IOO AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



FARM RENOVATION. 

 By E. P. Mayo, Waterville, Me. 



I am asked to address this company on what I know about 

 agriculture, but really I have to admit on the start that I know 

 little or nothing about agricultural operations as conducted today 

 on practical lines. If you wanted me to tell you how a poor 

 man, rich only in an abundance of boys, could take a depleted 

 farm and bring it into a state of fertility in the space of a few 

 years, without a dollar to expend for improved machinery or 

 for fertilizers, I could do it, because nearly forty years ago I 

 was an active participator in just such an operation. How many 

 of us who have passed the meridian of life could do what my 

 father successfully accomplished on a small, stony, run-out farm? 

 When he undertook the problem he had other duties that took 

 more or less of his time, but which paid him a very small stipend 

 for the time thus employed. This reduced the working force 

 very considerably, and the only aid he received was from two 

 small lads who had no more relish for hard work than the 

 average boy has. The task that he undertook was not only to 

 bring the farm back to a state of fertility, but to support his 

 family therefrom in the meantime. Does any one for a moment 

 think that it was a light, trivial matter? If so try it, and you 

 will be corrected in your error. When he commenced the task 

 he commenced it with a sturdy determination to win, and that 

 is one of the elements that should not be lost sight of in con- 

 sidering the problem under discussion. He did not take hold 

 of it to see if farming would pay. Neither was he a trained 

 agriculturalist, either in theory or in practice. But he had a 

 theory as to how a, farm should be conducted to be successful, 

 and he had the courage of his convictions, and nearly single 

 handed, as it were, he undertook the almost herculean task. 



Nerved with the enthusiasm that always goes with the deter- 

 mination to succeed, he took possession of the farm, and the first 

 winter had to buy hay to winter a single cow and a horse. How 



