The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-06-07
MORE FARMERS FOR MAINE.
In6iustrial Bureau Hopes to Get
 Them to Settle Big Tract There.

Some interesting experiments have been conducted by the Industrial Bu- reau of the New England Lines with g. view of demonstrating with what success farming can abe carried on Tn New England on what has heretofore been regarded practically as waste land These experiments have been conducted on a large tract of land in Washington County, Maine, and. so successful have they been that steps are being taken now to secure the colonization of this tract by practical farmers.
 For the purpose of these experi- ments the Industrial Bureau main tafned by the New York New Haven and Hartford, the Boston and Maine and Maine Central Railroads, recently secured an option on 36,000 acres Of land situated near -CherryfeId on the Maine Central. This tract had pro- duced nothing but huckleberries up to that time. There. was no heavy timber on it because every year it had been burned over for the berries. A large part of it was virgin soil.
 A careful examination of the soil made by Prof. A. J. Bonstell of the Geological Survey showed results which exceeded expectations. The soil was found to contain basis of lime rock and the decomposition by puIverization and erosion had caused conditions of wonderful fertility. A farmer of considerable experience was put in charge of the work of reclaim ing this land and last year eighty acres were cultivated. Twenty acres were given over to potatoes, fifteen acres to beans and the rest to oats, wheat, barley, corn and general gar den truck To this his been added this year one acre of strawberries and one acre planted to sugar beets.
 The results have confirmed the pre- diction made by Prof. Bonstel that this land which. had lain so long neg lected would grow wheat and other crops known to New England with much better results than the average yield. The twenty acres of potatoes the first year produced 5000 bushels, or 25O bushels to the acre, a. record product The potatoes were of ex- cellent quality and fully up to the su- perfor standard of Maine potatoes. The showing made with the other crops was equally favorable The garden vegetables were of excellent size and quality and it was also dem onstrated that the soil was well adapt ed to grain.
 This region in southeastern Maine, not far from our eastern frontier, has to-day practically no population. but plans are being worked out to settle at least 400 Polish and Swedish far nerS with their Ian1lleS on the ITdcL cutting it up into about 400 farms av- eraging 100 acres each. The Poles and Swedes have shown themselves to be especially good intensive formers and it is predicted that they will pro- duce results on this land which will compare favorably with any the West or Canada can show.
 Land in Alberta, to which so many farmers have emigrated, if within eight or ten miles of the railroad, now sells at from S35 to $50 an acre. Fur ther west the prices range from $11.50 to S22.5O an acre. The tract which has been thrown open in Wash miles from railroad and within but few hundred miles of the greater market in this country. It Is propor- tionately much cheaper. The best farm land can be bought in that part of Maine for SIS an acre.
 Heretofore nobody has attempted to cultivate this land. The object of the Industrial Bureau is to show that this, like many other large tracts in Maine, can be utilized to bring re- turns as good as that secured in the West. For settlement purposes 1t resembles in many respects the new CT portions of our country. Maine is one of the few States in the East ca, pablo of colonization schemes, be- cause to carry out a colonization scheme a large tract of land Is neces- sary.
 In other parts of New England there are no longer large areas avail able for such purposes and it. is diff