The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1893-02-08

denied. No one knows this better than |
those who are in this condition, and yet |
they cling to their landed possessions
like grim death. Many men would |
make more money if they owned and
managed but half as much land as they
are trying to farm, while the other half
would make some other farmer pros
porous and happy. Improvement I'M
der such conditions would enhance the
value of the rural real estate, tighten
or even up the burden of taxation, and
make times better in many ways. The
most prosperous and happy people are
always found in sections where small
holdings are the rule"
THOSE of us still upon the earth,
whose memory goes back into the
"good old times" will be interested in
a forthcoming report from the United
States Department Of Agriculture on
How People Used to Live" Among
many other things it says: "Game
was abundant early in the century and
therefore cheap. Venison cost only
three and one half cents pound.
Bear meat was very slightly higher.
Pigeons were in extraordinary abun-
dance, selling at little more than a
cent apiece. Elderly readers will re-
member the fights of flocks of pigeons
which dan kened the skies even as late
as fifty years ago. Shad were very
cheap, costing only four cents each.
Owing to the plentiful supply of game,
tanned skins were low in price. A
deerskin fetched about 81 IL, while
bearskin was worth 81 to 50. Milk sold
for two cents quart, and butter for
thirteen cents pound. Apples were
twelve and one-half to twenty-five cents
bushel, but by 1924 they had reached
fifty cents. Farm wages were only
about one.third of what they are now,
ranging from thirty.three to fifty cents
day. From "a to SIS a month was the
usual compensation for well-grown lads.
One hundred years ago the remunera-
ton of boy for doing Chores" such
as chopping wood and foddering horses
for the year, was ordinarily s.. The
use of pair of oxen for day cost
twenty-five cents, while the use of a
COW for one year was 80. 1t cost sixty
cents to make pair of shoes. The
price of a pair of moccasius was twenty
seven cents. Board was only 81 a
week"
WE very well remember those old
"pigeon roosts," where the birds as.
sembled by millions in the woods, and
could be slaughtered in great mint ers
Wild pigeons, when we were young
could easily be trapped and Melted in
any year, but those great roosts " oc
Cured only at considerable interval;
in any one locality. The last one We
ever saw was in the woods, mile Of
two back from New Albany, Iud., neal
the Falls of the Ohio, about 1855. W.
have not ever heard or read of ont
since then; and it is long since we have
seen any wild pigeons brought TO mar
ket, or met with one in the woods
There are, no doubt, some still anon:
our readers who have" bedded " pigeon
for the purpose of catching them in
net, thrown over them by the means o
a spring pole. We should be very gla'
if some such reader would give GU
readers an account of their success il
this line.
ONE of the reasons why very poo
men could get living at very SINAI
money expense in the earlier days wa
the abundance of all kinds of wild gam
and fish. Not only the forests, but th
rivers, brooks and ponds were aliv
with fish, which required no skill at a.
to catch in any quantity. The first mil
to saw shingles which we ever saw wa
put up on a stream running throug
our grandfather's farm. The fire
shingle machines were very imperfec
compared with those now made; an
this one was so constructed that tn
water wheel had to be stopped befor
a new "bolt could be put in place
We were about seven years old at ths
time; and often, when that mill was i
operation, we have stood beside tn
flutter-wheel which operated tn
} machine, and when the wheel wa
' stopped we, with an " edging," woul
D jab at the trout, and could often kill
' dozen or more of these in couple {
= hours. And these were very diiferer
8 trout from the little fellows we find,
: we find any at all, In the brooks
+ these days. They more often weighe
t over a pound than under.