SECRETARY'S REPORT. 61 



The agriculture of Maine, viewed as a whole, may properly be 

 termed low farming ; that is to say, the breadth of land occupied 

 is large compared with the value of the returns. " Low farming " 

 is not to be understood as a term of reproach, for, in its place, and 

 pursued with discretion and judgment, it is as creditable to the 

 operator as the production of great crops from a small area by the 

 addition of abundant labor and manure. 



The price of land and of labor, location, demand and other cir- 

 cumstances, have much to do with determining what style of farm- 

 ing may be most successfully pursued. But whether high farming 

 or low farming, whether the land be a rocky hill pasture where the 

 plow cannot be used, or a teeming market garden, wrought by 

 spade labor, the husbandry should be such as to put the land to 

 the most profitable use for the production of food for man and 

 beast. 



That Maine is better adapted to a stock, rather than a grain 

 husbandry, will, I presume, be readily conceded by all. It com- 

 ports with cheap land, for we can use much for pasturage, with 

 dear labor, for we can get along without a great deal, with our 

 markets and soil, for we can more cheaply convey animal products 

 to market than vegetable productions, while the manure yielded 

 by the consumption of the latter at home enables us gradually to 

 increase the fertility of our lands. 



The term stock husbandry, however, is a very broad one. It 

 includes the breeding and rearing, the keeping and using of all the 

 animals of the farm. It is not deemed necessary to urge its adop- 

 tion, it being in fact the leading feature of the agriculture of Maine 

 at the present time. But there is room for great improvement in 

 the methods of conducting it, and in the selection of the branches 

 of it to be pursued. 



It would be ill advice to recommend the roaring of more cattle— 

 at least until the means of supporting them are greatly increased. 

 More have been reared in years past than could be well supported 

 and brought to maturity upon our farms. Consequently large 

 numbers have been sold off, young or lean, and the prices realized 

 have been very low compared with the cost of rearing. If fewer 



