The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1903-06-04
JACK THE HORNY HANDED

Dear old Journal In very rare
leisure moment my thoughts turn to
you as a sympathizing affinity in the
grand and noble work of diffusiDg in
formation as to the cultivation OF the
soil; and / am constrain ed to give you
some personal experience in this line
for the benefit Of benighted contem-
poraneous humanity; and posterity
yet at large.
AS a prolog l will say that after
the adjournment of the Senate in
March and my release from handling
the senatorial mail, 1 lit here, fer
ninst the ancestral acres of my child
hood, and have since studiously iden-
titled myself with the soil. This is
stretched to include an occasional ex-
cavation for fishworms, but it has
been and is yet so dry that the fish
won't bite anything but ice water.
Danville is on the State and county
maps, but has no newspaper or patriot
to sing its praises; because of this
and other things the town is about as
quiet settlement as the State can
offer. It is seven miles west and
about l, 600 feet higher than the shire
town of this celebrated and notorious
lilywhite county, has a grand surplus
of the best air and water in the world,
a booming creamery, very progress
sive and enlightened cemetery and
semi frequent hastily embroidered
drunk. These last are nearly all
imported self propelled-from the
shire town, and usually consist OF
third-class cigaret hoodlums of tender
years and tuf regulations who drive
up here to awe the natives and work
it OFF.
Danville is proud of its countless
natural advantages, and though it
has no manufacturing and almost ex-
clusively an agricultural population,
yet it is mighty pleasant place to
sojourn in-in the summer, and its
beautiful cemetery offers surprising
inducements to all contemplating
transition. To all such / would say
that never a word of fault has been
found by anyone availing him or her
self of its most attractive privileges.
must add that anyone desiring to
take advantage of its privileges must
shuttle off somewhere else, residents
don't die, they dry up and gradually
disappear.
Seriously speaking, would remind
the giddy and madding crowd in the
vociferous outside world that Dan.
Vile is one of the three largest towns
in the State in area, that it has less
waste or unimproved land than any
town in Vermont; that consequently
it has more acres under cultivation
and has few il any equals and certain
ly no superiors as farming town.
The statistics prove this, and also that
it has more miles of highway than
any town in the commonwealth.
Pause and reflect.
Well, to return to personalities.
I'm the man with the hoe-on OF
them. Hands are rich dark OAK
tanned, except on the inside. There
the marks of honest toll would insure
me a season pass to any agricultural
fair. I'm up in the morning with
the woodchucks, and retire to my very
attractive couch at about the same
time. The woodchuck is a good deal
of a blamed fool on general principles
but he's great on physical culture
There and there only l respect him
have peas and beans with pods form
ing-lots of 'em-and corn bis
enough to hoe the first time. Add t.
this glittering galaxy of abou
every variety of farm and garden sas
and you begin to dimly grasp my
great hiplock on the abstruse scienc
of agriculture.
have advanced one or two the
cries which are attracting wide at
tention, and at the present writing
bid fair to revolutionize and subver
the whole bucolic system One o
them, which l have nearly reduce,
to practical working order is to graf
tomatoes on to potato stalks and thu
produce TWO perfect crops on tn
ground area now occupied by one
The agricultural department says
can be done. and the government
never lies except when it deals wit
|, the Indians or predicts weather 70
future delivery. Just try to size Il
:, the vast importance Of this schem
. and what it will mean wheneve
economy of space il desired
Another gigantic project and Oh