The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1905-03-09
REDEEM VERMONT'S
ABANDONED FARMS
Sugar Naples on Cheap Land = Novel
Suggestion by Pennsylvania Man
Claims Proposition Is
Practical.

The salvation Of Vermont it is gen
orally conceded lies in the redemption
Of her abandoned farms either by veal
thy cityites for summer residences or
through some other process. A novel
suggestion which may contain some val
liable hints for farmers Of the state,
is that of j. w. Ingham of Pennsylvania,
correspondent of the American Guilt
vator of Boston. He writes:
much has been written about the
abandoned farms of New England, and
many of us are DESTROYS OF giving advice
how TO reclaim them. / think it high
" probable that the ground always was
poor, and that they never ought to
have been cleared, that many of them
are on hillsides SO steep that it is
difficult to pillow, and when plowed liable
to wash and gully. | know of many
hillsides in Pennsylvania that never
ought to have been cleared. | have
owned some myself.
1T would be folly to think of en-
riching these abandoned farms by rais-
ing clover and cow-peas. 1t would re-
quire heavy coating Of manure to
make these crops grow. i know of no
way said Sir j. B. Lawes, by which
an impoverished farm can be restored
from its own resources Fertilizers
must be brought to them from the out
side. would suggest that instead OF
letting them grow up promiscuously
with brush and ordinary forest trees,
that they be planted thickly with sugar
naples. They grow quickly, are long
lived, even when tapped every year for
sugar making and make valuable lum
Der for furniture, and ceiling the inside
of passenger cars.
"a farm thickly covered with maple
trees would always be valuable, because
maple sugar and syrup, owing to their
peculiar delicious flavor, will always be
in good demand at an excellent price.
There would be no outlay for fertilizers,
fences, agricultural implements or seeds.
/ know Of man who, when much past
middle age, planted a rocky field and
ravine with maple trees, and lived to
enjoy the fruit of his labors. The
sugar camps in Ohio are sometimes con-
sidered the most valuable part of the
farms. There is no doubt that naples,
like other trees( whether of the forest
or fruit bearing speeies), viii make a
more rapid growth in a good soil than
in poor one; but it is equally certain
that in their native home they will
grow in poor soil. There is no guess
work about this New England is the
native habitat of the sugar maple. The
encyclopedia Britannica says: 1t is the
most abundant in the New England
states and Canada The Library of
Universal knowledge says 1T abounds
in the northern part Of the United States
and in the British possessions.
According to the census of 1880,
five New England states produced 15,-
069,241 pounds Of maple sugar, and
IFS ,09l gallons Of maple molasses. The
single state Of Vermont produced Ill
261 or pounds of maple sugar, and
12s,091 gallons Of maple molasses. Ac-
cording to the census of 1890, Vermont
had increased her production of maple
sugar to 14,123,921 pounds, and had
increased production Of maple molasses
over rs per cent. This large production
of sweetness was obtained from trees
that grew of their own accord, without
planting / will venture to say there
ID not valley or mountain side in
New England, where there is sufficient
loose earth to anchor them on which
small naples with proper care in setting
and the necessary attention afterwards,
could not be made to grow to fair
size.
when once maple orchard had
been planted, and the trees had OBJ
tanned fair start, there would be no
more trouble or expense, and when large
enough to be tapped sugar could be
made from their sap year after year
without any perceptible damage to the
trees. To make sugar from cane, sorg-
hum or beets, there must be the same
er-ending labor every year to mature
the land, plant, cultivate and harvest
4 the crop, extract the juice and evapo-
rate it. With maple orchard there
is nothing to be done but tap the trees,
gather the sap and boil it down to
sugar The work comes at leisure
time in the spring, when farm work is
not pressing and labor is plentiful and
cheaper than later In the season, when
beets and sorghum are to be planted
and cultivated. 1t may be that in try
ing to supply our country with sugar
from cane, sorghum and beets we have
been working in the wrong direction.
There is cheap land enough in the north
ern and eastern states, which if plant
ed with naples, would produce more
sugar and syrup than could be con
sumed in this country, and at a lower
price. A single tree yields from two to
six pounds, according to the size Of
the tree and the favorableness of the
season"