The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1877-08-30

When people outside of Maine think of
Aroostook, they think it is a solid agricul-
tural addition to the State because it is
practically a new discovery. Bat precise
ly the same discovery is capable of being
made all over the State. The whole
secret consists in the application OF scien-
tltc knowledge to the old methods, which
will be equal to their thorough removal
ton. ON the great farming belt that
skirts the coast, which is specially adapt
ed to the sheep range like the famous
downs OF England, the problem Of the
utilization of the menhaden and herring
fishery products is one of great moment.
opening To view as it does 4 mine of
wealth for the agriculture of the State
With the Well-knoWn fish scrap that is to
be had in increasing abundance in the
coast counties Il degree OF productiNeness
MAY be attained which cannot be sur
passed by the llse ot all the foreign tclti-
llZerS known.
Farther inland, the more strictly dairy
ing belt stretches across the State Il
region diversified in the most picturesque
manner with hill, valley and stream
where butter making might become one
OF the most profitable specialties, and the
cheese factory system which has already
taken such firm root may yet expand to
proportions of extraordinary magnitude,
leading to Il direct export trade that
would enrich the present occupants and
owners of the land in those counties
Mutton 1Or the lower belt, and butter and
cheese for the upper one, with cattle,
horses, hay, eggs, and the other varied
products OF cnterprislng farming added
thereto, would altogether constitute such
a body and bulk of agricultural products
rs would enrich the State that boasted of
them. Soil and climate are propitiotls
the rest must come from the mode Of
farming itself
one of the best symptoms in relation to
the farming in Maine is, that at present
there Is Il return To the farms which have
been deserted, and an infusion of fresh
life into the management Of those which
have suffered from neglect. Farmers feel
the spirit of the age, as it is called, equal
ly with other classes in the great indus
trial community. Let a strong breeze of
enterprise once set in across Il farming
territory, and it Influences the whole
country thereabOutS to engage in a new
activity. one and another suddenly shows
an eager desire for more facts : the study
OF particular subjects connected with
farming is stimulated : farmers clubs
spring up all around; agriculture drives
politics out OF the current talk and dis
cusslon; methods, and economies, and
experiments, and markets are debated
one after another with a singular Zest,
until the result becomes visible ut last in
the hrt1klnT nt 4 ia
agriculture everywhere.
Taking these two great leading speci-
alities as the ones to which Maine farmers
design to devote their means and energy
III the differentiation and dairying, -
and the State will become as famous in
that line as Vermont has become for its
fine Wooled sheep and its all l-work horses.
The specially is what gives the stamp to
the man and the State. The scatteratiOn
policy belongs to the rude times, before
civilization was sufficiently organized bv
compact settlements to allow cultivators
to choose one branch when 50 many
pressed for an equal share OF attention.
Maine has an agricultural wealth in her
hands which her sister States, not so
tavorably situated, may well envy her
Now the evidences are happily multiplying
that she has rightly comprehended her
resources and conceived the value of her
opportunity. The future dawns on her
like the sun from over the sea.
The increasing activity of thought that
| perNades the farming community of Maine
contains within itself the most tlattering
| promises. Not that it is in danger of 60
ing either too fast or too far but that it
is ii vital fact full of signihcation. The
willingness to compare method with meth
cd, and result with result, augurs well for
the future. 1t is great deal accomplished
when the barriers of custom are lowered
far enough to permit the visits of Oppos-
| ing ideas and theories. Experiment is
the child Of enterprise, and in no calling
more prominently than in that of farming
when men do not advance as they feel
that they ought under the old ways, it is
a hint of the broadest kind that it is time
for them to change their ways. Maine,
with long line of front on the sea is just
as capable of bringing up her agriculture
to high standard as England was. She
has but to study her soil and situation
calculate the results commercially, and
go to work on settled system. Mass.
| PlOughman