The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1894-02-28
Farmers Meeting at South Ryegate.
wAsHINGToN's BIRTHDAY CELEBRATED BY A
LIVELY FARMERS MEETING-THE
DAIRY COW DISCUSSED.

Last Thursday was one of the pleasantest
days of the season, and the farmers in large
numbers attended the monthly farmers
meeting, held in the new church. No other
town in Vermont has better farming, and
particularly dairying, record than Ryegate.
1t has three creameries and all are doing
good business. At the state dairymens
meeting in Burlington her creameries won
nearly all the prizes. No town in the state
takes a greater interest in farmers meetings,
and it is certain that much benefit is de-
rived from them Many farmers declare
that, in some large measure, they owe their
success to these meetings. Vermont is
proud OF her butter and maple sugar, and
Ryegate has deserved her share of the
states fame for her butter record.
"The Dairy Cow" was the subject for
discussion. William Gilfillan spoke of the
crops that were best for the dairy COW,
particularly the corn crop, recommending
to cut the stalks before the frost and to silo
them. Farmers do not always take the
best care of their land. They crop it for
two or three successive years with the same
crop, without thinking that they are skin.
ming the soil 1t matters little how good
the soil is,-no crop will do well on the
same soil from year to year. We should
keep the soil in the best condition possible
and by doing so we gain one means of
bringing the dairy cows up to high stand
ard.
Luk6 ". FlSueT Ol CdDOt, un6 next
speaker, is always welcome in farmers
meeting. In no other way, he said, can
farmers derive greater benefit than from
meetings such as this We learn from one
another the latest improvements in farming.
He did not come here to help, but to receive
help. He had always wished TO come to a
Ryegate farmers meeting. We do not
take sufficient care in selecting our COWS.
We should seek the best blood for IL is the
st-blooded cows that pay at the present
time. He thought the Jersey COW the best
In all his experience, the Jersey had made
the best butter and raises the best calves.
There are many things in farming that re-
quire much study. We cannot too closely
observe the agricultural movements of the
day. The creamery had been study with
him. We started creamery at Cabot last
summer, and since that time greater inter-
est has been taken in dairying. More but
ter had been made. 1t is safe to say the
creamery is one Of the best things that ever
came to our little village. Each farmer has
the cash for his butter every month, and he
gets more money for it. We regard the
creamery as a Godsend to our commu-
nifty. We should take good care of Mother
Earth and not skin the soil. We can get a
fair living without stealing 1t from the soil.
He had always cropped with corn the first
year, grain the second, grass the third, and
on the fourth gave the field thorough
narrowing. He was very particular in har-
rowing. The finer we pulverize the soil the
quicker the crops will come up Some, he
thought, are apt to SOW too much grain to
the acre. 1t had always been his rule to
SOW five pecks of oats to the acre. He cuts
his grain with reaper, and then threshes
it, using the straw for bedding. He used
some saw-dust, but did not consider it the
best 1t absorbs the liquid, but is not good
for the land. Each farmer should have a
cemented cellar bottom, with one or two
watts in which to save liquids. AS early in
/ . lau rtprr NO al la ha N ID do
on to the land when little snow is on the
ground. 1t is the best of fertilizers. When
he took his farm it cut thrty-one tons of hay
and kept seven cows, one pair OF oxen, one
pair of horses, and few sheep. He spent
most of his time for the first few years in
putting the farm buildings in shape and
working on the SOIL He made some money
in selling beef, and, when raising beef be-
came Improbable, he changed to dairying.
He now plants from ten to twelve acres of
! corn and cuts from eighty to ninety tons of
hay. He had found that farming pays.
Buy good blood, feed well, and farmer can
make money. He believed in mixing feeds.
| He mixes corn meal, bran, cottonseed and
! linseed meal. He ordered carload of glu-
| ten last summer, and found that, while he
was using it, his butter fell off little at the
creamery. 1t will make the dairy COW give
more milk and make a little more butter,
| but it renders the butter soft, and does not
give it that rich flavor. He gives his cows.
| hrSt IN the morning, small 1Ouuerlng, anu
then miks; then feeds meal, an after that
gives another iodderng. When this is
eaten, he turns the cows out to water He
warns the water to a temperature of eighty
degrees, and finds it pays, as the animals
give more milk Ensilage is one of the best
feeds for the dairy cow He believes in
feeding it twice a day, morning and night.
1t is best to be around the cows only when
it is absolutely necessary. Your presence
dsturbs them, and they will not do so well,
or make so much butter.
ID. ID. Howe, farmer at the experiment
station, said the farmers of the state to-day
are striving to work their farms up to that
state of cultivation that, among other adj
vantages, they can secure money to edu
cate their children. Farmers need better
education. Every farmer has to study tC
keep up with the latest improvements
The Dairyman's Association is an educator
An educated wife is a help to the farmer
Let the farmers take this for motto
Farmers should help farmers, and, If there
is any time left to help those in othe
branches of business do 1t. But farmers
should look after farmers. We need no
take so much care to select blooded calves
When we wish TO raise calf, the first ques