The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1921-07-26
CALLS CALIFORNIA
POOR FOR FARMERS
]. H, Neil, Formerly of waitsfeld,
Says Dry Weather and Insects
Are Harmful

| J. Fl. Neill, formerly of Waitsfeld
now in Ceres, Cal. writes TO The Time
regarding conditions in California, por
tons of which letter are as follows:
THE meat packers and Bordens o
New York control everything the farm
ers produce only a small amount O.
fruit, which is sold by fruit growers di
rect to wholesalers and retailers. Wher
Che Vermont farmers were being paic
60 cents per pound for butterfat last
| winter, the price here was 80 cents
| The price of live hogs on July ~ was
seven and eight cents at Los Angeles
AND other markets. and the price OF
dressed pork was II and is cents per
pound
Farmers cannot butcher on the farm
here as they do in Vermont owing to
the heat and lack of ice, so all dealers
have TO buy from the packers. The
price OF salt pork is % cents per
pound, hams 45 cents, bacon 30 TO 55, a
five pound pail Of lard Sl25 to $l35,
etc Then comes the hardware trust. A
mower, ivefoot cut, costs Sl25; a
horse rake 500, shovel $3.50, hay
fork S2.25, an axe 50 up, scythe $3.50.
While fruit of all kinds, after it has
passed out of the hands of the produc-
ers, costs more here than in Vermont.
arfu ay,lr fa e. 81
trusts, and everyone here who has any
thing to sell but the farmer, and the
gold getters see TO ii that the stream
of gold is kept coming. Every little
town or city, big or little, has park
for parking autos, and usually tents
and houses to do cooking in; and across
the street is a handsome sign reading
something like this: All welcome
Modesto auto park. Everything free
And under the influence of this hos
pitality the stream of gold is kept
flowing into the Golfers of the business
men of the town, while in Vermont
the visitor is either compelled TO park
his auto by the roadside in any old
place or pay S. or So to stay over
night at hotels. Supposinn
Montpelier had an auto park. How
many of the hundreds of cars that pass
through its streets every day would
stop therel And If every town had it's
auto park, how long would il be before
Vermont would become the golden
state. Think of the millions of dollars
that would flow into Vermont if il
was known far and near than anyone
could tour the state and have a place
TO stop each night without putting up
at expensive hotels As il is now, only
the rich can tour Vermont, and the
great mass of people of small means
are shut out Of the state.
"Oh, yes, there is lots Of sunshine.
II could not be otherwise, as there is
no rain from March until October. But
from October or November. until
March, here in the San Joaquin valley
at least, it is rain, fog and midland
as for the flowers the writer would
rather have the flowers Of Vermont, TO.
sether with green lawns, than all the !
Towers in California with dead grass
and ploughed ground for lawns. Owing |
10 intense heat and no rain, a green /
avn Is never seen unless once in great /
" tAitNF NhfAt rNAAf hANn hAAN EhU AHNFu Il
10 pump water night and day to keep 1
4 green
The San Joaquin valley is the gar
len spot Of California but 10 raise
loed crop is impossible as everything is
burned up by heat and drouth, or eaten
~ thousand and one kinds Of insects. 4
Potatoes yield from nothing TO 25 bush
lie per acre. II is, however, a great fruit 4
country. But does it pay? We have II
made careful study of that matter
nd we are convinced that more profit
an be made and a better living OBJ
aimed on a 5000 farm in Vermont
han a $4,000 in California. Our neigh
or. one of the best farmers We know
T. who has an investment of $4,000
old us recently that his gross income
asst year was 81 200. And IL anyone in
'ermont thinks they can make . pay
o buy land az 81 900 per acre to raise
cans on, why let them try it.
Thousands Of acres of this high
riced land is used for dairying and as
My one COW can be kept to tho acre
nd a. the income from a Cow here
about 500 and the interest on 81 600
$50 and with taxes and irrigation i
.ili be 500 We don't think there is
anything very golden about the dairy
usiness in California. and we arc told !
lere j. about the same profit in DAIRY /
z that there is in fruit. Z
We know q little about this from
yperience. For instance. we have been I
lttIng and drying spricots. grown on
- farm tTsnchl. The average amount
/ hy ono person per dan u dried (
nit j about ~ pounds sulphur costs
'out Two cents per pound and the
ice q the dried fruit Is nine or ten T.
uts per pound Therefore. grower r
- $40 for his DAYS work spray E
q boxing water tax, interest. etc. h
ID ran anyone wonder that the stand q
I IF living here is al least 20 per &
~ lower than IN Vermont The 81
uses are small and announcement "a
. IN even on the 81 .oO1 pr acre N
ID &