The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1917-08-30
The Right Idea.

One farmer in Maine has done some
oeep thinking on the present conditions
OF things; doubtless others have done the
same ga thlng, but he has expressed himself.
nave pig farm, farm in the richest
ana most arabic part of the State, and for
years nave made business of raising
nay as many OF those around me have
uone. 10 Degn with, perhaps we have
Deen little lazy about it; hay crop is
an easy one to care for and the work is
over soon. We can raise orr own veoe-
tables and so on in garden. mt the rest
into hay, and have more leisure t;me
than IN any other fashion of handIi no the
tarm. But let me tell you that in snite of
the 1act labor is going to be scarcer pre-
maps than ever, | am done with hav for
some time to come Two years ago |
stored through the season 40 tons for
Whlcn There was no market. Last wear 7
mad about a hundred tons left on nv
hands and this year l am cutting as much
more, which must be baled and stored for
all l can see In spite of the fact that
there is demand for it abroad the hav
business to my mind is a thing of the
| past. It's natural gasoline wells and NOT
hay farms that a fellow would like to
own nowadays. Automobiles have sun
planted horses so largely that there is no
call for hay; dairy PRODUCES tremendous
ly high, but the cows are scarcer and
beef creatures an almost unknown GUAM
tity. In Maine, hay is packed in hun
dreds of barns in this State, covered with
heavy insurance, and not called for. I
am done with hay.
This fall l am going to plow up acres
and acres of my hay fields, and next
spring am going into raising grain, both
wheat and oats and fodder corn in abund-
ance. am gong to raise enough grain to
| iced the amount of cows which | intend
to buy, and to feed the pigs which | in
tend to raise. shall have lot of them
too; shall let them run in the fields all
summer, as the southern people do. and
in the fall kill off for market. | believe
it is the thing which hundreds of our
Maine farmers must do, if we want to
1--we IN the future. Raising cattle and
hens and hogs means more confinement
on the farm They must be fed regularly
and Ted we'll. They mean more work,
Dut believe they are the salvation of
THIS State. Milk, butter, eggs, chickens
are Wayln the air; pork Is almost prohib;-
1--WE, though good sweet, clean kept, corn
raised young porkers are the best eating
In the world, and always salable | am
gong to make chickens for market a
point OF my endeavors, and | am doing
this IN the face of fewer workmen than
ever before because | believe it is the
right and only thing for this State today.
That is, the lower part of the State; of
course the northern part can stick to its
potatoes, though rotation of produce
wouldn't hurt that section either. We
must become more nearly self-supporting
and we can do it, if we face the fact that it
means more work for us. Work isn't the
worst thing in the world, however; the
worst thing is for a man to see his markets
slipping away, falling away, and not put
out his hand to save it.
There is heap Of talk these days
about what women can do to help out the
country. There is the thing they can do
They can tend chickens and they can
learn to milk cows. They can pull mus
tard IN corn fields, and help actively in
the harvesting of grain. They can do al
most any part of work which calls for
tending of pigs and they will come to it,
if conditions keep on. | believe this State
can be one of the best producers of these
things, once it gets the idea into its head,
and | wouldn't wonder if perhaps my
plain duty is to try it out, and show the
nelghbors whose barns are stuffed with
unwanted hay, and covered with high in
Surance as mine are, that it can be done
and done profitably. Anyhow, am going
to try it out.
$50 come round next summer and see
my piggies and chickens and calves too,
if | can find them. While it may not pay
to raise young stock for market, so long
as milk is getting II and IL cents a quart
it ought to pay to raise few more cows
than we have now. may see it all wrong,
but this is my honest opinion "-Houlton
Times