Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1912-01-17

ahead and not going backwards
The lumber business, al ways leading bust
ness IN our state, has been supplemented
during the last ten years by q very great de-
veIcpment in what Is known as the pulp and
ing that the product OF Maine lumber. includ-
pulp and paper, was valued at nearly forty
million dollars annually, AND includes the
employment of nearly twenty thousand wage
earners
The cotton and wooden mills continue to
run on full time. While the latter industry
has been through very discouragfng period
In the country, II has held its own In Maine
ms compared with other states; and cotton
stands next TO lumber. pulp and paper, EN-
ploytng about ten thousand wage carners.
The transportation business Is good in
dication OF what people are doing. The hfty-
second annual report OF the state joard OF
railroad commissioners shows that we are
operating sixteen steam roads and seventeen
electric roads. The steam mileage Is now
placed at 225s miles. an increase Of eighty
i've miles during the year 1910: The gross
operating revenue for 1910 was $ieb76,lg4, or
sii5i.s24 over 1909 The number of passen-
gers carried was s.s5sos9, an increase OF 7o5,-
g26 over 1909. The total number of tons Of
freight was 1i,t7i ,l05. an increase of st006s
over 1909. The total number OF employees en-
gagged in the steam railroad business was
lo.sie. being i.s52 more than 1909; and the
total mouut paid to employees OF the electric
railroads was 81 .o5s.iso, making tbs. total in
crease over wages paid In 1909 to railway en-
pioyes Of ss7s 40.
The savings OF the people also indicate
something Of their prosperity. Our hfty-two
col. 5Ssy0; the forty trust companies, Ss6,iSb,-
s0t.es; the this.y-fye loan and building assoc
Citations s:s ,sss I, e, t az Of 1855
In addition TO this, forty-three OF the
seyenty-two national banks In the State show
over % per cent. Of their deposits 10 sSSalled
millions of dollars. an increase OF over 10
per cent. in one year In this class OF deposits.
The savings bank reports show that from
our total population OF little over 49, 600. we
have nearly 2si 900 depostors In these banks
alone. As compared with about ten years
ago, these figures are nearly all doubled.
r The last biennial valuation OF the State as
reported in 1910, taken for the purpose of
taxation, shows our valuation TO be st5l. $780,
Ilo. an increase over 1908 OF over 90. 100000.
In fact, there is no report OF any kind that
/ you can refer TO which does not show the
| State and its people are moving along In the
I line of progress and prosperity.
1 like to go over these figures, because am
! OF a sanguine nature and believe In Maine,
and like TO have something besides desire
/ TO place my belief on. But the state. like
person, never stands still. IL either moves
/ ahead or IL goes backwards.
| We are all anxious for the future, and you
/ creased only T-ie per cent IN the last ten
years, yet the census report shows that sb,-
| bgi, 600 was paid for farm labor in 1910. gain
| Of 40 per cent. over 1900.
| AGRICULTURAL POSSIBILITIES.
| Maine is an old State. 1t probably had set
tiers from Europe very early In the seven
teeuth century. AS compared with our new
western states. its growth has been slow,
yet 1t IL still a new country, great In area but
small In population, j am not so sure that
great population is to be desired as the kind
| OF population and She general prosperity OF
| the people that live within our borders. We
i may rank second In the production of pota-
toes Of all the states in the Uuion-f think
1 have seen statements TO that effect In some
| years and the growth of Aroostook county
has not only offset the loss In other rural coun-
ties but has saved the state during the last
ten years from a net loss in its rural popula-
l tion-
You may think this Is queer place and
| time to discuss this subject, but feel that
the time has come when everybody has got to
| take hold of the question of Maine agricul-
| ture and Maine horticulture. We are right
/ on the edge OF going backwards. and IL
doesn't seem to me that there is any reason
| why we should not be going forward in the
| matter OF rural population.
There has been and is bound to be a great
| increase In the value Of farm crops. The
country Is now settled from the East to the
| West and cheap lands are no longer TO be had.
/ The increase in valuations which have given
| you, as taken from the census reports of
| farms and livestock does not mean very much.
| for they the same farms and the same
| livestock. but the hing that distresses me is
/ that the rural population IL not increasing.
| We hear good deal OF late about the high
price of living, and everybody knows that
| farm products were never higher-except dur
| ing the Civil war-thau they are to- day.
We have at our agricultural college and ex-
| pertinent station, at Orono, thirty-two men
| engaged in teaching aud experimental work,
4
| experiment station is issuing bulletins which
/ are going to the Maine farmers as are also
bulletins from other experiment stations
throughout the nation.
INTENSIFIED FARMING.
Perhaps we can understand our situation
| by contrast as we'll as IN suy other way. The
| island Of Guernsey, situated off the coast of
/ France, is said to be about the size OF half OF
one of our Maine towns Eat IN two corner
/ ways. which would give 1t about 1900 acres.
\ Upon this island live forty thousand people,
| and they don't live By the Guernsey cows
either. They are engaged in farming. agri-
culture and horticulture. They produce
early vegetables, flowers and fruit for Lon
\ don markets. Greenhouses are In common use
| and the products of this little piece of land
| cultivated by these people sustain their own
population of forty thousand people and
/ go to help feed the mi lions la London.
I TAe japanese we think Of as little people
1 living in country of beautiful flowers. They
were farming the same farms they farm to-
day long before Columbus discovered
Japan has about 81 900 square miles of land
which can be farmed. From this crops are
taken which feed nearly tifty millions OF peo-
| pie; something like $500 to the square mile
are supported on that area
We often lear IL said that farm products
are TO become so high In the markets that the
/ II we could farm like the Japanese, the state
of Iowa, which is said to have 5000 square
miles of land that can be farmed, would be
able to sustain a popuiation-on the basis of
| Japanese farming of more than one hundred
millions of people, which is more than the
| population OF the entire United states to-
day. We in Maine, with our large area of
over 81 $50 square miles, even IL only one
third Of it or even one-sixth Of it could be
devoted TO the real purposes OF farm land,
would be capable of sustaining q population
of over ten millions of people.
The Japanese realize above all things the
value of crop rotation and Of green mADures.
The government reports show that about
ope-ffth Of the farm lands annually
planted TO legume crops such as peas, beans,
and clover, which are ploughed in or turned
under for the benefit u the next crop No
thing which can supply plant food to the
soil Is wasted by the japanese.
The custom as in this country OF burning
potato stalks,and as In the western country of
burniI the corn stalks and straw, is con-
sidered in Japan a criminal waste. They
even gather weeds from the mountain sides
TO be used in manure. All these and other
waste products are made into compost heaps
and carefully protected from loss by
weathenng under she is with tight roofs and
tight floors, whey they are mixed and nodded
together until in proper condition for plant
food. Quite contrast with the extravagant
practice with the manures of our State which
are thrown out into the open weather and