Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-09-25
READFiELp FAIR.
CONTINUED from page ~

branches mas changed, too. One
hundred years ago, 81 per cent. of the
population of this nation lived in the
country. Now less than 20 per cent
live outside of the cities. Changed
conditions in this, as in other things,
must be met by changed methods. 1t
would be just as sensible for the mill
owner to operate his mill, or the shoe
manufacturer to use hand work on his
shoes, as 1t is for the farmer to carry
on his work by using the same meth
DDS and implements as his ancestors
did, two or three generations ago. The
farmer who succeeds in the future will
be he who studies the markets and APP
plies the same business principles to
his work as his neighbor the manufac-
turer or retail dealer.
In travelling over New England, one
of the first questions which comes to
the careful observer of rural condi-
tons is: Why are so many of these
once beautiful farms now lying idle
and uncared for? Can it be that farm
ing here in the East, unlike that of
other sections, cannot be made pay
ing business? Let us glance for mo-
ment at the present condition of these
farms as compared with what they
were seventy-five years ago. Then the
soil was rich, crop after crop was taken
from 1t and often nothing in the shape
Of nianures and fertilizers was used to
reIlenish the soil and take the place of
the plant food taken out. The result
of all this is that today these farmers
are handed down to the present gem
GRAFTON in such q depleted condition
that without change of method crops
cannot be grown on a paying basis. The
supply Of manure has been decreasing
and at the present time it cannot be
obtained in sufficient quantities and at
a low enough price to bring back this
lost fertility. So other methods must
be resorted to. Among these are the
growing of cover crops to be turned
under, by so doing adding vegetable
matter to the soil. ! The rotation OF
crops must be more commonly practs
iced, too. This changing ,Q4scrops or
the land year after year NSns untold
benefits by retarding soil3 Haustiorl
keeping the crops NO. Sggorou
and less liable to ipSect and dis
ease injury by new allowing
a piece of land to9s uncovered
and by having dffiSfent crops
maturing at different seasons con-
slant income is realized frofillthe land.
The great Dakota wheat lands are now
II thing Of the past, because the, Dako-
Ia farmer did not recognize this princi-
pie of rotation, and persisted in grow
ing wheat, wheat, wheat, year after
year on the same ground, and, today.
the great wheat raising district is be-
ing pushed across the border onto
British territory.
More frequent and better tiffage
must be used on these lands. This in
creases the root feeding surface both
in amount and depth, and opens up the
soil to the action of air and hastens
the decomposition and chemical action
setting free the plant food.
After asking the opinion of many
people competent to express sound
Judgment and carefully studying the
subject myself, / am more ready than
ever to say that 1t Is not because ag
riculture cannot be made even more
profitable in New England than in
other sections, but it is rather because
II has not been made so that many arc
inclined to run 1t down as Il business.
We all know that there are sections of
the East that are too rough and rocky
for the raising of general farm crops.
But every section of this country is
suited to some special purpose. if not
for all around work. The successful
man in this or any other community is
he who best adapts his work to the
conditions for which it is best fitted.
Much of such land is admirably adapted
to the raising of fruit, dairy products, or
in
so far AS quality and freedom from in
sect and disease injury is concerned are
unsurpassed by any in the world. Your
dairy products. poultry and eggs sell
at top prices in the markets of Provi-
dence. Boston and other large cities.
providing they are well grown and
packed. You can touch more than one
tenth of the population of this country
within "a hours time. This fact alone
practically eliminates the competition
of the great West with you in all the
finer lines of products. The reason that
they are now doing it is because the
East has not supplied produce in suffi-
+ cient quantities to supply the demand.
Let them raise the grain and other
rough fJipdncts that will stand trans
p0y&utipH, long distances. while you
81 E0kSP& AUEs fHtleF' anu more ItTlSildDlc
ns6d8sf (which the cost of transporta-
1 aIGh lN iced cars over two to three
tlpd <yufles of territory. makes
con ff6h on their part impossible.
sSa 81 hitch for the practical side of the
Yartaer's life. There is another phase
OF }hS* utlestlon. a phase to which all
\ ciaeGNof people are turning their at
q tefkfOm that is the ethical side. and
tn pf0blems of improving the social
aS1Tnntnges of rural communities The
drift from the country to the city. so
marked during the last % years. has
attrAnted much attention. The cry
Back to the Soil'' is echoing and
re-echoing throughout the streets of
our cities. You who live considerable
distance from cities like New York and
Bost0n,I do not believe. realize the
pressure that is being brought to bear
on young men and women there and the
interest they are taking and the effort
they are making to get away from the
noise and hustle. the many hours of
life-sapping labor spent in the OPP