New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1849-04-14
NETWORK TRIBUNE.
The Rfata Of Maize.

.;on Of her soil yet we doubt whether one eighth
a has ever yet been touched by the plow. Long
.,.upendage of Massachusetts,, from which she
vn separated scarcely thirty years ago, her indus
rial pursuits are still in good part those Of young
colony. Laundering is the great business, not
merely of the wilderness but Of the cities, whose
more enterprsisg citizens own timber townships
on the head. waters Of the rivers, with saw-mills
farther down. with each his score or two Of woods
men chopping and hauling saw-logs in Winter
driving them down the streams in the Spring and
early Summer, perhaps saving, perhaps farming
q little, but more probably coasting from June TO
November, then loading up their pork, -four feed
&c and plunging afresh into the far woods, proba'
bly, not to see the face Of n woman or child again
till late next Spring, and of scarcely man save
each the members Of his own logging party IL
10 rugged and silent life
Nature has no. been partial to Maine Her
Spring is backward and stormy, her Summer orlei
and violent her earlier Autumn and Winter are
her best seasons The former is calm, bright and
gorgeous with the variegated beauty OF Its frost
stricken foliage the latter keen, pure, clear, and
exhilarating, with its ample robe DISTANCES white
and its ftful melody Of merry seigh-bells The
snow, which drifts and heaps in the roads of the
open, cultivated lands lies fixed and level in the
woods filing holes, covering logs, and, with the
ice that firmly bridges the streams, Offering ready
passage to teams where in softer seasons man
can barely make his way on foot. To the well
clad and fed ia view of its long evenings for recre-
s,ion and mental culture, Winter is perhaps the
most enjoyable season Of the year Except near
the coast and the chief towns, fuel is everywhere
abundant. and in general is not spared
Bat there are many drawbacks. Though far
less rough and broken than the residue Of New
England, much OF the soil is poor and more OF 1t
cold and heavy at bottom with many ezNeptions)
a still, sour, swampy clay whose general smooth
ness OF surface is its main recommendation
Combined with the shortness OF the genial season,
it renders the production Of Indian Corn and other
crops requiring months of hot weather very preca-
rous in the greater portion Of the State ifnot Who'll
" impracticable. The INN ediate valley OF the
Kennebec is the most considerable exception to
these general characteristics, aud this contains
some as good farming land as can be found any
where. SO in a less degree with others. The
neighborhood of Merry Meeting Bay where the
Androscoggin from the East mingles with the
Kennebec from the North, combines fertility of
soil with much natural beauty. Augusta, at the
extreme head Of tide ater in the Kennebec, has
fine site Watervile, tw enty mil - higher, is at
least equally fortunate; Bangor, the great metrop
oils of the lumber trade, on the Penobscot, is
agreeably though not picturesquely located and
the approach to Portland from the Bay is scarcely
surpassed in placid grandeur. There are few
mountains or cliffs in the settled portion of the
State, but profosion of smaller lakes and water
falls which are destined to prove mines OF wealth
the former as reservoirs for the mills and facto
ries which are yet to spring up around the latter
Thus at Gardiner q moderate stream called the
Cobbossee Creek descends into the Kennebec by
fall of 1870 feet in a mile, while the highest dam
sets back the water many miles through number
Of lakeets, one Of them ofseveral miles circumfer-
ence forming greater enduring water power than
we ever before saw on stream OF equal size and
especially on the very brink OF Underwater AT
Lewiston Falls 1.-THE present terminus OF the Rail
road from Portland intended to reach the st. Law
rencel on the Androscoggin, there is a magnificent
water.power, nearly equal to that at Lowell, and
far more cheaply made available; at Hollis, on the
chCO, IL hnOtucr-duu ~ Hcuiiy III o'ci tho ptotCs
When Maine shall have stripped herself of tim
Der and devoted her energies to pursuits less pre-
carious in their results and which give employ
ments to the whole industry of community, not
that Of its adult athletic males only, her progress
in arts, comfort population and wealth cannot fail
to be far more rapid than it has hitherto been.
Navigation has Of late been the most profitable
pursuit of her people. The great European Fa-
mine brought harvest Of gold to her navigators,
ship builders and ship-timbcrcuttersi tire Cali'or
MIA fever now affords them fresh opportunity to
sell old vessels for the cost of new ones and to
take freights at prices which clear ship in sin
gle voyage. Thus the shipping ports are prosper
Gus and active in the face of general unthrit and
depression.
Otherwise the last two years have borne hardly
upon Maine. The paralysis of Manufacturing pro
gress has depressed the prices OF lumber so low
that most Of those engaged in it have lost money;
the Wheat crop has been destroyed by the weevil.
and seems now to be given up as hopeless for the
future and more serious than this. the Potato-Rot
has, dealt her stunning blow Her soil and climate
are eminently adapted to the Potato, while the IN
Unity Of her streams. inlets, bays and other pas
sages accessible to the coasting craft which ply
thence to Boston aud New-York have rendered
their conveyance to market easy, expeditions and
cheap. With affair yield of Potatoes, Maine might
look down with compassion on the Wheat harvests
Of Illinois and Indiana. But three successive and
almost total failures of the Potato crop have
not only crippled her resources but clouded her
prospects, since her Winters are too long for
profitable competition in Stock-raislng with the
milder Southwest. her Summers too short for
Corn, her Wheat destroyed by weevil, and ex-
porting crop after crop Of Hay and Oats is
depicting process which would soon exhaust the
vieor Of any but the richest soils. Hence discon-
tent aud residences are now quite prevalent
among her people, thousands Of whom are to-day
turning wishial eyes California ard, whittier hun
drcds have gone and more are soon going. If they
had few spacious strong timber ships OF the first
grade in exchange for their light coasters, and
would promptly clear them for San Francisco
freighted with hous e-irsmes, plsnks. boards shin
giles and clap boards, they would probably realize
more gold than any band OF diggers on the sacra-