Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1918-04-03
VERMONT ADVANTAGES.
Craftsbury Boy, Successful Agri-
cultural Worker, Makes
Comparisons.

This paper is particularly pleased
to publish the following communica-
ton from a formmer county boy, A.
B. Pike, Jr., of Craftsbury, now in
Salt Lake City, Utah, who has had
an excellent opportunity to study ag
ricultural conditions the nation over.
He sees our advantages, but chides
US for not having grasped them soon
er and more firmly. The editor is con-
vinced that the tide is turning, that
Vermont agriculture is on the upward
trend, that better times are ahead
and that Vermont is destined to out
rank even it's present lead in many
agricultural lines.
| Mr.. Editor:
| A people that has always lived at
home and have performed little trav-
ell, frequently fail to realize the OPP
portunities in their home surround
ings. Young people, especially, be-
lieve that only worthwhile oppor-
tunities are elsewhere, at the foot of
the rainbow, as it were. Some of the
reasons for this frequent dissatisfac-
ton in home surroundings are large
ly due to a lack of sufficient profit in
the home business; healthy social
life; educational methods not in har-
mony with local surroundings; and
seemingly more favorable parts of
the country. This last condition is
too often the result of forceful and
not altogether correct advertising on
the part of people in other sections.
The writer has had an exceptional
opportunity to study conditions in
various part Of the country, including
The East, South and West. While en-
gagged in agricultural extension work
an opportunity was furnished to
study farm conditions from all an
giles. Always a loyal Vermonter, the
writer has at all times kept the home
country in mind and has applied con-
ditions found elsewhere to similar
ones IN the home state. This COM
narative study shows that Vermont
has many advantages as a place in
which to live and work that are not
surpassed by any other part of the
country. Climatic and sectional con-
ditions naturally call for different
types of farming, yet dairying, the
prevailing. type of farming found in
Vermont, is at the same time a popu-
lar branch in every part of the coun
try.
When a careful comparative study
has been made Of outside sections and
a measuring yard-stick applied to
Vermont it shows that many Vermont
people have not as yet fully realized
the agricultural advantages of Yer
mont nor have they all realized the
advantages Of the state as a place in
which to live. Some will take ex-
ception to this statement. Yet the
number will consist largely of people
with narrow vision, those who have
probably drawn their conclusions
from the limits of a narrow valley,
community, or even the limits of a
small farm. A lack of profit and re-
sultant dissatisfaction too frequently
mean that the people have not realiz-
ed their exceptional location and ag-
ricultural advantages. They have
neither analysed their farm business
nor the local and distant market pos
sibilities. Environment plays an i'm
portant part in the lives Of a people
and perhaps our mountain region has
given us too narrow viewpoint.
Take the South. 1t is cotton and
lively profitable and easy type of
farming, yet social and climatic con-
ditions are such that Vermont man
would be out of place. The chances
are that three years and possibly less
would find him travelling back to the
cool, green, well-watered valleys of
Vermont. Dairying is being prac-
ticed in the South, yet because Of the
hot climate and the innumerable flies
and pests which prey upon COWS and
the lack of sod pastures it can not be
said to be dairy country.
The Middle West has superior ad-
vantages in depth of soil and tillable
areas. Yet land has reached high
prices per acre that only those people
who already own or expect to inherit
land can well succeed there On the
other hand Vermont has many acres
Of deep soil and besides has cold
springs, natural ice, vast unimproved
areas, cheap pasture lands, and I'M