St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1913-08-27
PRESS COMMENT
A Vermont Opportunity.

Maine, the home of potatoes, is
losing caste with those VINO buy
these tubers for seed. Farmers to
the south, whose land and climate
are not right for the growing of seed
potatoes, are forced to come into
the more northern part of the country
to satisfy their needs. Naturally
they first turned to Maine, but the
results have not been satisfactory
because the Maine farmer does not
turn out seed of pure variety or
free from disease. But the grower
wants both freedom from disease
and pure variety, else he is the
loser when the harvest time comes.
1t is we'll known that Vermont
soil and climate are adapted 70 the
raising of seed potatoes. The COM
missioner of agriculture has a mar
ket in Virginia that cares for more
than he can produce and he has tried
to interest other farmers in the work,
with varying success. Growers rec
ognize that Vermont ought to do
something in this line. Recently two
representatives of the Long Island
Potato Exchange were in this city
looking over the lay of the land.
They found that they could get no
seed here, for the full crop has been
spoken for. However, they feel that
some interest in the project might be
aroused so that next year, possibly,
they might come back with better re-
suits.
According to these two men, who
are securing the country for the seed
potatoes, there is a great opportun-
ity for Vermont farmers. The two
requisites are: Freedom from dis
ease and true variety, which might
be obtained with a little attention
and care on the part of the farmer.
OF course potatoes of this kind would
command a good premium over the
regular market price and the farmer
would reap a good reward.
This is something in which the
Vermont farmers might well interest
themselves. If there could be an or
ganization effected that would unite
the growers of seed potatoes and be
the means of bringing into existence
an inspector who would make ex-
aminations and certify as to the class
OF goods produced, a long step for
ward would be taken. 1t would
mean that Vermont would be the
first state selling inspected seed of
this kind and the purchaser would
gladly pay a good premium for GER
titled seed. This is something that
the progressive farmers may well
consider. 1t is no dream scheme.
There is demand for good
seed potatoes and a promise of
a good price. 1t is an opportuh-
ity that ought not be passed over.
st. Adams Messenger.
Foss Out OF 1t.
Eugene Noble Foss, alias "the Old
Boy" alias Democrat, alias Repub-
lican (twice), will not be a candi-
date for the Republican nomination
for governor of Massachusetts at the
approaching primary. He, himself,
authorizes the statement, and he
ought to know. Many political OBJ
servers had suspected it, but Gov
ernor Foss knows-now. 1t is, of
! course, the merest coincidence that
/ Governor Foss's decision comes al
most simultaneously with the discov-
L cry that he failed to obtain the requi-
site number of names on his papers in
the requisite number of counties.
| The law requires that papers con-
tanning at least a thousand signat-
ures, not less than ESQ to be from
each of four different counties,
should have been filed with the
DOdIQ VI IOS oil VI NOICI0 III pldCOS
outside of Boston, and with the cleo
ton commissioners in Boston, be-
fore 5 o'clock last Saturday after
noon. Available returns show that
Foss's papers bore 229 names from
Suffolk county, 229 from Barnstable,
six from Nofolk, 10 from Essex, 43
from Worcester, 375 from Bristol,
and 319 from Middlesex. On the
face of these returns, Foss was two
counties shy of the required four.
The papers, however, as ''the Old
Boy himself remarked on Monday,
were only a matter of detail. 1t was
no longer ago than Monday, too,
that he declared he would keep his
hat in the ring until it should be too
late for either or the other can
didates to pull out of the contest.
fGardener and Benton will now please
understand that their time for with
drawal is past-For Mr.. Foss's mil
linery has been removed from the
ring. This is their cue that it is
too late for them to pull out. Mean
while, Bay State Democrats are prob
ably telling themselves that 90 the
Old Boy" repeatedly nominated and
elected by their votes to be a Demo
cratic governor of Massachusetts,,
was merely In playful mood when
he went down to the Worcester Coun-
ty Republican outing the other day
and publicly addressed the assem-
bled partisans as fellow Republi-
cans" With several months of his
official term as a Democrat yet to
elapse, that implied profession of
Republicanism must have grated on
Democratic nerves. It's all right,
though Foss will not be candi-
date for the Republican nomination.
But all this does not rob Foss of
his title as the foremost political
chameleon of the age (Webster's
characterization of the chameleon:
Its color changes more or less with*
**its temper when disturbed"). He
has been a Republican, a Democrat
and again a Republican. He can
scarcely nope to avail himself of Mr..
Birds challenge to go after the Bull
Moose nomination, as the Massachu-