The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1871-10-10

Farming i'm ArOOsteok.

Il 4
larry of Maine the present season. Once
through the woods" the empty barns so gem
raj the present year. no longer appear, but
n the other hand they are filled, and as you
o north ward the fullness assumes repletion
hat appears in more or less stacks outside
throughout the country all kinds of crops ex-
ept corn were good, and many unusually SO.
n the Southern part the hay crop was COM
'aratively light, but in no respect such a fail
IRE as in some sections of State. About |
Presque Isle and Fort Fairfield the hay crop |
g unusually good. Two weeks since the best |
Of hay could be bought IN that section for $40 |
per ton, and dIover informed us that it had |
been offered to him by the barn full for So. |
In the vicinity of Houlton, when pressed, it |
is worth at least double the latter sum and
more, the railroad to this point tending to
greatly increase both the price and demand
Grain crops of all kinds are unusually
heavy throughout the State. From what we
IAN learn by inquiries in various direction
the county never harvested such magnificent
crops OF oats, potatoes and buckwhaaJ as the
present year. We have no doupt that wheat
might have been added to this lis. The oat
crop is the leading one in the northern part
OF the county or above Houlton. 1t has been
the leading crop of the county for years, since
oats have taken the place of corn as the feed
for teams in the lumber woods brought about
principally by the almost entire substitution
of heavy horses for oxen both in lumpering
operations and on the farms. The farmers OF
Aroostook use less ioxen than the same num-
Der in Kennebec, but in heavy draft horses
they far exceed any portion of the State.
The yield of oats, particularly in the newer
parts, is very large, averaging from 40 to 90
bushels to the acre, but in the older portions
the quantity is somewhst less. To give some
idea of the state of this crop, it only need be
stated that there are dozen or f1fte0 farm
ers in Presque Isle that will average thou
sand bushels each while several of the mum
Der will reach twice or three times that
amount Mr.. Collins OF Bridgewater raised
5000 bushels. Mr.. James Doyle in the town
of Lyndon sowed over one hundred acres
which promise to afford 5000 bushels. In
~, l
be sowed after the time is past for other crops,
does not impoverish the soil and is an excel
lent substitute tor the fattening of swine and
store cattle. In the years of short wheat ii
was used extensively to supplement- or en-
tirely take the place of that grain Tor bread,
and in some sections it is still extensively
used. 1t is one of those substitutes that we
prefer to the original. There are no mills for
its. proper grinding outside of Aroostook
county that we know Of The wheat crop
has uniformly been good in Aroostook for
number of years. Last year the average per
acre was over twenty bushels, which is sew
eral bushels higher than the average of the
great wheat-growing States of the West. In
the culture of potatoes, the Aroostook coun-
try can safely challenge the whole of New
England. 1t is rare indeed that there
has been cash market for potatoes in any
part OF Aroostook, while usually in the whole
county and particularly in the vicinity OF
Presque Isle, the crop has been considered OF
no value comparatively. The extension of a
branch of the st. Andrews Railroad to Houl
ton made that point a market last year, anG
farmers could hardly believe their senses in
handling sixty cents in lawful money as the
price OF bushel of potatoes. This has slim.
ulated the production in the vicinity of Houl.
ton and the result is one of the finest crops
of potatoes ever raised in Maine. We never
saw so many and so fine potatoes as are now
being put into cellars by. tens OF thousands
OF bushels. The average yield of whole fields
is from $50 to 375 bushels per acre. Three
brothers in LinIeus, farming side by side,
will have nearly ten thousand bushels, and ii
| is not at all unusual for farmers to have a
thousand or twelve hundred bushels. Some
parties from the western part of the State
are locating a starch factory at Caribou
and we cannot see why half dozen, one al
Presque Isle, Ashland, Fort Fairfield, Bridge
water, Houlton and other points would moi
| prove excellent investments so long as pota
| toesIby. the carloads can be bought for 80, 81
and 40 cents a bushel. Here in Houltor
oats retail at present f0r nfty cents a Dushel
buckwheat -four at So to So so per hundred
pounds, potatoes bring about 30 to 80 cents
and flour is about dollar higher per barre
| for the same grades than in Portland. The
traders are paying about 81 cents in goods
for butter, and for extra lots 80 cents. Sc
much for the crops the present year, but it
may be added that for a number of years it
is no exception in this respect.
In the department of stock raising, only in
some direction does the Aroostook excel. In
raising heavy horses the county excels. OF
late some of the best breeds known in the old
er portions have been introduced and alread,
at fancy figures. Quite a number of mules
have been raised the past few years but the
Maine H. arket does not offer very extensive
field in this direction. We saw some fine
specimens. In the excellence and number
of sheep some parts of the county is remarka.
BILE. The long wool varieties are generally
raised The sheep are of unusual size and
the wool is now the highest in the market
For this excellence, the people of Aroostook
are under obligation to Hon. Mr.. Perley OF
Woodstock N. B. and other Provincial
gentlemen who have spent large amounts in
the importation of the best varieties, of sheep
and otherwise improving the breeds. More
than ten thousand sheep will be driven out OF
Aroostook the present fall The Aroostook
farmers as general thing have given little OF
no attention to the breeding of neat stock.
To be sure, farmers here have large stocks OF
cattle and make large sales annually, but the
stock will not compare favorably with that OF
the better portions of the State, But the at
tention of the better class of farmers is now
turning to this tier, and in various parts of
the county one will meet with as fine grade
Dnrhams and as fine cattle that show.
Hereford and Ayrshire blood as elsewhere
The county has all the conditions for stock
raising and successful dairyng thatihave rem
dered- Northern Vermont so justly famous.
Fruit culture has not had that attention from
Aroostook farmers that it has deserved but
nowhere in Maine have we seen finer apples
and plums or trees so well fruited the present
season. Many failures have been made in US
Jag trees and varieties not adapted to the eli
and soil but experience at this price has been
valuable. 1t had been found that most anv
of the more valuable varieties of apples suc.
coed finely when grated into some hardy
stock like the Siberian crab apple. 9i-
1t has been frequently urged and is gener-
ally believed that the seasons are much short.
er in Aroostook than in other parts of the
State. When We consider that the ground
seldom freezes here as it does near the sea.
and chat the ground is ready for the seed as