The Somerset reporter., 1907-08-08
Where Maine Leads in
Farming.


The New England Farmer is pub
lished in Massachusetts, but its editor
knows thing or two about Maine
and when no less a paper than the
Chicago Inter Ocean was recently
guilty of saying ''As to farming land
there is little to speak of in Maine, y
he arises to rebuke this Windy City's
display of ignorance in very effective
fashion. Not content with telling the
Chicago editor about Names more
than 100000 acres of improved farm
ing land, divided into $4,000 farms,
her famous orchard and dairy prod
ucts, her live stock which has great
er value than that of the important
stock raising states of Montana or
Colorado, the $50, 900 paid yearly in
premiums and purses at her agricul-
tural fairs,-not content with this
sort of a reply the New England
Farmer man proceeds to make some
direct comparisons between Maine
and Illinois which are calculated to
open the eyes of the Chicago editor
The latest figures he had at hand were
those of 1908 but they are official and
serve the purpose nicely. Here is
the parallel he draws:
Maine produced in 1903, on s7,077
acres, II, 064 ,092 bushels of potatoes,
valued at $9,557, 572, an average yield
of 1876 bushels per acre.
Illinois in 1903, on las, 1867 acres, pro-
duced 10, 322, 1858 bushels OF potatoes,
valued at S7,432, 249-an average of
only ~ bushels per acre.
Names wheat crop in 1903 averag
ed 25t bushels, valued at s24.44 per
acre.
The average yield of wheat in ILL
nois in 1908 was S4 bushels per acre,
valued at S6.28.
Maine's barley crop in 1903 averaged
1913 bushels per acre, valued at S21 %.
The Illinois barley crop in 1903
averaged 1872 bushels per acre, valu-
ed at $12 Al.
Maine's buckwheat fields in 1908
averaged 27.s bushels per acre, valu
ed at SIS 20; Illinois, 1873 bushels per
acre, valued at $11.17.
We could go all along down the en-
tire list of staple and by-products of
the farm and show by comparison
that the Maine farmer produces more
in product and in value per acre than
her Illinois cousin.
Similar comparisons could be made
between Maine and almost any other
state in the Union, not only in the
farm products mentioned here but al
SO in other products of the field and
garden, orchard and dairy. There is
no better place in the whole country
for successful farming than here in
Maine, no place where more money
can be made from the acre. Maine
has the soil the climate, the market
and all the favorable conditions, with
an absence of the unfavorable condi-
lions which are such menace to
agriculture in some sections of our
country. What is needed on thou
sands of our farms, however, is a
keener realization of this advantage
and more intelligence and energy in
the application of modern methQds.-
Kennebec Journal.
Commenting on the foregoing the
Lewiston Sun says:
Here are four farm products named
potatoes, wheat, barley, buckwheat.
1t may be worth while to look little
deeper into these comparisons.
Take potatoes first. The statistics
for Maine and Illinois for 1895 are:
Acres Bushels Value.
Maine 10o,516 22,998, 1850 IL, 499, $50
Illinois 150,63s 1851, 1856 9,059,3
The yield per acre was 210 bushels in
Maine and only 81 in Illinois; but the
price per bushel was 81 cents in Illi
nois to so cents in Maine.
In the quantity of potatoes pro-
duced in 1906 Maine ranked fifth as
follows: