Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1894-02-15
A WEEK WITH THE FARMERS.
The Board of Agriculture Meets at Ben
uington, Dorset and Peru.


Monday moring, headed for North Adams.
North Adams is q thrifty manufacturing
city of about $4,000 souls 1t has grown
from little country hamlet to its present
size and wealth since the opening of the
Hoosac tunnel, which created here great
railroad centre. But, says one of her cit
liens, the railroad is not the only factor,
nor is it the greatest factor in the rapid
growth of North Adams Many other
towns in Massachusetts have made similar
growth. If North Adams had been two
miles further north over the Vermont line
the elements for building this city would
not have been found The savings banks
and trust companies of Massachusetts are
compelled by law to invest all of their funds
within the State, SO these deposits the earn
ings of local labor, are used to build up and
develop local industries and make home
| market, and this fact has had a great nflu-
ence, no doubt, in building up North Adams,
as well as other cities and villages in Massa
| chusetts and it is a question for Nermonters
| to study and reflect upon. The Bennington
meeting was held in the school hall under
the shadow of the monument and was or
| ganized by electing Samuel Robinson presi
dent. Rev. NJ. l.. Severance delivered an
address of welcome. He welcomed them
because they were representative farmers
and brought them facts and truths He
! had sheared opecp by the day in the great
| sheep county of this State; had left college
in shcarng time to earn money at this work
Mr.. Spear occupied the forenoon discus
sing the outlook of farming in Vermont
Mr.. Vail the afternoon with the dairy COW,
and Mr.. Sanford the evening with intensive
farming. The meeting seemed to be of in
|
the board.
Between the sessions we climbed the monu-
ment, our guide, the Rev NJ. i. Sever
ance pointing out the opening in the
mountain where Gen. Stark came
into the valley with his little army
to defend the store of arnls and
provisions located here Over to the east is
a notch in the mountain range where Gen.
| Warren came through with his recruits and
| joined Gen. Stark when the tide of battle
was wavering between victory and defeat
The Bennington valley soil is fertile and
the possibilities afforded and the oppoItuu
| ties offered to the farmers of the valley do
not seem to be generally appreciated but
| there is n great future for the land, with
| its exceptionally good markets. and its
| charming scenery will make it point for
the summer tourists to gather
The three great historic towns in
Vermont are Bennington, Westminster and
| Dorset. and to the latter town we went from
Bennington. At Dorset we found
Mr.. Winslow of the board and
Prof. Checsman of Massachusetts and our
former member of the board William
Chaplin of Middesex. He gave the people
a fine address on The Rural Man. and
Prof. Cheesman gave the latest scientific
light upon the problems of cheese making.
The people packed the hall until there was
hardly standing room. Here is a thrifty
cheese factory and the dairy subject wa
well discussed, as were poultry. horses
| sheep and road improvement. 1t was no
ticed that Dorset had made good improve
ment in her agriculture since the meeting
held here five years ago. The soil here i,
rather rugged and strong. but pretty goot
and the farmers are euterprisng.
Having closed the serie, of meetings Il,
Dorset and taken leave of the good people
of this town, the board ordered their team
at 10 p. IN. for winter night drive of sA
miles to Manchester. On Thursday morn
ing we started for Peru On reaching tn,
summit of the mountain we stopped oul
driver and gazed in wonder and admiration
on the beautiful scene of cultivated field,
eXceled even in our own beautiful State
We noticed the outline of Stratton noun
tain and are reminded that il was on tn,
road over this mountain that was convened
that immense concOurSr of people in til,
days of "rippecanOe ami Tyler Too" il
1910, where in the dense wilderness. five
miles or more from human habtation, 10.
900 people assembled and were addressed Oh
the issues of that campaign 10y Daniel Web
ster, and one of the citizens of Peru is still
living who remembers well the event. PERI
| is distinctiVely mountain town 1900 fee
above tide water and dotted by many farm
which have the appearance of being wei
kept and productive. II has a cheese fac
tory which is well patronized and is turnin,
out fine article of cheese. This town Ia
felt severely the depression common to gu
rural communities in the past year and ha
had to contend with the question of uhoccu
pied farms to quite an extent but at til
present time the people are hopeful TIN
sessions of the board here were well attend
ed and Il lively interest shown in all tn
topics discussed. Mr. Davis was mad
chairman and welcomed the board to PER-
in happy manner and expressed great fait
in the future of agriculture in Peru.
The forenoon was occupied byN |. Speal
on the topic: 'The outlook for farming il
Vermont" In the afternoon Prof. jaime
Cheesman discussed the topic of cheese mai;
ing. H. w. Vail and J. o. Sanford occu
pied the evening, the former on building II
a dairy and the latter on poultry raising.
The forenoon session on Friday was occu
pied by j. O. Sanford on roads followed b
a discussion on maintaining and increasin
the fertility of the farm.
| To- h., a.,