26o AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. ' 



small farm as a solution for his troubles. Can such a man, 

 ready to work, trained to economize, anxious to make good, 

 succeed on ten acres, carrying a comfortable set of buildings? 

 This is the problem I am asked to discuss, not as any argument 

 against larger farm operations, surely not to disparage broader 

 farm life and work. To my mind Maine offers peculiar ad- 

 vantages to this class and the service we can best render will 

 be through leading to small rather than large holdings, cer- 

 tainly by helping to concentrated rather than extended opera- 

 tions. 



The marked failures in the past among this class of incomers 

 has resulted chiefly from the attempt to cover too much terri- 

 tory without appreciation of details. Today there are hundreds 

 of men on good farms, in our state, who would be immensely 

 benefited if, by some power, their field of operations could be 

 reduced one-half. Firmly believing in the small farm for this 

 increasing class, I am convinced that the state might do an 

 immense service by aiding in determining the fact that on ten 

 acres of good hilly land, adapted to different crops, a man can 

 earn a good support for himself and small family. 



To my mind it would be grossly unfair to present the marked 

 illustration of specialists engaged in high pressure work, 

 with greenhouses in abundance, where $i,ooo per acre is fre- 

 quently realized, but make the basis of my plea those who, like 

 myself, are seeking by general, rather than specially intensive 

 methods, to solve the problem. Space writers in newspapers 

 and magazines have worked great injury by representing a net 

 profit of $300 per acre from apple trees three years after set- 

 ting, $1,000 from one-half acre of everbearing strawberries or 

 $10 net profit per hen for the novice, statements grossly mis- 

 leading, absolutely false, certain to ruin those who accept 

 without good knowledge of fundamental principles. At the 

 same time there is danger that men will refuse to accept the 

 possibility of a fair yearly income from a few acres and be 

 deterred from purchasing because not prepared to operate a 

 larger farm. 



With nine years' experience on a field now including practi- 

 cally ten acres, which, prior to 1908, has not produced $50 a 

 year for years, keeping an accurate account of all expenses and 



