Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1883-09-18
FIT. FAIRFIELD. M Son, ,. ,0a.

| "no thursday, Sept 9Th
anu otn, excursion tickets to Aroo.,ook
Pcounty and return were sold at all stations -,
.he oaine Central railroad west of Vance.
ms was on the occasion of the first
, ~ 'nree excursions to the county this fall
nese tickets were purchasable at very low
oeing sold at about half the regular
'a; Anont 100 people from central and
southern Maine availed themselves of hi.
opportunity to visit the county. and ans
them was the writer, who went from A.
Ia Many of the excur-ionists from Auous-
"a took the Yankee" on the evening of
the otn, but the majority went by the phil
man on Thursday morning The former
reached their destination about ten
hours earlier than the latter.
we took the Pullman, leaving the Capital
city shortly after O'Clock A. ". arriving in
Bangor at $50 A. NJ. Here all changed car.
anu at o-oo we started out from the Bangor
station ana sped away towards the land of tl,,
niuehoses. From Bangor to Oldtown we pass
through fine farming territory but after Ieay-
ing the latter town. the country is almost a
wilderness and but for an occasional Pam.
let found at intervals it would be drearv
place indeed. All there could be seen for
miles and miles each side of the track
4 were ghostly stubs of dead tree. and a waste
OF tangled underbrush, intermixed with sec
/ ono growth evergreen tree-. The hand of
the lumberman is manifest in every direc
ton which, taken in consideration with the fact
tiiat almost every season extensive forest
fires prevail, killing young growing trees, ac-
| counts for the abandoned look which the
country wears. About noon the train bowles
into the Vanceboro station. Here changing
| cars, we soon become aware that we were in
the Queens Dominion. The people appear
| ultferentlV tbpir
bespeak that they are not Americans The
route from Vanceboro to Fort Fairfield is a
circuitous one. Between McAdam Junction
and Canterbury the traveller passes through
a most desolate region. Here is stretch of
20 miles and not dwelling house even is
met with for the entire distance. 1t is MOTH
ing but a wild waste of rocks, stumps and
stubs with occasionally few evergreen
trees and patches of hardwood forest thrown
| in.
| Woodstock appears to be thriving village
and Is very prettily located on
the ST. John river. From Wood.
stock special train was run for the benefit
of the excursioBists. Otherwise we should
have been obliged to remain over night at
that place. From Woodstock to Amesbury
the railroad follows the st. John. The
scenery along the river is exceedingly pictur-
esque. Farms are numerous along its banks
and much of the land is cleared. After cross
Ing the St. John at Amesbury we pass up the
AroOstook river and at s O'Clock p. NJ. reach
Fort Fairfield, where goodly number of ex-
cursionists stop off, ourselves among the rest.
We stop over night at the Collins House
which proves TO be very well kept hotel,
and the next morning strolled out to get a
glimpse of the place. We found Fit Fair
field to be a smart and growing little village.
| ls ted M he RI oh han of fhe
took river, and boasts of a hotel, a dozen
stores. and several churches all of which are
| located on one street, strewed along perhaps
| for distance of half mile. We climbt d
hill back of the village and fell in with far
mer living on the hill, who said he was the
second white child born in the town. He
took us into his potato field and showed us
what Aroostook soil can do. About noon we
| took team and drove out about five miles on
the east road to the residence of Mr.. W. p.
Varney, where we made our home during
our stay in the county, and we cannot speak
too highly of his hospitality. Mr. Varney
is one of the best farmers in that section. as
his broad and well kept acres and well filled
barns attest He and his estimable wife went
to FIT. Fairfield from Kennebec county some
20 years ago, and through perseverance and
| hard work hewed out home and farm from
the then unbroken forest.
Aroostook county has APPLY been termed
THE garden of Maine" We would go
further and designate it as the garden of
New England. Indeed no other such farm
ing land can be found within the limits of the
Eastern States. The most fertile lands here
are rolling oftentimes almost level In places
the surface is brok en. although on the hills the
lands are o:tentimes very rich yet they do not
! appear to be as valuable as the low lands
! The soil Is of limestone formation and
settlers say il is composed almost entirely of
decomposed limestone. a ledge of which Can
always be I, und at depth of from to S
feet. Occasionally this ledge crops out
The land is almost entirely free fromSstCne
and stonewalls which are com
mon in Southern and Central Maine
are never seen. The best land
lays in the valley of the Aroostook river, and
Presqus Isle, Caribou, Maysville aud Fort
Fairfield have the reputation OF being the
best farming TOW rs in the county.
The soil is extremely productive. more so,
taken as whole, than any we ever before
saw. 1t seems well-nigh inc Nhaustible. After
| the land is once cleared and burned, 1t is
cropped again and again without apparently
Diet, riorating in quality. Yet We think that
| it is mistaken idea that this land will al
WAYS hold its fertility, and it seems like bad
policy for the farmer to allow his dressing.
| as is often the case. to lie around the Darn
ward and go to waste, bleached by rains and
dccomposed by the air. Indeed, many set
| tiers are at a loss what to do with their dress
| ing, and we hear of one who's built his barn
over brook SO that he might handily dis
pose of it.
Aroostook county crops have yielded abun
dainty this year. The potato digging season
commenced the second week in September
and is very busy time with the Aroostook
farmer. Eight and ten acre fields eff potatoes
are very common and few farmers have less
than five acres. In the town of Easton we
saw one 80 acre field of the tubers. Very
little hard work is done except when dig
ging. The planting and hoeing is lone al
most exclusively with horse hoe, the search
ty of rocks admitting this. During the dig
! riny season laborers are in great demand
Verv few American laborers are found, near
iy all being French. The potato crop is not
quite up TO the average in quantity this year,
the rust having struck the vines before they
had got their growth. The tubers are
| marketed for the most part at
the starch factories. The grower
realizes - cents a bushel for his tubers de
livered at the factories just as they are pick
ed up in the field. This is as much or more
= = Sol aud h..