VOL.  LI.  No  2208. 
NEW  YORK,  MAY  21,  1892. 
PRICE,  FIVE  CENTS. 
$2.00  PER  YEAR. 
A  Vermont  Dairy  Farm. 
A  PROGRESSIVE  NEW  ENGLAND  FARM. 
The  general  impression  in  other  States  in  regard  to 
New  England  farms  and  farmers  is  that  the  former 
are  small  and  exhausted,  and  the  latter  men  of  little 
energy,  or  business  capacity.  New  England  writers, 
particularly  those  of  the  literary  class,  are  chiefly  to 
be  credited  with  inducing  this  delusive  conception 
abroad.  The  Yankee  farmer  of  the  average  tale- 
writer,  from  Mrs.  Stowe  downward  to  the  last  scrib¬ 
bler  for  the  “  story  column,”  is  in  reality  either  a 
myth,  or  a  survival  from  a  long-past  era.  If  seen  at 
all,  it  is  in  the  “back  settlements.”  It  is  quite  safe 
to  declare  as  a  truth  that  no  where  in  America  are 
there  to  be  found  more  good  farms,  or  more  skillful 
farmers,  in  proportion  to  the  rural  population,  than 
in  New  England.  It  is  true  that  the  application  of 
scientific  principles  and  advanced  methods  (such  as  is 
seen  in  English  high  farming),  to  the  cultivation  of 
the  soil,  has  not  yet  made  very  great  progress  outside 
of  a  limited  circle  ;  but  the  necessity  for  improvement 
is  widely  felt,  and  the  crowds  of  men  and  women  who 
flock  to  the 
farmers’  meet- 
ings  —  from 
those  of  the 
club  or  the 
Grange,  to  the 
great  conven¬ 
tions  of  dairy¬ 
men,  or  stock- 
men — testify  to 
the  truth  of 
this  statement. 
The  farm  il- 
lust rated  at 
Fig.  155  is 
among  the  very 
earliest  ones 
opened  in  the 
settlement  o  f 
n  o  r  t  h-eastern 
Vermont.  The 
war  of  1812 
called  a  good 
many  men  from 
southern  New 
England  up 
into  the  border 
country  ;  and 
the  accounts 
brought  back 
by  them  of  the 
vigorous  forest  growth,  and  the  prolific  character  of 
the  soil  around  Lake  Memphremagog,  had  the  effect 
of  stimulating  its  rapid  settlement — mostly  from  west¬ 
ern  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut.  The  Connecticut 
River  was  ascended  by  immigrants  to  the  mouth  of 
the  Passumpsic  ;  and  the  latter  and  its  tributaries  fol¬ 
lowed  very  nearly  to  the  divide  ;  from  the  hills  of 
which  Memphremagog  is  in  full  view.  The  immediate 
neighborhood  of  the  lake,  and  the  flat  lands  around 
its  head,  were  heavily  forested  with  giant  pines,  the 
stumps  of  some  of  which  may  still  be  seen  by  our  road¬ 
sides.  But  a  short  distance  to  the  eastward,  after 
ascending  from  this  littoral  plain,  there  was  presented 
a  broad  territory  of  magnificent  hardwood  forests, 
dotted  with  small  lakes,  and  watered  by  sparkling 
trout  brooks,  gathering  in  from  the  hills  to  form  the 
beautiful  river  Clyde — not  inferior  in  romantic  scenery 
to  its  Scottish  namesake. 
“Clydeside” — a  few  of  the  farm  buildings,  and  some 
of  the  stock  of  which  are  shown  at  Fig.  155 — consists 
of  a  territory  of  650  acres,  the  arable  portion  of  which 
was  first  subjected  to  cultivation  in  the  first  decade  of 
this  century  by  Benjamin  Hinman,  and  it  has  since 
descended  in  regular  succession  to  the  wife  of  the 
present  owner,  Major  Josiah  Grout,  who  has  purchased 
the  rights  of  the  other  heirs.  The  major  is  a  farmer’s 
son,  and  an  honored  veteran  of  the  war  for  the  Union. 
He  is  also  an  enthusiastic  agriculturist,  and  if  his 
neighbors  have  persisted  in  sending  him  to  represent 
them  for  so  many  years  in  the  State  legislature  as  to 
cause  his  repeated  elevation  to ,  the  Speakership,  and 
the  frequent  suggestion  01  his  name  for  the  Governor¬ 
ship,  it  certain’y  cannot  be  looked  upon  as  a  fault  in 
him.  Well  advanced  in  middle  age,  he  has  held  no 
self-solicited  preferment,  and  his  personal  choice  is, 
I  am  sure,  to  be  left  to  pursue  his  farm  work,  and 
carry  out  his  carefully  studied  plans  for  the  develop¬ 
ment  of  his  broad  acres  of  arable  pasturage  and  forest 
territory. 
One  hundred  and  five  of  these  acres  are  under  the 
plow — much  the  larger  part  in  one  great  level  field  in 
the  rear  of  the  dwelling-house,  which  stands  on  the 
main  street  of  the  village  of  Derby  Center.  Four  hun¬ 
dred  and  twenty-five  acres  are  in  pasture,  and  100  in 
woodland.  On  the  latter  are  found  fully  4,000  sugar, 
maples,  of  which  2,500  are  utilized  in  the  production,! 
by  the  most  approved  methods,  of  over  6,000  pounds 
of  choice  sugar  each  spring.  The  hay  harvest  aver¬ 
ages  200  tons  yearly,  of  the  choicest  quality.  Twenty- 
five  acres  are  annually  planted  to  corn  for  feeding, 
yielding  from  150  to  175  tons  of  dry  fodder.  A  portion 
of  this  goes  into  silos  ;  but  the  greater  part  is  drawn 
in  from  the  field,  cut,  steamed,  and  fed  out  to  the 
cows  in  milk.  The  yielding  capacity  of  this  farm  in¬ 
creases  continuously,  and  is  now  several  times  more 
than  it  was  10  years  ago.  The  pastures,  also,  have 
been  greatly  improved  by  the  extermination  of  weeds, 
thistles  and  bushes,  and  under  a  systematized  grazing, 
which  is  neither  too  close  nor  too  slight. 
Seventy  cows — all  registered  A.  J.  C.  C.,  or  grades — 
are  kept  for  butter,  ranging  from  heifers  about  to  come 
in,  to  old  cows  to  be  soon  eliminated  from  the  herd. 
Allowing  for  heifers,  the  going-out  and  coming-in 
periods,  and  removals,  50  may  be  given  as  the  average 
constantly  in  milk.  At  their  head  are  the  two  regis¬ 
tered  Jersey  bulls  seen  at  Fig.  156,  page  330.  The  but¬ 
ter  product  for  the  past  year  was  12,000  pounds,  an 
average  of  240  pounds  to  each  cow  above  four  years  of 
age— two  two-years  old  or  1%  three  years  old,  being 
counted  as  one,  The  butter  is  made  by  the  Cooley 
system,  and  the  churn,  as  well  as  other  farm  ma¬ 
chinery,  is  operated  by  a  steam  engine  of  six  horse 
power. 
About  30  hogs  are  kept  to  consume  the  wastes  of 
the  dairy,  and  improve  the  manure.  About  20  of  the 
best  heifer  calves  are  raised  annually.  Forty  horses 
of  all  ages  are  kept,  the  aim  being  to  raise  good 
drivers.  There  is  also  a  flock  of  50  Shropshire  sheep. 
A  large  field  of  rutabagas  is  grown  and  fed  to  young 
stock,  or  cows  not  in  milk.  One  acre  of  potatoes  only 
was  grown  the  past  season,  yielding  fully  350  bushels. 
The  maple  sugar  is  put  up  in  tin  pails  or  cakes,  and 
marketed  West,  at  from  8  to  12  cents  a  pound.  New 
grass  sod  is  top-dressed,  either  with  manure  or  phos¬ 
phates,  with  good  results.  For  corn,  both  manure 
and  commercial  fertilizers  are  used.  Ashes  prove  to 
be  a  good  fertilizer  on  this  soil.  t.  h.  hoskins. 
Feeding  Cows  for  Butter. 
It  is  a  great  gain  to  be  able  to  count  the  Director  of 
the  Geneva  (N.  Y.)  Station  as  a  convert  to  the  belief 
that  the  fats  of  the  cow’s  food  do  go  to  make  butter 
and  that  foods 
rich  in  fat  are 
therefore  desir¬ 
able  for  this 
purpose.  This 
was  taught  in 
T  ir  e  Rural 
New-  Yorker 
many  years 
ago,  along  with 
the  other  fact 
that  the  fat 
globule  in  the 
milk  was  not 
enveloped  i  n 
any  covering  or 
pellicle  that 
rendered  its 
rupture  in  the 
process  of 
churning  nec¬ 
essary.  These 
views,  how¬ 
ever,  met  with 
severe  criticism 
by  some  of  the 
professors  a  t 
the  stations  up 
to  recent  date, 
but  now  they 
are  becoming 
generally  accepted.  It  is  with  much  pleasure  that  the 
confession  of  Dr.  Peter  Collier,  recently  made,  will  be 
received,  because  the  Geneva  Station  has  been  one  of 
the  most  pronounced  opponents  of  the  fact  so  fully 
proved  by  practical  dairymen,  who  have  based  their 
practice  of  feeding  upon  it.  And,  quoting  from  a  state¬ 
ment  by  the  Doctor,  to  the  effect  that  “I  am  of  the 
opinion  that  the  fat  of  milk  is  largely,  if  not  entirely, 
derived,  under  ordinary  circumstances,  from  the  fat 
present  in  the  food,”  all  concerned  may  now  take 
courage  and  base  their  practice  of  feeding  on  this 
reasonable  certainty,  choosing  such  foods  as  contain 
the  most  fat,  and  that  of  such  a  quality  as  will  produce 
the  best  kind  of  butter.  The  public  are  always  in¬ 
clined  to  give  more  credit  to  a  scientific  authority  than 
to  one  of  their  own  practical  habit,  and  thus  this 
authoritative  statement  by  Dr.  Collier  should  be  re¬ 
ceived  with  the  greatest  satisfaction.  H.  btewart. 
*  #  # 
E.  P.  Niles,  Veterinarian  of  the  Virginia  Station,  be¬ 
lieves  in  heroic  treatment  for  abortion.  He  says: 
All  cowb  tbat  have  aborted  are  no  longer  valuable  as  breeding  stock , 
and  should  therefore  be  beefed— a  practice  which  will  do  more  p) 
eradicate  the  ipalady  than  anything  else 
Buildings  on  the  Northern  Vermont  Dairy  Farm  of  Hon.  Josiah  Grout.  Fig.  155. 
