St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1911-06-14
Irndeueloned Vermont.

Undeveloped Vermont.
Having spoken in previous issue
of the undeveloped forestry business
there is in Vermont we wish to speak
somewhat of the undevelored agr1-
cultural interests OF the state. In
looking into this subject one is ham
pered by the lack of information. For
instance no one as yet can give defl-
mite information whether there is
any amount of profitable agricultural
land in the state that is not under
cultivation or not We all know that
some of the land that is classed to-
day as improved land is not adapted
to agricultural purposes and is un-
profitable. So while there may be
small quantities of unimproYed land
that might be used for agriculture
there is probably enough now used
that should be put to other purposes
to offset it. About one-third of the
area of the state is all that can be
considered as profitable land for
agricultural pursuits. Nearly all of
that is occupied.
Therefore the undeveloped agri-
cultural possibilities of Vermont lie
not in unoccupied land but in the
proper cultivation of land already
occupied. Again we acknowledge
a lack of information. We cannot
tel: accurately how the price of farms
and buildings in Vermont compares
with the price in other states but we
believe that good farming PROPOSE
lions can be secured in the state
cheaper than elsewhere. A recent Is
sue of the American Cultivator had
this to say on the subject:
Although Vermont is not a wheat
raising state and doesn't pretend to
be and planted last year only one
thousand acres to that grain, yet only
one state in the whole country
raised more bushels per acre. The
average for the state being 1913
bushels compared with an average
of bushels per acre for the great
wheat state of North Dakota. With
other grains Vermont surpassed the
great grain region in yield per acre.
Vermont raised 43 bushels per acre
of corn against 10 bushels for Kan
sas, SO bushels for Iowa and 80
bushels for Illinois. Vermont raised
AIS bushels of oats per acre against
37.8 for Iowa, 38 bushels for Illinois
and 1913 bushels for Minnesota. The
fact is, Vermont contains some very
fine farming lands, although there is
so much hilly, mountainous pasture
land that the seeker after farms hard
ly realizes the extent and richness of
the extremely fertile soils in the
river valleys and around the large
lakes. Some of these farms, meta
bly, in the Lake Champlain valley, are
among the best values in the coun-
try, containing land equal to any
that can be found and with good
buildings selling at lower prices than
any such farms can be bought for in
the west.
While most of the desirable agri-
cultural land is occupied very little
of it is making a maximum produc-
ton. Take the soil itself, we are
getting an average of LAP tons of
hay per acre. The average ought
to be two tons per acre and the pro-
duction of that amount Of hay would
be more profitable than the present
per acre is about 100 bushels. This
is far below what it should yield
From four to six hundred bushels per
acre are being produced by progress
sive farmers in different parts of
the state and the methods they fol-
low are much less difficult than the
old method of doing the work by
hand. An average yield of from 200
to $50 bushels of potatoes per acre
is reasonable expectation from
Vermont soil. An average yield of
$50 bushels would practically double
the income from potatoes without the
employment of another acre of land.
These are but two Mems. Consider
the reasonable development that can
be made in corn and oats and you
have the four largest crops of the
state. Taking the value of farm pro-
ducts in 1900, $50. 570,S92 as a basis
and even so per cent increase in
yield per acre would increase the
farmers income in Vermont S1e,7e5.-
446 per year.
Over SIS per cent of all the farms
in the state reported dairy cows in
the census of 1910. The total mum
Der of cows was 264,4sS. These fig