264 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



The ten tons of well-cured hay sold would carry three cows 

 and a horse with the corn fodder, now used as mulch for trees, 

 purchased grain and pasturage, materially reducing the fertil- 

 izer bill, wiping out the amount for dressing, adding the net 

 income of the cows to the gross income from crops. Certainly, 

 the hay might easily be made to pay more than its fertilizer 

 .value. 



With the hens and cows there goes the horse to reduce team 

 hire and the brood sow to add her earnings to the grand total. 

 That I do not employ all these is simply because I do not care 

 to tie myself to routine work for the entire year, but am satis- 

 fied to realize substantial net returns under present method.<i. 

 Have I made clear the possibility of this gross income of $800 

 to $1,000? 



Experience is forcing the conviction that no man appreciates 

 the responsiveness of nature when given an intelligent invita- 

 tion, that possible tree growth and crop production reach far 

 beyond present comprehension and that too often we ourselves 

 are the stumbling blocks in our own pathway. We prate about 

 what we can do, but we do mighty little. Breeders talk of the 

 individuality of animals. I would emphasize the individuality 

 of soils — something to be far more critically studied in the 

 future than it has been in the past. A general classification is 

 possible, but beyond there lies an inviting field for the individ- 

 ual worker. You cannot fight nature and expect to win out, 

 therefore the buyer of a small farm will do well to follow the 

 general line of cropping in his community until he has learned 

 by experience what variations will be willingly accepted. 



No man knows the potential power in any acre, therefore 

 we may well be humble students of a big, big problem. We 

 talk of large yields, yet the average is ridiculously low, and in 

 no case does it reach full capacity. Men are content with 60 

 bushels of shelled corn per acre when the boys, who have 

 unbounded faith, exceed 100. We plant 18,000 kernels per 

 acre, in rows and hills three feet apart, and are content with 

 14,000 stalks, 4,000 of those being barren. Here's a reflection 

 on our intelligence not to be lightly passed over. We charge it 

 to the soil, the seed, the season, the fertilizer, but no one 

 charges it back upon the grower where responsibility must 



