The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1922-10-12
APPLE EXPERIMENT
ON VERMONT HILLSIDE
Interesting Story Of Farm Develop
ment in East Cor
NTH


Wife for September, 1922, which ha
to deal with apple raising by tb'
Dimocks in East Corinth. The articl,
by Bess M. Rowe ii Ais follows:
" was apple picking time and ",
were sitting around The big table ii
the dining room on the Dimock or
chards farm. The girls, who had beer
i picking and sorting apples all dav
were discussing a poem. One OF them
quoted:
My instep arch not cnly keeps ths
ache.
II keeps the pressure OF a ladder round
feel the ladder sway as the boughs
bend,
And ! keep hearing from the cellar bin
| The rumbling sound
Of load ON load Of apples coming in"
From this discussion the conversation
drifted to other books, then back to
apple picking, apple marketing, potato
inspection and the new warehouse being
built TO store the certified seed potatoes
which. with apples, constitute the out
lput Of this farm.
The discussion certainly covered a
wide range Of interests and was typical
of this farm home group.
This story can begin las all good
stories should with, Once upon a
time" for properly to start it, we must
go back some ten years to the time
when Mr.. and Mrs. Dimock first be-
gan farming in Vermont.
Before they started their work on
this farm near East Corinth, VT. Wr
Dimock had been magazine writer
and illustrator and Mrs Dimock had
taught in Simmons college in Boston
and had been active in nome economies
extension work in Vermont and New
York. Neither one Of them had expe-
rience which would fl them for farm
ing but both had real love for the
soil, a deep determination to succeed
and plenty of wide-awake intelligence.
Mr.. Dimock said that his lack of expe
rience was in one way nm asset for it
made him absolutely open minded and
entirely receptive to modern ideas and
methods. There was nothing To I'M
learn and this was, in itself, some
thing Of an advantage
The Dimock orchards lie in narrow
valley of the Vermont hills The near
est railroad station Is Bradford. From
here i is drive of about eight miles,
winding constantly up and up and in
and out among the hills, until final
steep climb brings one out into the mar
row valley where the farm lies.
II was fall when ! was there---i Just
the time when the hills, as far al one
could see, were clothed in their most
gorgeous autumn colors. From the top
of the hill enc could see fur down the |
valley; across the hills on the far SIDE |
lay range after range of hills with the |
blue haze of Indian summer softening |
their outlines; on the slope of the hill |
near the house stood huge maple
which was a perfect blaze Of color. II
seemed rs though, at night, this manls
must light up the whole valley like
magnificent torch.
The principal products cf the Dimork
orchards farm are apples and certified
seed potatoes. The orchards lie on the
slopes of the hills and the one field of
potatoes which is on the home farm.
lies al the top Of the hill opposite the
house. When the present owners bought |
hundred trees in them but they were
Did and had been allowed TO run down
Now there are some three thousand
trees on the place, five hundred old
trees, five hundred just coming into
bearing and about two thousand very
young trees. They aim eventually, to |
nave about four thousand more.
For more than three years. the work
IN the Dimock farm has been done
argely by girls who are interested in
he actual production end of farm life. .
They call themselves farmercttes. The
armerette idea started during the war :
when our men were on 1the other side. =
rhe first group of girls or this farm
we're secured through the Womsn's
and Army of America. There has been 7
10 reason for regret as 10 this expert ?
nent and il promises TO become n
permanent feature.
Through their desire 70 give a prac-
zeal opportunity to girls who see ?
cal profession for themselves in agri
ulture. Mr. and Mrs Dimock hrse 6
oworkers Several Of the wartime p
roup are still with them and are be- n
ng installed as responsible heads Of =
arious departments Of the farm work. D
he young women have taken over the
rust committed to them with a vim a
nd almost proprietary interest in V
be success of the farm 50
Mildred Smith, who has charge of h
marketing the apples. ia young coll
&c woman who studied at Chicago uni =
ersity and the University Of Wiscon. 81
N. with q supplementary short course -
agriculture at the Massachusetts, Ag- II
cultural college Last winter, during I
re months when she vas not needed Is
/ the Dimock orchards, she was IN q
large of a small herd of pure-bred q
I'VE on a dairy farm near New York GO
ity. ID
Elizabeth Lawrence Clark, who has ST
large Of the inspection OF the potato
Ids. comes very directly TO her I'M IN
'rstanding Of potato health and dis e
Sc for her father is professor emer- th
ne of biology at Williams college. DO
MAY Cohn is Western Unioh oper- OF
or in New York City. who, for three er
'ars. has spent her vacations at DIM sp
K orchards. m
Ruth Gates. whose home is in Yer IA
ont. not many rifles from Dimock as
chards. has always liN.-d on farm. he
'r six years, she and a sister have 81
II.