New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-06-14
MINE POTATO FARMS.
Millions of Bushels Shipped AH
Ouer the Country.

p.,ro- Tune u CspeciaD.-In Aroostook County.
,he Garden Of Maine the drouth mas not oeeh
felt so severely in other sections 1or ram
hes occasionally fallen there when the rest OF
o.. STATE was dry and the soil rich and deep, re-
,.sns moisture longer than the less fertile heIos
of other sections. The great crops OF AroostooA
farms are potatoes. hay and oats. potatoes oelIs
far in the lead. This year. notwithstanding the
drc-,tn the crop promises well. for planting was
.erlv and the acreage is much greater than IN
former years. The crop ranges from S'UVVvVV 10
ono 900 bushels. and in 1872 there were sippeI
NM Of the county chiefly 20 Boston, New ork anu
c,,,+,,s--7 markets about 2.Teo0o0 bushels Inc
Southern shipments. going as far as Galveston
are made in the spring. for seed purposes Inc
average pice received for the potatoes shlppeo OUT
of the county in 1902 was about 81 10 barrel
The cost of raising potatoes in Aroostook County
&c about $50 an acre The average crop is seventy
G. t.r-s1s Of marketable potatoes to the acre.
while there IS also a large yield Of small potatoes
for, which the starch manufacturers pay ~ 10
SO cents q barrel. Commercial fertilizers are UNI
,-ersallv used each year in increasing guam
.ities for though the soil is very productive. the
Farmers value the lime in the fertilizers as pre-
1sn+ive Of rot But for the duty of about 81
cents a bushel Maine starch factories ana the
American markets would be glutted with potatoes
from Nev-BrI,nswick. Nova Scotia and Prince Ed
-rsrd Island AS II is. a great many potatoes are
.-o,ssled across the line from w-Brunswick into
Aroostook County In spite of the vigilance of the
customs officers
The Aroostook potato farmer does business on a
Sarge scale He plants fields Of from forty TO one
hundred acres uses mechanical planters cuitlVators
lsDd harvesters sells crop often long in advance
ts,v contract and conducts the industry generally
hon a systematic plan. Many a man, including the
Shsrey and industrious Swede imported by Will
Isam Widgery Thomas. United States Minister to
lSveden has risen from poverty to comparative
Is ruence through the cultivation OF potatoes in
sAroostook the fertile northern tip of Maine
tyyhere thirty years ago and less were struggling
villages and isolated log huts lost In the prmeVa
Wilderness are now smart towns, bright and bus
ttng with prosperous trade and happy in the enjoy
rnent Of the convenences and luXuries OF civiiza-
iton. and comfortable, even handsome. farmhouses
FURNISHED as well as many city homes
The sons and daughters go to school and TO col
riege the women and girls dress well, the farmer.
who once urged slow footed oxen over corduroy
roads new drives fine horses on good, smooth high
ways: the banks are full OF money earned at home.
theatres are in every town. railroad has been
quilt from Bangor. extending more than two hun
bred miles. the St Johns Banks-and this year
1.-THE trolley car is hum several Of the towns
.All this chiefly from the potato! We're Aroostook
no choose the States flower, probably the potato
blossom would be the emblem Of Maine