The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1883-09-20
Aroostook'S Resources.

Residents of this county twenty-five years ago
will remember the limited extent of farming.
and the slipshod manner in which the business
was conducted. The remarkable fertility of the
soil was known to all, and all that was wanting
to cause it to yield abundanty was Il market
for the surplus product. Those who read the
Pioneer during the early years of its existence
know how zeaously we urged the importance
of railroad communication to develop the agri-
cultural resources of this county. After long
and patient waiting, the iron rail has been eX-
tended to every important village in Aroostook,
and the result has been perfectly astonishing.
Those villages have doubled in size; the price
of real estate has advanced; the demand for and
price of rentable buildings increased, although
much is being done to supply the demand. All
these evidences Of prosperity are the result of
well directed labor which is developing the fer
tility of our soil. The iron horse said to the
Aroostook farmers, Il will haul to market all
you can raise; 60 ahead"' They accepted, and
glorious are the results. Thousands of carloads
of potatoes. hay, long and short lumber, cattle,
sheep and horses have been sent to market. and
the farmers face is radiant with smiles az he
counts the profits.
The home market which has been opened for
the products of the soil, has also increased the
price of horses. cattle, sheep, swine, poultry,
eggs and dairy products. Within the last ten
wears there has been perceptible increase in
the number of cattle and sheep driven out of
the county, but the business of stock raising can
ground cleared makes pasturage for more hoofs
to supply the new slaughter house recently
erected in this town, and which will furnish
ready home market for all the cattle and sheep
i'll suitable condition for the shambes. The in
creased facilities for marketing possessed by
the proprietors Of this new enterprise, enable
them TO divide with the farmer the difference
between sending the animals alive and dead,
which is quite an item when the shrinkage in
weight and the extra freight is considered. The
result will be to put in the pocket of every far
mer within IA radius of fifty miles a dollar for
every additional sheep or lamb raised in conse-
quence Of the increased profits of sheep raising
promised by this home market The practice
of selling store cattle to be fattened upon the
surplus hay of Franklin county should be dis
couraged. We see no reason why the Aroos
took farmer, with his abundance of fodder can
not fatten his stock ready for the butcher. 1t
pays those who spend weeks of valuable time
to gather drove and take them "overland" to
Franklin county to winter, otherwise it would
not be annually repeated. How long, there
fore, will it be before the Aroosook farmer
will see the absurdity of allowing arovers to get
away with the cream of their business! The
true policy of every Aroostook farmer should
be to fatten his stock for the IIouton slaughter
house, where he will find Il ready market every
day in the year. By this process he can keep
his farm in better condition than by selling his
young cattle and the hay that ought to be con
sumed upon the premises. lloulton Pioneer