840 



VERMONT. 



V 



VERMONT. The term of office of the Gov- 

 ernor, Redfield R. Proctor, expires in 1880. 

 The other State officers are as follows : Lieu- 

 tenant-Governor, Eben P. Colton ; State Trea- 

 surer, John A. Page ; Secretary of State, George 

 Nichols; Deputy Secretary of State, Charles 

 "W. Porter ; Auditor of Accounts, E. H. Pow- 

 ell ; Sergeant-at-Arms, T. 0. Phinney ; Inspect- 

 or of Finance, William H. Dubois. All these 

 officers were elected on the Republican ticket. 

 The representatives of the State in the United 

 States Senate are George F. Edmunds, whose 

 term expires in 1881, and Justin S. Morrill, 

 whose term expires in 1885. The Legislature 

 is divided between the political parties in the 

 following proportions : Senate Republicans 

 29, Democrat 1 ; House Republicans 175, 

 Democrats 43, Nationals 9, Independents 5. 



There was on hand in the State Treasury on 

 the 1st of August the sum of $68,750.39, with 

 liabilities of $206,136.95. Of the latter $135,- 

 500 consisted of the Agricultural College fund, 

 due in 1891. The ordinary expenses paid dur- 

 ing the year were $451,841.33; and in addi- 

 tion a temporary loan of $125,000 was paid 

 and bonds of the State to the amount of $36,- 

 000. There remained outstanding, besides the 

 Agricultural College fund, State bonds to the 

 amount of $4,000, 'on which interest ceased 

 December 1, 1876. Court expenses form $102,- 

 446.73 of the sum expended, being less by about 

 $10,000 than those of each of the two preced- 

 ing years. 



The decennial increase in the population of 

 the State for eighty years has been as follows : 



In answer to questions asked him by farm- 

 ers in the Dairymen's Association with regard 

 to the effect on the freight- rates on their com- 

 petition with Western produce, ex-Governor 

 Smith stated that although Western butter 

 comes at very low rates from Chicago east- 

 ward, it pays as heavy a freight before reach- 

 ing that city as Vermont butter pays in going 

 to Boston. He declared that local freights had 

 not been advanced on the Eastern lines to make 

 up for losses on through freights. Local freights 

 on the roads passing through Vermont are 

 nevertheless reported to have been raised in 

 the course of several years, whatever the mo- 

 tive may have been. The number of different 

 lines to which freight must be transferred in 



going to market is supposed to work unfavor- 

 ably for Vermont producers ; and the consol- 

 idation of the different main lines passing 

 through the State under a single management 

 is spoken of as a measure which would enable 

 them to compete in fruits and other produce 

 in the Boston market. Governor Smith has 

 attempted to consolidate different roads by 

 leasing, but without success. 



Some statistics as to the relative cost and 

 profits of farming in Vermont and- in the West 

 have been collected by Professor Dale. In 

 the Government report for 1877 the yield of 

 Indian corn per acre, value per bushel, and 

 value of the crop per acre were given for the 

 below enumerated States as follows : 



The cost of cultivation in Vermont per acre 

 is as follows : Plowing and harrowing, $2 ; 

 manure, $10; planting, $1.50; cultivating and 

 hoeing, $5 ; cutting and harvesting, $5 ; husk- 

 ing, $2.25; in all, $25.75, to which must be 

 added $3 for interest on land, making $28.- 

 75. To the value of the corn-crop $15 per 

 acre is to be added for the value of the stalks 

 for fodder, making the total value of the har- 

 vest $45.13 per acre. The profit per acre in 

 Vermont is thus $16.38. In Kansas the cost 

 of cultivation on stubble-land is as follows: 

 Plowing, $1 ; planting, 20 cents ; cultivating, 

 $1.60 ; husking, $1.25 ; interest on the land, 

 $1 ; total, $4.95. Deducting this from the 

 value of the crop, $7.37, there remains a profit 

 of $2.62. The value of the stalks in Kansas 

 does not more than market the corn, if it does 

 that. Land fenced and under cultivation is reck- 

 oned worth $12 an acre, a low estimate. What 

 is true of Kansas is true of Iowa. In Michigan 

 the cost of producing is nearly the same, ex- 

 cept that the land is held at a much higher 

 value, and manure is frequently used. The 

 cost of cultivation is probably $9.25; value of 

 crop, $12.09; profit, $2.84. If these estimates 

 are correct, an acre of corn in Vermont will 

 pay 20 per cent, profit, in Kansas 15, and in 

 Michigan not quite 3 per cent. In the older 

 of the Western States the average yield of corn 

 has decreased 20 per cent, in the last fifteen 

 years. In estimating the cost of manure in Ver- 

 mont, the amount is taken at what it would 

 cost to restore to the soil the phosphoric acid, 

 potash, and nitrogen taken from it by the grain- 

 crop alone, supposing the stalks to be fed or 

 used upon the ground. Nitrogen is valued at 



