The Portland daily press., 1869-07-22
ernss $500 per annssns, In adrance.

observer and thereby avoid both extremes.
Had Observer" stated what bis own cbser-
vation must have shown him to be correct,
no variance could have occurred; and state
ments made, and inferences drawn, manifest
ly so erroneous and incorrect, afford the only
excuse for replying.
l would not, however, be understood to
harbor any feeling of resentment because he
attempts to place the advantage" of Maine
(my native State) in as favorable light as
possible flor acknowledge the necessity;
but such ideas in regard to this State, as have
been furnished you by your correspondent,
are decidedly unpopular with the Minneso-
tians whether former residents of Maine or
not,) and will not ego down." I do not write
rearing that the great tidal wave of emigra-
ton now setting so strongly towasd this great
wheat-growing district of the Northwest
will be stayed by any such naked assertion as
he has made; for its advantages are too
widely known.
In stating the everage yield of wheat per
acre to be 1872 bushels, he had stated what
any one must see is not the fact. BY turning
to his own statement in regard to Mr.. Dal-
rymple's farm (1700 acres of which are sown
to wheat) which he says raised in 1867,
ZOO, and in 1868, $4,000 bushels of wheat,
you viii see that, instead of being 12.2, in this
instance it exceeds 20 bushels to the acre.
This farm cannot be said to produce above
common yield; for instead of being "among
the best cultivated wheat lands" of the State,
1t can hardly be considered as average in fer
tility and productiveness.i
While his farm is producing little upwards
of 20 bushels per acre, hundreds of others,
being smaller, better managed, and the crops
more prudently harvested, produce nearly,
and frequently not less than 80 bushels to the
acre,-one acre of which is more than one
farmer in ten in Maine has raised, during any
one season, for the past ten years.
At is query with me, why, If New Eng
land is the best wheat growing section in the
Union, so much flour is annually shipped
thither, and bought by the farmers there at
thrice its value here. If you will take the
trouble to visit the State, will undertake to
show you in one days time the farms of fifty
different men, within as many miles of this
place, now worth not less than from Is 900 to
$4,000 dollars, which they have accumulated
principally by wheat raising, who came to this
State from fifteen to twenty years ago with
scarcely dime. That, readers Of the Press,
must be the "somewhat dark cloud" that
"observer" must have seen, If he has really
ever been in Minnesota. passed last winter
in this State and pleasanter one never ex-
perienced in Maine. At no time was the snow
of greater depth than two feet at this point.
sItis the almost universal feeling here that
there win have to be very great deteriora-
tion of the soil,-much more than will ever
be likely to take place under the excellent
management to which it is subjected, before
people viii be as anxious to leave as they
were to come.
| have already been even more lengthy than
intended, and will close by saying that,
should this letter deter some from leaving
Maine for Minnesota, / am confident, on
hearing the remarks ELECTED from those who
have read them here, that they win induce no
one to return. A.P.B.