The Waterbury Democrat., 1937-08-25
.M Picturesque Vermont Mrs. Nellie Badger, Democrats Wolcott Core spondent, Writes of Interesting Visit, of Sugar
 Orchards, Farm Problems, Wagon Trails.

Mrs. Nellie Thomas Badger, Wa terbury's Democrat correspondent in the town of Wolcott and wife of former State Representative Claude V. Badger Is vacationing in Vermont. Enthusiastically im- pressed by the scenic beauty of the state she has called upon her reliable typewriter in an effort to record some of her impressions for her many friends in Wolcott and Waterbury. The country she describes Is familiar to many To- cal autoists. She notes among many interesting things that ver- mont farmers have not pride in their land as Connecticut farm CTS. He has one grievance iN common, however. It Is the price of milk produced.
 Mrs. Badgers letter to friend reads as follows:
 Hyde Park, Vt.
 Aug. 25, 1887.
 As you know l am vacationing In Vermont. Have been up here eight weeks. and am just as en- thusiastic over the scenery as when we first arrived. Vermont is state of serene and majestic beauty. We are located on what the neighbors call 6 back in" farm, that Is farm of the main highway, about forty miles south of the Canadian border. We are located at the head of valley about ten miles wide and which extends south almost to the Massachusetts state line. AL though in a valley we have an altitude here of about 22O00 feet. Surrounding us in all directions are the different ranges of the Green Mountains. Through the valley and along the lower slopes of the mountains are scattered the farms with their vast ex- panses of pasture and meadow land, their wood lot of spruce and fir and their groves of maple, or sugar orchard or bush as they are called here. We had an interest 2 ing visit to one of these sugar orchards. We were in search of some maplesugar cakes to take home to the grandchildren and were directed to this special farm. We started along one of the back roads which was bad enough to begin with and kept growing worse. We travelled several miles through ruts with grass growing it1I the middle of the road, At last we abruptly came. to a beautiful well kept farm, with painted : buildings, which are the excep- ton rather than the. rule in-.this section of the state. We were met at the door by a young woman modishly dressed as to gown and hair. Upon learning our errand and the fact that we were inter- ested in the making of maple sugar, she led US to the orchard and the sugar house, where we were shown the equipment and the method for making maple sugar and syrup. This particular orchard has Q grove of 200O trees and 1925 sap pals are set each spring. As they figure on SO cents profit from each tree this brings in quite a nice income from this source alone. .Jf tt
 Dairying is the principle indus try Of this section of the state, so that the greater portion of the farm is set aside for meadow and pasture land. The farm which we have. which is a small one, has one meadow of over 35 acres. while a neighbor has pasture that includes over 75 acres. The average herd kept Is 20, while of course many are larger. The farmer in Vermont, like the farmer in Connecticut, Is dissatisfied with the price he Is receiving for milk produced. I be- lieye, however. the price received here Is slightly higher than in Connecticut, the farmer here hay ing recently received 8 small in- { crease. While around Waterbury the small farmer carries his milk to the milk depot or distributor, here a community truck gathers the cans and takes them to the Farmers Cooperative association, which has plants located at va rious convenient points.
 The Vermont farmer does not take the pride in the upkeep of his buildings and surroundings as does, the Connecticut farmer. Here the majority are unpainted buildings sadly in need of repair. And yet lumber in. this section is remarkably low in price as com pared with that of Connecticut. For instance, the house in which we are living has six rooms on the first floor. large unfinished attic but which is entirely fioored with good pine flooring: the rooms downstairs are all well plastered and four of them have narrow maple floors. Under all is "a cellar of about seven and d half feet, attached to tho house is a large