The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1894-01-31
Editorial NOtings.

CellenJ Iarm journal Inc HUTUt NeO
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writing your name and address very
plainly. -
M. w. S., FAIRLEE, W., writes:
What you say about sheep, the wool
interest, and dogs, is fact. Protect the
one fully from dogs by law, and the
other, reasonably, from ruinous COM
petition of foreign wool, raised by un-
paid labor, or we must sacrifice our
sheep for something that will pay bet
ter. The result will be an over
production of butter"
THE same intelligent writer remarks
that he would like to see more practical
activity in our agricultural college. 1t
was his privilege, he adds, to vote right
on that matter in one of our legisla-
lures; and he 10 surprised-as what
true-hearted farmer is not?-at the OPP
position of farmers to being taxed for
80 great and necessary help to the
farming interest. Alasl AS the de-
structon of the poor is their poverty,
80 it seems imposs BILE to infuse into
the mind of the uneducated the value
of education. 1t is one of the few
things for which man may well "sell
all that he hath " to buy it. But, as a
matter of fact, education has always to
be, in way, forced upon the unedu-
Gated, We do not recall any case where
totally illiterate people has ever de-
manded education. 1t is fire which
burns downwards, and not upwards.
Sympathy for the ignorant in the
hearts of the learned has been the
spring of popular education. But if we
were forced to judge solely by the
action of the literary classes in the
matter of agricultural education here,
we might we'll fear that insensate greed
has conquered the sense of sacred duty.
Mr.. SILAs RICHARDSON, of Canaan,
Me-, an old and experienced orchard
ist, writes: "Your article COPIED in
the Maine Farmer) entitled Truth
Modified have read and reread; and
l have often told the apple.tree pedlars
that you are the best authority in fruit
in the New England States, and the
best | know of in the United States,
unless it be Professor Budd of Iowa. l
have tried most of the iron. clads that
could get, but the Longfield, think,
have not got. The cions you sent me
two years ago grew well, and had six
or eight apples on the Yellow Trans
parents. A hail-storm took some of them
off. One that was left was a handsome,
smooth, yellow apple, larger than a
Baldwin. [ have got nothing from you
that was bogus. Next spring l shall
want some of Arabka and Longield. l
have plenty of trees to top-graft. The
Russians are far ahead of our native
seeding trees, to top-graft upon. am
doing very good work in grating now,
after twenty years. experience; but l
would advise green hand to leave it
alone"
WE print the above mainly to object
to our friend Richardson's idea that
grating is difficult operation. We
know it is generally so esteemed; but
we have taught this simple art to great
many boys and men, and some women;
and after very short experience they
have found that they could root graft,
or top graft, as well as their instructor.
Our I" better half" has a good many
times picked from the floor our rejected
cions and roots-pear as we'll as apple
and putting them together has grown
just as good trees from such "refuse"
as we did from our more carefully Sc
lected material. If our fair readers
and we have good many such, we are
proud to believe,-will just save the
good plump seeds from their early fall
apples, and plant them in the fall,
about an inch deep, in good garden
soil, in level place, where the melting
snow and spring rains will not wash
them out, they will the next fall, if kept
free from weeds, have good lot of
yearling stocks, just right for splice
grating the succeeding winter or
spring. For small lot, it is just as
we'll to let these seedlings remain in
the ground until spring, and splice
graft them as soon as the frost is out.
Before next fall, if we hear of any
readers who mean to try and learn to
graft, we will print some cuts, showing
just how to put cion and stock together,
so that they will grow. Let us have a