Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1911-01-06
~ go
Farm. ana
Garden
"HELL0W ON THE FARM.
Telephone Plays a Great Part In Ag-
riculturist's Life, Says Census Folks.

Telephone Plays a Great Part In Ag-
ricuturist's Life, Says Census Folks.
The special report on the telephone
service of the country recently pub
lished by the bureau of the census
contains q comment on the influence
of the telephone in life on the farm.
1t is asserted that mo single factor
has played so great part in the anne
Iteration of the conditions of life on
the farms as has the telephone" Hun
now installed in farmers homes. The
report locates the beginning Of the
rural service in Connecticut In 1881,
when a company operating in the cit
les Of that state arranged for the con-
nection Of isolated village systems
with the company's exchanges in the
cities. This opened new and almost
limitless avenue of telephone service,
| but little was done In that direction
for number of years. The demand
| for service In the cities and larger
towns kept the makers of the patented
instruments so busy that little was or
ever could be done in the way of rural
extension. The expiration Of funda-
mental patents in 1893 and the fact
that by that time the urban field was
fairly covered brought the telephone
into wider use in villages and country
homes
The report states that at the present
time no reliable figures are available
| as to the actual number of farm tele-
phones. The year covered by the bull
| letin Is 1907. 1t Is presumable that
the recently taken census, the details
of which will not be available for sew
eral months, will include an accurate
report of the present state of the serv-
| ice. The matter of special importance
here Is the comment Of the investiga
! tors on the value and the nature Of
the service of the telephone In the
farmhouse. Among the manifold uses
of the instruments they note the ac-
cess given to farmers to the markets
in which their products are sold. THE
grain grower in the west when ap-
preached by a buyer who wishes to
purchase his wheat simply steps to
| the telephone and asks through the
nearest exchange the closing prices in
the Chicago market on the preceding
day or the opening prices on the present
day" The truck farmers in the neigh
borhood Of large cities telephone to
the city markets and find out whether
there is any demand for their fresh
vegetables or whether the market is
glutted and prices low. II the report
is unfavorable they wait for n better
demand and better prices before car
rying their vegetables or fruits or 9TH
er products to the place of sale.
If an animal of value falls sick the
veterinary surgeon is summoned by
telephone. If horse is stolen word is
sent to all the farmers on the circuit.
In case of fire or accident help is called
with avoidance of the delay involved
in the dispatch Of messenger who
cannot well be spared at all at such
time. On many of these little cOun-
try circuits prearranged signal at or
about some regular hour summons all
subscribers to their instruments while
central" reads out the important news
Of the day and gives out the weather
report. The instrument relieves the
isolation of the women on the farm.
Their days are often spent in lone
illness while the "men folks" are at
their work on some distant part of the
farm or absent on some errand to the
city or to some other farm. A few
minutes Of chat or gossip is a meas
ureless boon to many so situated.
With the installation of the telephone,
the extension of the interurban street
railway and the rural trolley line and
the rural free mail delivery life on
the farm has been greatly changed for
the better.