Eastern times. [volume] (Bath, Me.) 1846-1857, 1850-10-31


The Resources Of our own State.
The following article, from the National
Democrat, should be ''passed along" as re-
plete with good sense and valuable suggestions
HOMESTEAD AT HOME.
Any citizen Of the United States can pur-
chase a farm, of the State Of Maine, at the
nominal price Of fifty cents an acre, payable
in one, two, and three years, in work on the
highways. That is to say, any person can
! obtain OF the State, one or two hundred acres
! of land, and pay for it in work to the value
of half dollar for each acre the road to be
Of es much advantage to the person who per-
forms il, in making a road for his own use
and convenience as to the State. He IS,
however, required to improve his farm and
make it his home, and the homestead 10 the
value of $500 is exempted from attachment;
and in case of The decease Of the head Of the
family, it is secured 10 the widow and or
phans.
These are easy conditions, the next thing
to voting yourself a farm and the person
who goes farther to fare better, will, in all
human probability, be disappointed The
soil of those gift, 'dog-chep' lands, is rich
and fertile, and there is a better market near
to where they lie--the region of numbering
| operatons-for products of the farm than
any where else in the whole country. The
crops are as certain as 10 any part of New
England, and generally more abundant; la
Dor is as sure TO meet with good reward,
and the climate is as healthy as any where
else.
There is no finer or more impressive natu-
raj scenery in the world, than in the north.
ern and eastern portions OF Maine, which are
diversified with lofty mountains. smiling val
leys, noble rivers, expansive lakes, aud grand
old woods. There, the rising of the sun is
magnificent and gorgeous beyond descrip-
lion, and its departing gories are 'unuttera-
bly, beautiful There indeed man can hold
sweet communion with nature and lift up
his soul TO natures God.
There is no serious drawback 10 all this
but the long cold season, and Objectionable
as this may appear, it is a characteristic
which is as valuable rs il is striking. Ii i:
in fact indispensable, for without the Ions
winters, the numbering business could not b'
carried on to any advantage: and It is thi.
business which makes farming profitable
creating good home market for all the sur
plus agricultural products. To lumber, re
quires no. only climate cold enough Il
freeze up the swa,nps. lakes and rivers an
to keep them frozen, but sufficient quantit
of snow 10 make the rough places smooth
and long cold season. Nothing could b
more disadvantageous than an open or
short winter for The success of this great in
rerest, which ranks among the most impor
TAM interests of our Slate.
As to The effect of the long winters an,
short summers on agriculture, it is not b.
any means what many suppose. The sum
nrer is long enough for the full maturity o
all the principal crops OF New England. 4
failure is rare for The want Of sufficient tim
to grow. There are greater losses expert
enced in other quarters from The rot, rust an,
fly, than from the frost in this. Vegetation
is of very rapid growth, and the richness q
the unexhausted soil makes it very large an
the yield great. The transition from white
TO summer and from summer TO winter, j
very sudden. Almost as soon as the snow
melted, the plough can be put into tn
ground and vegetation starts. and the snoy
falls pretty soon after the ground freezes
The fall aud spring are next 10 nothing il
pretty much all summer and winter.
The intense cold which is so much dread
ed is much heightened by the imagination
People suffer more from cold in the cities
NtW tiluu tucN GO w Wndt ave Cul
ed The 'wilds Of Maine.' As all know VIII
have tried both situations, the cold is not fe
so much in the forests as in the open groun.
I The trees break the piercing winds whic
penetrate TO the marrow of The bones. TIL
cold in the county of Aroosiook is quite a
endurable as il is in the county of Cumber
land or the city of Portland.
Now why will Maine people go TO distan
) States TO seek their fortune when there arr
such induceme MS for them to stay at home
Those who have em'grared TO Caifornia
would have done better if they had gone Il
the northeastern part of Maine and .ccepte,
the liberal offer Of the State. For the sam,
money, labor and deprivation, they woul'
then have had more to show at the expira
ZION OF five years, than they will now. The,
would then have had homestead and healtl
without which, gold is but little more vaIua
bic than so much sand. The young met
would then have had families without which
life is ouly half enjoyed.