268 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



must have to assist in multiplying plant food in the soil and 

 putting the same into most available form. You cannot build 

 healthy soil products out of deficient soil food. He who at- 

 tempts to draw his support from ten acres must seek the best 

 of his soil through the liberal use of barn manure, of chemi- 

 cals, or combined fertilizers, for special work, and to hasten 

 early development, certainly by giving more attention to cover 

 crops to be plowed under and help maintain a right physical 

 condition as well as stimulate bacteria life. 



Industrial complications point to restricted rather than ex- 

 tended farm areas under cultivation. The marked decrease in 

 number of children per family, in all rural sections, forces 

 this ; the increasing difficulty in obtaining competent farm labor 

 makes this imperative. Our motto must be maximum produc- 

 tion from minimum acreage. Instead of loo bushels of shelled 

 corn from two acres, attention must be directed to securing lOO 

 from one acre. Instead of less than one ton of hay per acre, 

 which is above the average in New England, the aim must be 

 two, if not three, tons. Improved farm machinery, the restora- 

 tion of the soil to a healthy condition, the more thorough and 

 complete preparation of every acre, the increase of good barn 

 manure, and such cultivation as will exclude weeds and con- 

 serve moisture — these are the steps every man must follow 

 who hopes to realize abundantly, whether the farm be large 

 or small. 



You cannot grow maximum crops and weeds at the same 

 time. I cannot afford to have weeds in my corn, potatoes, gar- 

 den truck or among my small fruits. Seeking income, I must 

 exclude everything which detracts. The man who allows 

 weeds in his crops is a sloven. Unless I am getting 30 bushels 

 of potatoes from one bushel planted, 12 bushels of shelled corn 

 for every quart of seed, something is wrong with my work. I 

 have failed somewhere and must seek and apply the remedy 

 or admit my failure to do what I ought and might. Until my 

 trees of good bearing age, average every year a barrel and a 

 half per tree, I have failed to get control of conditions and 

 promote energies, and my income is not what it should be. 

 Here is a purely mathematical problem to be worked out by 

 every individual — one not to be neglected. Success is not to 



