The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1912-09-19

ROM WALDO COUNTY.
buidirg Of the community, an idea that
| originated. with Mr.. Melien himself.
Most people, even if familiar with
much of the wild land of Maine, think
Of this region Of plantations as
vast forest Instead. tie Maine Central
branch of the Industrial Bureau recog-
nizes it as a region Of potential farms
ard wishes it occupied. The beginning
| OF the work has come in getting control,
through purchase or option, of thirty
six thousand acres in and near the town
ship OF Deblois on the western edge of
this great series of plateaus This in it.
self has been no light task The wild
lands, bought a century ago for their
lumber, lost their value when the timber
was cut and We're not salabe to anyone.
They descended from father to many
sons, to more grandsons and still on, un-
til perhaps forty people, inheriting under
one original title, are scattered over the
known earth. But the Freeman heirs
and the Wyman heirs have been found
aLd sixty square miles are now in hand
Tor the beginning Of the experiment.
That makes quite tract of land, lying
mainly in the town of Debois and the
tbFE tiSIIli II e=.St II Is d SANDY 'OdIll, Will
water always to be had at depth of five
or six feet Before the Civil War this
region was surveyed by a staff of en-
gineers from Washington, D. c., for the
National Government, and Jefferson
Davis was in charge of them. In lone
boulder by the side Of the road leading
up to Debloi5 from Cherrytield may be
seen a pig copper bench mark, put there
by his orders. if not by MS hand. It
gives the height of land there as 141
| feet above tide water. Climbing long
slope above this the road comes to a
level at a height of 200 feet, and here
one finds that milelong furrow.
THAT MLE-L0NG FURRow.
1t marks the beginning Of the demon
s;ration farm which the indus trial Bureau
mas planted beside The road here to show
J7yond doubt what the land of these
sandy piateaus will do. Here is a plateau
OF two thousand acres in extent, level as
floor, without a stone in the soil, and
the mile long furrow might just as we'll
have been two miles long, or three if the
man behind the plough had been ordered
to make it. The land is there. The
furrow parallels the road at right
angles to it run plots planted to various
crops. In May OF this year this land
was as much in the rough as any land in
the county. Now it shows fine stands of
potatoes, oats, beans in several varieties,
flint and sweet corn, barley and wheat.
The wheat is the Dakota flint and it shows
as fine heads as one would expect to
find in the Western fields. The barley
and oats, the beans and the corn, are
thrifty, and the State Agricultural Col
lege at Orono has inspected the potatoes
and pronounced the field the finest in
the State of Maine. This work is done
by the Industrial Bureau here and in
two other portions of the railroads
holdings to prove to skeptics, particu-
larly those farmers who hold the clay
bottom farms down the State, that this
sandy soil is fertile. They have always
; believed otherwise. That once demon
strated beyond doubt, the remainder of
the task is likely to be more easy.
This work of actual demonstration of
the value Of the soil is in charge of Mr..
Hunton of Cherryfeld, graduate of
Maine colleges and farmer of expert
ence both in Maine and in the West.
He has not brought his crops to their
present fine condition without struggle.
He has found no question as to fertility.
A ton of commercial fertilizer to the
| acre, though less than used on ordinary
Maine farming lands, has been sufficient,
but he has found certain new problems,
due to the newness of the country. One
of these, of small moment but illustra-
! tive, was the moose, which came and ate
the beans to the ground all along the
row, evidently finding the neatness and
accuracy of the arrangement to his taste.
But the worst trouble came with the po-
tatoes. Ample preparation was made
for the Colorado potato beetle and the
paris green took care of these from the
! first.
But this Northern region seems to
have beetle of its own, far more
deadly. That is an elongated blue black
beetle which lives ordinarily on the fire.
weed. In August the barrens are most
beautiful with the rose purple bloom
spikes of this handsome herb, but it is
doubtful if the Maine potato farmers
care for this beauty. On the leaves of
the growing fire-weed were uncounted
millions of these blue-black beetles
and the moment the potatoes appeared
above ground they deserted their usua-
plant for the potato tops. They ciusl
tered on them and at one time it look
ed as if they would never allow them
to get an inch above the ground.
The poison which was so deadly to
the Colorado beetles was but season
ing for the salad to them. They
throve on it, and even when it was put
on SO strong as to endanger the vines
the result was the same. Then Hunton,
in despair over his crop, took the night
train to Portland and came back the
next day with arsenate Of zinc, which
he applied with a severity which was
scandalous. But it did the work. 1t
wiped out the blue-black beetles; which,
indeed, soon ceased to be a pest. Only
the full grown beetles seem to care for
the potato, the larvae going back to the