1^2 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



sustaining, there are times when it is necessary to draw money 

 from other sources to pay the inspectors. It seems to me it 

 would be a good plan for the executive committee to consider 

 this matter. 



President Copeland: Will you make that a motion: 



Mr. Rogers: No. If I were going to make a motion, I 

 should want to have it in writing so I should have it to suit me. 

 We can make a motion, perhaps, tomorrow morning, but I 

 have brought the matter to your attention so you can be think- 

 ing about it. 



In regard to the certification work ; I have letters from New 

 York and Wisconsin and I know they are going to pass laws 

 for future inspection work along the lines we are working on 

 here in Maine. It was because I realized the importance of 

 this work that I became personally responsible for the final 

 inspection. I intended to have brought a letter in regard to the 

 last potatoes that went out last year, in which it was said that 

 the certified seed — especially that from Houlton — stood up so 

 finely it has given us a splendid reputation wherever it went, 

 and I am certain there is a great future for Maine certified 

 seed potatoes, if we can get the work where it should be. I am 

 willing to do all I can to help my successor in his work. 



Prof. Morse: Can you tell me what the Wisconsin people 

 are doing ; what they are paying for the seed ? I wish I could 

 have the figures. They must be putting in quite a lot of money 

 on this inspection work. They have one man all the time in the 

 work; they have not merely a seed convention, but a potato 

 convention, and I tell you, I look on their advance with con- 

 siderable apprehension. This is what we must keep up with. 

 We are having more trouble to get help than they are. It 

 seems to me that Maine has enough advantages over Wisconsin, 

 as a potato raising state, to warrant more financial aid from 

 the state. 



Mr. Rogers : I am sorry I did not bring the letters. Another 

 interesting thing — or interesting to me, at least; Mr. Reed of 

 Fort Fairfield had the best acreage of anyone, so one of the 

 inspectors told me. A man came from the east shore of Vir- 

 ginia and found out how the work had been done and he wrote 

 and wanted to buy the seed. Mr. Reed said that he had not 

 sold a barrel in New Jersey this year where he sent them last, 



