Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1893-04-07
ADDISON COUNTY FARMING.
SOME FIGURES SHOWING THAT IT DOE
NEW HAVEN, VT, April 1,

NEW HAVEN, VT, April /, 1893.
Editor of the Registor:-As few re-
marks on farming seem to be in order.
we wish to commend the letters of q. h.
Child, A. w. FOote and |. l.. Hamblin.
They have the right ring, and are from
practical Addison county farmers who
know that farming does pay. In Ben
nington county, where the farms are set
up edgewise, they do not sell much hay,
they do not stack much hay, and the
great reason is that they do not and can
not produce the hay The grand list of
the town of Stamford, which is where
Mr.. Sanford resides, was in 1890 $9lS.55
The grand list of New Haven, with less
than twice the population. was $S,375. II !;
the grand list of Waltham, with one
third the population, was $l723.33. What
do they do with their money there? Do
they buy Addison county hay with it?
There were 1873 farms sold in this county
last year against 56 in Bennington coun-
ty; 100000 was invested in new manu-
featuring establishments against $4,000
in Bennington county. The net debt OF
Bennington c, unity was $5S3, ,92S; of Ad-
Olson county, $l00,690. The average num-
ber of tons of hav in this county was
LOG, ,l94; Bennington, S,625; bushels bar
ley, II ,633 to 1850; wheat. 46,549 to 2604 !;
value of all farm productions raised i'm
this county, $2,050,0S6, and in Benning-
ton county 1904, ,123. Rutland, Franklin
and Windham counties, each with much
larger population. lead Addison in this
respect, all of which tends to show that
farming in this county is not in bad
way compared with the rest of the State.
There are in Town Hill school district
10 farms, all but three of which are free
from mortgage; most of them are well
stocked hay in large quantities has been
sold from many of them for the past 80
years, and the hay crop has been larger
than usual the past three years. The
writer does not claim to be much of a
farmer, but his income has been over
$l700, and we will guarantee that c. w.
Mason, NJ. j. LandOn, f. Il. Nash, Chas.
Peck, G. 5. Russell and number of 9TH
er farmers in this town have received
over $1,000 from their farms the past
year. G.. II. Conant has farm of 40 acres.
From II cows he sold $476 worth of but
ter from the first day of last October to
the first day of March. This is small
part of his revenue for the year. He
says farming PAYS. G.. G. Chaffee sub
stantiates this statement. He has l02
acres, and large family. From April
to Nov. !, 1892, he had paid his expenses
and deposited 500 in the bank. John
Welcome and F. w. Wright make more
money every month than the States at
torney of the county.
| Your Addison correspondent, in figur-
ing the income from farm of $50 acres,
makes no allowance for taking in extra
stock to pasture, selling hay, pork, beef,
poultry, eggs, maple sugar, fruit or po-
tatoes, some of which should be dc ne up
on farm of this size. We knew a farm
er in this town to sell 500 worth of hay,
many dollars worth of fruit, and some
potatoes from farm of 80 acres. Then
a farm of l5O acres should keep more
than eight COWS and they should average
more than S25 per head. The Partch
Bros. have dairy of nearly 20 head,
which averaged S46 per head last year
(they made butter). Charles Peck re-
ceived $1,000 from % cows-$4S per
head. He fatted his calves and took his
milk to the cheese factory. He has also
sold nearly 5000 worth of pork since
last fall, and does not go about with a
long melancholy face exclaiming, "farm-
ing does not pay.
OF course there are some mortgaged
farms in Addison county, but the ratio is
much less than In Kansas and other West
ern States, and Is less than in some other
counties in this State. The farmers OF
Addison county are as we'll housed,
clothed and fed, as intelligent, industri-
Gus and economical and are as independ-
ent and making as much money today as
the farmers of any county in this or any
other State. We have visited most of the
counties in the State and this is our opin-
ion. The items about farming IN New
Haven we know to be facts, only there
are many more of them.
Yours for Addison county,
Q. s. DANA.