The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1909-12-02

subject being. Agriculture of Maine
and Its Possibilities" The substance
of his address is as follows:
President Fellows spoke in part as
follows:
The possibilities of Maine Agricul-
ture" means all the possibilities of
production and development, on Maine
farms of farm crops grain, hay. po-
tatoes. corn, ETC., live stock and poul
try, fruit, honey and all other mar
ketable commodities which can be
produced or cared for profitably in
this climate and on our soil.
James j. Hill, who is deyoting the
later years of his life to the agricul
tural development of the Northwest,
says Land without people is will
derness. People without land are a
mob" These two brief statements
contain world of truth. 1t is the
people and the land together proper
ly adjusted, which make a prosper
Gus country. The packed cities with
all the industries cannot exist with
out the products of the land. The
land cannot furnish the products
without people enough to properly de-
velop and market the products of the
land.
1t is perfectly possible to demon
strate without any eXaggeration that
the farm land in Maine which is at
present fit to cultivation could sup
port in abundance five times the
present population. Certain small
countries in Europe with less than
haIf tor IF Mai wit
no better opportunities for markets,
besides caring for their own people,
export what would seem to us almost
a fabulous amount of farm products.
Denmark, for instance, with less than
half the area of Maine, supports a
population of over 100000 and eX-
ports annually to Great Britain alone
100000 worth of butter and $21,-
100000 worth of bacon. Holland,
with a still smaller area, supports
over 100000 people and her exports
are equally valuable. Belgium, with
still smaller area supports nearly
100000, although considerable
part of her products are industrial.
What can Maine do to begin this
intensive cultivation of the soil and
produce results which are comparable
with those obtained elsewhere? At
the exposition In Seattle last summer,
nothing was more conspicuous than
the skilful display of the agricultural
products and possibilities of the vari
Gus counties in the state of Wash
ington We all know that however
good the exhibit from that large state
there are immense areas entirely I'M
cultivated. We also know that a
great portion of their products must
be shipped as far as the Atlantic
coast to obtain cash return. | have
no hesitation in saying that if the
same county organization and effort
were put forth here in Maine, there
would be a far greater difference be-
tween the cost of production and the
selling price here than there and a
consequently greater return to the
farmers themselves. We are in a
better position in Maine just now to
make a higher percentage of profit
from the farms than in some of the
states of the middle west which are
SO notably fertile. Within two weeks
| have heard from the state of Iowa,
where they have this year had enorm-
Gus crops, that the farmers are not
as we'll off in comparison with the
amount of money invested as in New
England The crops are large, but
the prices low and the distance to
market great. In addition to this, the
land has a cash value varying from
500 to 5000 an acre. The crops,
therefore, must be enormous in order
to make as large percentage of
profit on the investment as where
/ hn oh
the distance to the chief markets will
continue for many years to be as
great as at present. Maino at pres
ent is not cultiyating as much of her
land which Is suitable for farms as
many other states. The largest pro-
portion of suitable farm land which
Is actually improved is in the state
of Illinois where they cultivate 1874
per cent of the farm land. In Maine
little less than 3S per cent Is cul
tivated. There are in Maine $780,.
600 acres of good farm land and only
2 400, 900 improved. This takes no
account whatever of about $4,000
square miles of forest and lake area.
IL we were to cultivate In no i'm
proved manner, but merely as we
now do, the product of Maine should
be IN times as much as at present
Is there any reason why Maine should
not put as much energy and science
into the development of all the crops
that can possibly be raised In Maine
as into the single crop of potatoes? 1t
has only been a few years since this
crop has been grown with the care
used at present There Is now only
one state which exceeds Maine in the
bushels produced and that Ia New
York with nearly four times the acre
age; and only two states where the
value of the crop Is greater than in
Maine, these two being New York and
Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania has
2h times the acreage and exceeds the
value of the Maine crop by only $34,-
900.
If we are to develop the greatest
possibilities of Maine agriculture we
must adopt In many ways the meth
DDS In use in other countries and
partially In use In other states of this
country. We might almost imme
diately increase the production of
sweet corn and poultry and dairy
products In the same proportion that
we have increased out potato crop.
The cooperation by means of asso-
Citations. such as the COW testing as
ISOLATION which are now being formed
In his state, can develop almost be-
quantity of the product. These are
exactly the methods that are used
where success is the greatest.