The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1897-06-30

Total ...,.,..,.,.........,...,.,s2.e5
Our price for this combination is 30.
These books should be in every farm library
in the land Write for prices on other COM
binationS.
If there is anything that interests us
it is books on farming, and we soon
had these books in our possession. We
find them to be new departure in
books on farming. There is probably
not farmer who reads the WATCH
MAN who does not feel more or less the
pressure of the so-called hard times.
Very many farmers are more than half
discouraged. Now some of the wisest
and most thoughtful farmers in the
land are carefully studying the present
conditions of farming, and are putting
most helpful words into these latest
books on farming. The farmer who de-
prives himself and his sons of the read
ing of those books is suffering great
loss. Here is an extract from Roberts
"The Fertility of the Land":
"Choose the profession of agriculture IL
you love rural pursuits, but comprehendfully
that in doing 80 you are entering upon the
most difficult of all pursuits; difficult in or
binary times, d0ubly so under present con-
ditions, which have come about so rapidly
that they are almost incomprehensible.
The American inherits from his European
ancestors an inordinate desire for landed
estates. In earlier days, many farmers
acquired land by the square mile, and all
secured more than they could farm well.
The federal government sold at nominal
prices, gave away and indirectly forced
land upon all corners, not even reserving
the billy timber lands which, II they had
been reserved, would have tempered the
climate and have been an ever-present
source of wealth. The HON estead Act has
not brought unmixed blessings. The whole
course of our federal foley towards public
lands has tended to produce soil-robbers,
not farmers. Transportation by steam
power has made the products Of vast inland
areas salable, giving value to lands which
were valueless, but the same power has
also brought the products Of Asia, Africa
and South America into competition in the
markets of the world.
From 1861 to 1865, vast numbers of men
were transferred from the producing to the
consuming class, and the prices OF farm
products became abnormally high when
measured by an inflated currency. These
conditions could not fail to mislead and dis
appoint many when the population and the
currency were restored to normal condi-
tons. At the close Of the civil war, in adj
dition to vast influx of foreigners, there
were added to the farming community many
soldiers who, in the high prices, saw quick
and large returns from the rich lands which
had by this time been opened to settlers by
the construction of extended systems OF
railway. During the third quarter of the
century-inventive genius 80 improved the
appliances of agriculture as to quadruple
the productive power OF each farmer.
From 1870 to 1880, the percentage increase
Of new farms was 50.71 per cent, while the
percentage Of increase Of population was
30.8 per cent. From 1880 to $780, the in
crease was but 1886 per cent, but the in
This shows that for a time, the percentage
increase of farms vastly outran the percent
age increase Of population. 1t also shows
that the conditions prevailing before 1880
are being 80 rapidly reversed that the per-
centage increase in population may outrun
that of farms far enough to greatly i'm
prove the home markets of many farm
products in the near future. Be this as it
may, the farmer is wise who adjusts him
self quickly to present conditions, 80 unlike
those of his father. To do this, he must see
clearly and Think straight; he must have
good executive ability, as well as training
and practice in well. defined business meth
DDS. To see clearly the eye must be trained
to take in multitude OF objects quickly, SC
sort, compare and photograph ON the senti.
ing. To think straight, many scientific
facts, or items of knowledge, arranged in Or
der, must be acquired, and these can be Sc.
cured only by long, painstaking effort.
But to know is not enough; the ability tc
execute must be joined to knowledge, and
executive skill is acquired in Its highest
form only by the direction and management
of large affairs. 1t cannot be learned in the
classroom, nor formulated in a textbook
and it is seldom learned by the farm boy
hAnn nofwu % n.
lessons OF the beginner are usually manifold,
the tuition for the first term high, and the
whole is paid for from his own resources,
while young teachers, professional and
business men get free tuition because they
learn at the expense of their employers
plies with nearly equal force to business
ability, the lack of which in city and in
country is evidenced in the newspapers by
the word assignment"
To the clear eye, to the intellectual equip
ment, to executive ability and trained bust
ness methods, must be added manual dex-
terity Until recently the untold fertile
acres, the favorable conditions, and the sim
pie wants of the people, have arrested, in
agriculture, the operation of that great
law-the survival of the fittest. 1t has been
said that anybody can farm" That was,
but is not true From this time on, the
Struggle In farming will be such as it has
been in mercantile affairs for some time.
The untitled in agriculture will have to
yield for the same reason that many little
factories, located off the lines of transporta-
ton, furnished with adequate power, ma
chinery and brains, have been abandoned.
Many hillsides will be left to cover their
nakedness with new growth Of hardy veg
citation. 1t will thus be seen how we'll
equipped the farmer should be, how fertile
in brain, in imagination and in resources
how full of wisdom, of enthusiasm, of faith
how quick to see, how prompt to execute,
how patient to endure under difficulties, II
the fertility of his land is to be transformed
into abundant and perfect fruits and flow
ers."
Now it is certain that one cause OF
the present depression in farming is
ignorance. We do not know that any.
body will dispute this. Farmers need
knowledge, need to understand the
principles which underlie their occupa.
tion. There is right and q wrong
way to do most kinds of farm work,
there is right practice and wrong prac.
tice. Right practice brings success
wrong practice brings failure. One Of