. A scale on prism indicates
the per cent of sugar present in the sam
| pie under examination. He said that the
| bounty law has been worked in the interest
of the farmers, that in cases of doubt de-
cisions were made in their favor, and that
great pains was taken with samples close
to the so per cent limit. Producers were
| paid their bounty in the order in which the
weighers names came, alphabetically,
| which accounts for the difference in time
in which payments were made in this cOun-
ty The coming year each producer will
| be informed of the result of his test as soon
as made.
Afternoon Session.
In the afternoon Mrs. Julia Newton
gave talk upon the Importance of farm
ers' meetings. She held that farmers
needed to organize as well as other people
But they should not combine to sefishly
promote their own interests. Their meet
ings should be public educators. Farmers
need good education to carry on their
work. Formerly, when there was so much
manual labor to be done on the farm, there
was not time for this; but now there are
more opportunities, and more advantages,
also, because of the interest in farmers
work recently shown by the state and ma
tiOnal government.
George c. Wright of Walpole, n. H.,
spoke upon "Private dairying." lie said
that the associated creameres and private
diaries are not antagonistic, but that the
creamery helps the farmer and private dali
ryman. That butter made from one herd
in a careful manner must always bring a
better price than that from mixed herds.
He urged absolute neatness from the first
to the last and attention to the smallest
details, saying that We could learn much
from the city business man, who comes in
to the country and purchases a farm, and
|
system and ability, and his method of dis
posing of his products. He advised all
farmers not to be satisfied with present at
tainments, but aim for something better
ali the time
V. |. Spear followed with an address up
on Raising and harvesting farm crops"
He pointed out the necessity for studying
economy. The best economy is always
found where the production is made to be
large per acre. He recommended liberal
use of clover and the early cutting of hay
where the fields are rich enough to grow a
second crop. With regard to growing
corn, he said to use all the modern ma
chinery-the corn planter, harrow, weeder
and cultivator. With these it would not
cost much more to raise corn in the East
than West. He thought the silo was the
proper thing and spoke of the various
ways of slowing away fodder, saying that
on small farms it could best be done with
out cutting. Mr. Spear then referred to
other fodder crops. Peas and oats sowed
together in the ratio of one to two and
One-half and cut in blossom are excellent.
Barley can be kept standing in the field
until snow comes and cut green, as frost
does not affect it, He could not recon-
mend the growing of much grain, because
the straw is worthless anu Jlt COoI vi thiOSh-
ing is heavy,
The main discussion brought out at this
session was with reference to the silo, it
being held that it could be used to advan-
tage for storing corn fodder.
Evening Session.
Friday evening the last session of this
series of meetings was held. Misses Ger
trude Gorham, Ruth Noyes and Abbie j.
Prouty of the High school gave excellent
Rotations, and the program was further
enlivened by singing by Mr.. Miller, with
Miss Izetta Stewart as accompanist. A
fair-szed audience was present. The prin-
cipal address of the evening was delivered
by C. NJ. Winslow of Brandon upon "The
influence of heredity." The reason why
progress in breeding stock has been so
slow, he said, is because man lives so short
a time there is no continuation of method.
As illustrating the changes that can take
place, he cited the case of the buffalo,
Many years ago it was large, short-egged
animal Then it leisurely roamed the
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