The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1917-08-15
"Wednesday, August IS, 1917.
LIVING OFF THE LAND

1t is not at all probable that thel
construction at Randolph and Straf-
ford of gristmills for the grinding of
the Vermont wheat crop will create
much competition with -four busi1
ness Of Minneapolis and other |
centers to which are shipped the pro-
ducts Of the great grain belt of the
continent At the same time 1t isl
not impossible that small perman-
nent industry may result from the ef
folt of the public safety committee
of the state TO restore the growing
OF wheat In Vermont More whgt |
to the acre can be grown on many
Vermont farms than on much of the
land from which the larger portion
of the crop in this country is produc-
ed, Rev. Frazer Metzger, OF the pub
lie safety committee, says that the
wheat crop in Vermont this season
win be much larger than for many
years
Vermont farmers think it nothing.
But.Sf thebrdiHars to eat Johnnycake
made from home ground corn ground
at the village gtistmill. Some OF them
Lare fortunate in that they have re-
tanned the habit of sowing small
plot of ground each year to "injy"
wheat and the hot mullins that result
thercfrom are accorded major con
| sideration on mornings >when the
mercury shrinks toward the bulb and
breakfast is the fuel that starts the
human engine on its days run In q
\ frozen world Is there, then, any
thing inconsistent in the thought that
white bread may again be eaten in
Vermont households that Witnessed
the growth of the grain from which
it was made?
At the risk Of being pilloricd a.
one who harks back to the good OH
days the writer is going to mildly &C
cuse the rural Vermonters of the pre-
ent generation of living away iron
the land more than they are from il
Formerly the Vermont farmer drov,
to mill with load of bagged grain
and returned home with the sam
bags and their contents in differen
form minus the miller's toll Toda.
: he raises little grain, but visits tn
village store and brings home a past
board carton. This carton contain
= what was once a product similar I
9 that contained in the bags. TIL
original grain has been put throug
several processes, steamed an
/. pressed into planks which have bee
: run through buzz planor and niue
e resembles the shayIngs with whic
he beds down his horses instead {
straw. O. asionany some one SUI
4 poets that it is not much NOR
aourishing
:; This picture OF modern living con
d ditions is admittedly overdrawn. bl
: the writer contends that the kern
! Of tlphf IS not ont of all m'oportlo
n to the she'll of the nut, Vermont an
e the other states OF this mighty Unto
Is are we'll on their way into pcric
y that is destined to strip from OF
people some OF the superficial ide,
!, acquired during an era Of prospcril
a unparolled IN history. Is Il too vi
d ionary to imagine that out Of II is
come more simple method OF II
ing, a larger realization OF the o
portuntles right at hand aud a co
densation of effort into narrow,
radius? Would IL he r step backwai
If in the future those who lived {
the land should develop a tendon,
to buy little less and eat lit
: moro OF their own raising? In a moa
: IRE the home gardens are already +
turning an affirmative answer to Il
question