Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1904-04-19
The State and Its Agriculture.

Il
80. by r. H. Libbey, Newport, Me-
Imperfect government statistics place
the value of the farm products of Maine
| for 1900 at S2l, 200, 900, but carefully
collected data clearly indicate that the
total is nearly S40,000,000. With this
fact before us, it is very plain that the
representatives of farming have right
to stand before this State Board of Trade
and present claims which must COM
mand attention. You who are connect
ed with the pulp, paper and lumber
interests must admit that you are thriv-
ing at the expense of the state, for
while you are building up towns and
cities and adding to the wealth of every
community, you are doing it by the de
struction of natural products.
On the other hand, the greater the i'm
provement of our farms, the greater
their increase, the larger the crop pro-
duced per acre, the wealthier they be-
come and the greater the power to pro
duce larger crops in later years. In this
way agriculture alone conserveS the
permanent development and wealth Of
the state. You need the farms with all
their variety of products in largest
quantity: we need the markets which
you are building up about our doors.
As one of the small producers, | want
TO defend the interests of my farm and
those of my TeighbOrs as deserving more
attention than they are now receiving at
the hands of the state.
1t is all very well to talk about the
money going back to towns from the
4 N IL
buncOmbe. When small towns with
only ten or fifteen hundred inhabitants
ship b. 900 barrels of apples from sim
gle station, we begin to get some idea OF
the magnitude of this crop and it's value
to the state. Yet how little the state is
doing to promote our fruit interests. 1t
is safe to estimate the apple crop for
1908 at 1000. 900 barrels and this does
not include home consumption. Yet
throughout the fruit growing sections OF
the state only small per cent OF the
good orchard land is being covered with
trees and nowhere in New England are
wealthy corporations being formed as in
the West to develop our fruit interests.
All this with the fact staring us in
the face that YOU are sending money to
California and Florida to invest in
orange groves and peach orchards
Gentlemen, why not take hold and help
build up the state of Maine? Why not
put your money into apple orchards
here where you can watch your invest
mentS and Oe sure of permanent income,
increasing every year after the trees
come into bearing? Wealthy men from
Mexico and Texas are purchasing farms
in Maine ON which they will plant large
orchards this year. II we believe In
Maine and are 50 ready to shout its
praises, why not take hold and help
build up this substantial industry? III
our talk is all wind, let's admit it and
let il 90. We on the farms have faith
in an agricultural future far beyond any
thing vet accomplished for Maine. We
know what it can do aud we know that
in fruit growing, dairying, potato grow
ing and stock husbandry any man can
make better investment right here
than is possible in the oil fields and
mines in which so many have been sink
ing their hard earnings the past year.
What this board of trade wants is
faith enough in Maine to put their hands
into their pocketbooks and develop
some of it's more important industries.
Ii is all right for us to get up ana shout
for the state and pass our resolutions
but somehow this doesn't cut ice outside.
Why leave all this TO be done by others?
Why should we wait for the hundreds
who are coming into the state to pur-
chase farm property when we have 1t
within ourselves to make the Old state
hum?
The trouble is we would rather send
our money to the Philippines and let
some smooth-tongued promoter invest
il than salt it down at home where 1t
would pay good interest. There is more
money To be made in strawberries than
in oil fields; goOseberr es will pay bet
ter dividend than railroads, and milk
for the Newport factory has wiped out
more mortgages for the past ten years
than electric railroad stock.
Now, all these things are necessary
and helpful and want TO see them made
profitable, but you who are 50 ready to
invest your money in any OF ttese
schemes fight shy of the farms which
offer substantial returns. The trouble
is YOU are thinking of farming as it used
TO be carried ON, but in this age of ma
chinery we are learning that there is
way to increase oLr business ana Ill
miuish our expenses.
A pertinent question to us is, What
is the best investment to-day in Maine?"
for our people have been putting large
sums of money into all the wildcat
schemes, seeming regardless of merit.
The cashier of the bank told me not
long ago that would be surprised to-
know the amount of money drawn from
his bank to invest in mining stock. Inc
idea seems to be to invest in something
away from home, yet Maine is one oi
the best states in the Union, for what
we produce, we have a market Tor close
at hand.
Ii has been reported by those in love
with sportsmen's interests VINO lavor
the log cabin, etc, that more than i,ooo
farms have been sold in Maine within
a few years To sportsmen Tor summer
homes Now this is all false. The L.
A. Strout agency has disposed of
little over 800 farms in Maine within the
past three wears, about five per cent OF
which have been for summer homes.
The other 2S5 or moro have been pur-
chased with view of improving them
as farm property, the purchasers com
ing from the South and West because OF
our superior advantages and the near
ness To market.
The editor of the Maine Farmer in
forms me that within the past month he
has received one hundred letters or
more mo- from parties from the Middle
south and West asking for information
regarding farm property in Maine and
stating that they proposed coming here
to locate. Is it not time for the state 10
take hold and help make this movement
of the greatest permanent value to the
state? Ii we want to boom our state
along these substantial lines, we must
take hold of it ourselves and prove our
faith by developing some of our natural
resources, which are unexcelled in any
state in the Union.