Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1891-08-20

MaklnH bItb Z iiitsitis 1T a's nv A'i =
est mod m treight cais, carrying from
twenty ia td'rty tons, AM ds,d so that
these 6943 carloads rpres. Mt at least
II 900 earlosd> Of few wears ago Blu;
TO this must he add d l05 2S0. 55l feet of
logs driven out OF Aroustook streams
into the s.. J..hu river, aod sa we'd in the
mills If ST John. New Bruins wick This
quantity rc,re, en- over | / 900 addition
al carloads.
tn potato crop of Arooslook for lSa0
was a',out five million bushels, and moe
than 81 000, 600 was realized from it,
exclu ~. Of that portion which WAS
used ia Tie sla.,h I..lo,ies, The output
of which has averaged for several years
about six thousand tons Nowhere on
the continent does the white cedar Gar
Dor uite) grow to greater perfection than
in this county, and the annual output Is
over three hundred millions Of cedar
shingles. besides the large quantities
shipped as telegraph poles. etc In dairy
ing. Aroostook is making great strides
the largest cheese factory in the state
being at Houlton, the county seat. No
part of North America has nobler for
ests, both of hard and soft timber. Ma
pie. beech and birch of large growth
abound. The land is gently rolling and
free from stone, and this is the only part
of New England in which the main
highways are run on straight lines.
We once rode over such one forty-two
miles, between Houlton ard Presque
Isle, without single divergence, and in
that distance saw but three rods OF stone
wall, which was pointed out by the
driver as curiosity But the whole
country is underlaid with soft limestone,
the decay OF which has produced such a
fertile sOil--of which we have never
seen The equal except in the famous Blue
Grass region of kentucky.
The average hay crop is nearly two
tons per acre. The writer we have
quoted SAYS: mo farmer with whom
the writer ccnversed had put in less than
eleven acres of potatoes, the acreage
varying from eleven to forty five, and In
one instance siXty-eight field OF fifty
acres in oats and fifteen to twenty five
in buckwheat was common signt
Fields of grass from which one hundred
tons Of the best of hay would be cut were
not rare at all. The common yield OF
potatoes is in the heighborhood of three
hundred bushels to the acre In 1889 c
b. Coy of Presqus Isle raised l}S bushels
on single acre. and in 1890 Philo Reed
of Fort Fairfield raised 1l5 bushels and
twenty-five pounds on one acre. OF
course these results were obtained by II
liberal use Of fertilizers.
This great and productive section has
been hindered in its p:ogress by very
| imperfect railroad connections, only
four towns being reached by rail, and
these by roundabout line from the
Provinces eighty miles longer that di-
rect route. which is to be built at once,
| and is entirely within the State-extend-
ing from Bangor northward. and soon
after entering the county dividing into
| two branches, thus accommodating both
sides of the county through its whole
length. Work is to begin at once, and
there can re no doubt that population
| will follow the track as fast as laid. and
probably considerably in advance.
There is nowhere in America where
such good farms, so close to eastern
markets, can be bought for as little
money as in Aroostook today. We do
not want to see any emigration from
Vermont But if any restless denizen of
the Green Mountain state wants to try
to better himself. we should advise him
to pack his grip and take run through
| Aroostook. There is no better time to