Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1913-01-09
PRES. CARTER S ADDRESS
Abstract of Remarks Mt Dairymens
Meeting Yesterday.

Meeting Yesterday.
President W. L. Carter spoke in part
as follows:
The subject which seems to me of
prime importance to-day Is that of soil |
fertility. Fertility In the earth is a giant
invincibe We have been a nation of soil
robbers. We have passed from the At
lantic to the Pacific, prodigal in our re-
sources. taking the fertility from the soil
until we are compelled to pause and re-
pair the damage done or the nation will !
be on tie verge of starvation. The fertil- |
ity Of the soil in China after thousands |
OF years of cultivation has increased rath- !
er than diminished, showing that con- !
slant cultivation should not impoverish /
the soil and that with all our boosted !
wisdom the "hea then Chinee" is our SUI /
perior.
Zone of the causes which makes for n ,
loss of fertility in our farms Is selling |
milk In every thousand pounds of milk |
sold from the farm there re taken away |
five pounds of nitrogen about two pounds |
of phosphorus and two pounds of potash, !
at the commercial price for these ele- |
ments about sl.42. In other words the !
farmer who sells the milk from a five
thousand pound COW, sells away from his
arm 81. 10 worth of fertilizing material,
% say nothing of the feeding value of his
,kimmed milk. These fertiliz&& values
must be ret urned to the soil in order TO
maintain it's fertility. Had our forefath-
ers understood this great truth We would
lot now be struggling with the high cost
Vt living, dependent on the under produc-
ion of food stuffs. To-day through the
agency of our agricultural schools and
experiment stations we know how to re-
store a maintain the fertility in our
md.
Now 10 t,low this milk after it has
been SOL Gon the farm. New York city
has had for some time a system of In
spectluu, vri ch consisted in sending in
spc,tors to the producer to examine
the conditions under which the milk was
produ.e and to license only those pro-
ducers where right methods were found
This resulted In Ii constant friction, owing
to the fact that the inspectors were not
suited to the work. They excited the
contempt of the farmer and antagonzed
him instead of arous,ng his interest and
cooperation. The result has been that to-
day New York is trying to have enacted
a law under which the State board of
health shall license the dealers and
handlers Of milk, the department of agri-
culture shall inspect and license the
diaries as to their methods and the health
of the cows, and the city authorities of
each city shall inspect the milk for
bacteria content. They are on the right
track, for firmly believe in a compulsory
test of all the cows within the State until
not an infected COW will be found within
our borders and then I believe rigid
the admission of infected animals. But I
believe that they should go still further
ah0 Ass.oato the consumer in the care of
this most valuable food product after It
has reached his hands. The consumer
must be taught not only how to care for
1he milk. but what It costs to produce
II.
The farmer who sells his milk for two
dollars a hundred is barely getting his
money back. | have been asked several
times what / would take for the milk
made on my farm and my answer has
been three dollars and half hundred.
You can readily believe that / do not sell
t at that price. But what you may not
believe is that it brings me very nearly
that or better than three dollars a
hundred
Another subject OF vital interest to us
especially In maintaining the fertility of
our soils, Is a proper crop rotation. This
S apparently a simple matter to learn
and has been worked out for us over and
over again by our experiment stations
But we are often led away by the
phantom of high prices. For instance
high prices one year for some particular
commodity stimulates overproduction in
that commodity the next year and a cor
respondingly low price obtains for that
year. The farmer who chases this phan-
tom by increasing his acreage after a
year of high prices and cutting it down
because prices are low will find success
like the -o'-the-w isp continually
cvading his grasp while he who pursues
the even tenor of his way by a proper
rotation of crops best suited to his land
Is bound to hit the high prices right some
times,
one of the difficulties encountered by
the farmer to-day Is the help problem.
Our boys and girls have been leaving
the farms for the cities The labor
problem on the farm has been likened TO
q pan of milk from which the cities take
the cream. ] think this has been partly
the fault of our country school system,
Our teachers have been from the city, in
many cases with no liking Tor the coun-
try, and have helped educate our boys
and girls toward the city, But / also be-
lieve that the mothers and fathers them
selves are somewhat to blame. Where
you find farmer dissatisfied and railing
at his lot, YOU viii find his bows seeking
other occupations How often also will
you hear the mother say that she hopes
her girl will not have to work as hard
as she has had to do, and encouraging her
daughter to get an education not that
she may become a better wife and mother
out that she may teach ar On tn town to