Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1915-09-15
DEMONSTRATION FARMS.

DEMONSTRATION FARMS.
Results Achieved In VI
cinity of Ellsworth.
The extension service of the University
Of Maine, in its farm demonstraticn work
in Hancock county, is meeting with re-
markable success. This is largely due to
the enthusiasm and the tireless energy OF
George n. worden, the county agent, who
has won the confidence Of the farmers,
and whose efforts have just begun to be
appreciated by the people at large.
Last Friday small party Of Ellsworth
business men accompanied Mr.. worden
on visit to q few Of the demonstration
farms in the vicinity Of Ellsworth, and
saw for themselves the remarkable results
OF farming by scientific methods. The
invitation to make this trip was general
to the business men Of Ellsworth, but
comparatively few Availed themselves OF
the opportunity, possibly through the
mistaken impression that . special invita-
ton to make the trip was necessary.
The farms visited we're demonstration
farms in fact, and these were but few Of
the demonstration farms scattered
throughout Hancock county. II the
farmers OF Hancock county do not profit
by the object lessons saorded by these
demonstration farms, they are blind to
their opportunities.
The FIRST farm visited was that OF .. L.
Burns, at NicoIin, and this perhaps fur
nished the most remarkable object lesson
Of the day. "Tangiewood Farm" Mr..
Burns calls his place, and it was all Of
that when he took hold of 1t less than two
years ago. A more discouraging outlook
than the old, worn-out Tourtelotte farm
at Nicotin offered would be hard to nnd
the county over.
Mr.. Burns accepted condolences and
ridicule with equal good nature, and called
in the farm Demonstration. 1t was decided
to raise potatoes and oats in rotation. Mr..
Burns pointed his pillow Al tact Of eight
and one half acres which for years had
raised splendid CROPS Of checkerberries,
and nothing else.
Last year be took on this tract more
than the average yield Of potatoes. and
then sowed oats and clover. One and
one half acnss OF the oats be this ysar
fed ont green. From . measured acre he
threshed out eighty-six bushels OF large,
bright, heavy oats. The other six acres
yielded an average OF about seventy-seven
bushels to the acre. Compare this with the
average yield in Hancock county Of from
thirty to thirty-five bushels to the acre,
and then ask II there Is anything in '.im-
proved methods" Of farming. Again,
compare the value of this years yield Of
oats with previous years. crops Of check
erberries on this same tract.
Mr.. Burns has not only adopted modern
methods OF farming, but modern methods
OF farm accounting. He knows what
each piece OF land costs him to operate.
This piece OF eight and one half acres, he
says, this year owes him s256, and in
wages for himself and team, which he has
charged against the land. What has he
got on the other side of the ledger?
Something like $50 bushels OF oats, fifteen
tons OF straw, to say nothing Of the oats
he cut as fodder, or the splendid catch OF
clover which he has over the entire piece.
Now do a little figuring.
Mr.. Burns has another piece in potatoes
this year on which he will SOW Noats.
From the Burns farm the party went to
the farm OF DIR. George A. Phillips, to
look at his splendid young orchard Of
600 or more trees, which have shown re-
markable growth for the year. The
orchard is cultivated according to the
modern methods. Buckwheat Is sown
about the trees, to stop the growth late
in the season and allow the new wood to
harden as q protection against winter
killing.
The party then took q long jump to
West Ellsworth, for q glance at the cattle
beet demonstration on the farm OF Irving
Stackpble, and then over to North Bend
in Surry, to look at the ensilage corn
raised by W. z. Gaspar, handsome piece,
the stalks towering ten and twelve feet in
the air.
The party then drove through Surry and
up to the farm Of Ralph Cushman, in
Ellsworth, where material evidence is
given OF what can be done with an old
~oA SposiSons urieI stop
was made at an old orchard near by, on
which nothing had been done, where the
fruit was small and scattering. Mr..
Cushman's orchard itself furnishes COM
parison, half the orchard receiving
modern treatment and the other half
allowed to take care Of itself, though 1t
could hardly be called q neglected orchard.
The difference was apparent. The demon
stration trees were richer in both fruit
and foliage, and the fruit was larger be-
cause Of the thinning earlier in the season.
Again for comparison the party stopped
ct neglected orchard where the trees,
Twenty-Five years old, had stopped growth
apparently with the third or fourth year.
The trees were stunted; the trunks moss
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