Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1913-11-13

preaching the conservation of this
including it's coal and other mineral deposits and its water
transportation routes, and especially of our soil.
Mr. Hill in his address of the weekend before great
Chicago audience preached the gospel of conservation
of soil that he presented before the conference of governors
called at the White House in 1908 when the amented Gov
Fletcher D. Proctor headed the delegation from YER
mont to that memorable gathering
Mr. Hill shows that within few decades the population
of the United States will be 2OooOoooO and that unless we
mend ways of wasefuness nation, the problem of
adequate food supply will take serious proportions
The Of the nations resources is fixed and simple.
From the the mine the forest and the soil must be gath
cred everything that sustain the life of man.
The hills of Vermont have been stripped Of their forest
growth to extent that makes foresaton of our most
pressing problems and while derive large income from
granite and marble and slate quarries whole our
State confined principally the soil for products that will
meet mans increasing wants
Mr. Hill shows there two ways in which the produc
tive power of the earth essoned First by erosion and
the sweeping of the fertility Of the surface into the streams
and second by exhaustion of soil through wrong methods
of cultivation In parts Of the country where the hills
have been stripped of their forest growth that held the mo1s
orrenta rains have quilted the land and made unfit for
tiage thousands Of where were fertile fields
Far runous however, the process of soil eXhaus
ton while Vermont suffering from erosion account
of the barring of hlsdes which be emedied only
after years of foresation at begin to repenh
soil and increase the productivity of our land,
high authority has declared that "agriculture an
independent industry, able in itself to support community
does not exist in the hilly parts of New England.
1t is feared this statement applies with special force
to Vermont We import large part of our -four, whereas
every farmer formerly thought it disgrace if he did not
raise his wheat We buy small part of ground
feed outside Vermont We waste disgracefuly large
percentage our fertlizing elements, and buy
little fertilizer elsewhere make good fraction Of ire
mendous waste
We rather raise dogs than sheep and where nocks Of
thousands formerly fed upon the hills of State and
kept weeds waste land and underground
that standing monument to our lack of wisdom as well
as of thrift In these and other ways Yer
feeling the needs of impetus in the promotion
of material interests
Mr. Hill arragns Vermont as we'll as other New Eng
land States when he speaks of the number of farmers
whose tng has been stopped and when he shows the I'M
poverishng of the soil of the United States
Americas yield Of wheat per acre for ten years
was 1875 bushels while Austria and Hungary produced
II bushels per France 1913 bushels Germany 276
and the United Kingdom of Great Britain 1922 bushels per
The yield oats and barley showed about the
contrast of wheat.
When make Vermont maple sugar or butter we re-
aze that the conditions must be right if we are to secure
the We overlook the fact that the soil can not
be subjected to any kind of mistreatment with immunity
ignore the necessity of the of certain chemical
proportions for the support of vegetation
to nothing of the raising of particular crops
We not only neglect to provide new supply OF these
chemical elements by fertilization, but on year after
year "snge cropping instead of providing rotation of
crops which will help return to the soil some of the fertility
of which it has been robbed.
Mr. Hill claims there good authority for the assertion
that the average farmer could take from the ground in
four years much years produce, if right
methods adopted.
He there money in cultivating small farm
we'll than in skiming over large farm and many Vermont
farmers will admit the truth of this assertion while continu
ing to waste their efforts the before He shows that
the farmers of the Isle Of Jersey for each cultivated
average income of $3.50 We of Vermont need not be
discouraged by this intensive farming but it ought ncie
increase productivity five per cent in the next two
years and so
Commissioner of Agriculture f. s. Brigham has shown
how to enjoy large income from the raising potatoes
the chances that of his negbor have logged along
in the old of raising tuber They think they can
not afford to spend money he does overlooking that
much per plant and cultivate poor crop good
The average tler of the soil says he to
adopt better methods but matter Of fact he
ford not to adopt more profitable methods
We might apply this lesson to the waste in feeding
poor dairy instead Of carefully selected of raising
colts instead of handsome Morgans heavy draft
horses through the whole category of soil culture
and stock raising and meat production.
Vermont could easily increase its revenue from its soil
ten per cent Will you do your share toward that RESULT