The Republican journal., 1904-10-13

NAL value. The reason was that 1t had
become Improbable to cultivate them,
unless they were operated as special
ties. This condition has materially
changed, and small farms of desirable
nature are becoming scarce as rental
proposition, and sale prices are stlffen-
ing considerably. The reason for the
condition is that such farms during the
past season have been found not only
earning running expenses but surplus,
cultivating what might be known as
general farming truck, and the drift has
set in again toward the farm. Certain
conditions, including farm abandon
ment and speculatiOns in food prod
ucts, have raised the prices of farm
commodities, especially eggs, poultry,
pork, hay, potatoes and the like, the
advanced prices of beef, mutton and
other food staples carrying up with
them such substitutes as come from
the farm. The small farmer finds his
eggs and poultry of considerable value,
and that all he can raise can be readily
marketed right at his door in the near
by cities, in direct competition with the
stuff that comes in from the west. The
enhanced prices, supplemented by the
fresher condition Of the local farm
product, have therefore given the ur
ban farmer an advantage.
In conclusion the writer says: Con
ditions as they exist point to the reviv-
al of the suburban farmer as a factor in
the city markets and the city prosper
ity."
The editor of the Presque Isle Star
Herald recently made a flying trip TO
Somerset county and in some notes of
his visit institutes comparisons between
AGRICULTURAL conditions there and in
Aroostook. Naturally he would favor
his own county, and the fertility OF the
Garder Of Maine is generally conced-
have given up potato raising in Aroos
took ana gone to Somerset and Plscata-
quis counties to engage III stock ralS-
ing or diversified farming does not dis
credit Aroostook. There are always
| people who change from place to place,
often without lettering their condition,
but sometimes benefitting by engaging
in a different line of agriculture. But
this is a DEPRESSION Let us now take
| up the notes of the editor of the Star
| Herald. In st. Adams he finds pota-
toes are little i'll evidence and rot ex-
tremely prevalent, not only i'll that
town but iii nearly all other localities
In that section, and he says the yield
will be very largely reduced from this
cause "The rot is generally attributed
to the wet season and the heavy clay
soil, which, unlike the light and porous
soil of AToostook, retains the moisture,
| SO that successive rains have tended to
keep the tubers saturated, and caused
blight" lie finds spraying almost wholly
| impractical and says: "The extensive
| blight and rot here as compared with
| the exemption from this complaint the
present season in Aroostook, illustrates
the effectiveness of our methods of
protecting the potato crop by spraying"
st. Adams has corn factory, and POO
acres, distributed over radius of ten
or twelve miles, are devoted to sweet
corn. The past two years were dis
couraglng ones, but the present seasons
crop is reported to be giving satisfacto-
~ returns, both as regards yield per
acre and the price paid at the factory.
1t is reckoned that s75 is about the av-
/ erage value of the corn per acre at the
| factory, over and above which is the
value of the stalks for use as fodder,
which many farmers estimate worth
50 for feeding purposes. Off against
this total Of 500 has to be set the cost
of crop, the chief item in which is the
fertilizer, OF which an average of about
1C0 to 500 lbs. per acre is used. If the
conditions of the present year could be
depended upon to continue, the raising
OF sweet corn could be pursued with
very satisfactory results, but the rec
ord of the past six years is not en-
couraging, as, during at least half that
period the crop has been a practical
failure.
In connection with sweet corn dairy
ing 10 Soll1eu oil W quitc all eAlcut, lllt
product being sold either in the shape
of cream, to the creamery at Dexter or
in the shape of milk to the condensed
milk factory at Newport. This indus
try takes the product of quite large
farming area, and the price paid, &C
cording to the testimony of most of the
patrons, is the equivalent of about 30
cents pound for butter 1t is, there
fore, much preferable to butter max
ing, inasmuch as it gives better cash
returns with less labor.
In conclusion the editor of the Star
Herald touches upon the greater profits
of the Aroostook farmer, and the diff
ferent methods of living; but that is an
other story.
MAINE TEACHERS.