190 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



facilities for grazing, good grass lands, good water, plenty of lum- 

 ber to build warm barns, plenty of help to take care of our cattle, 

 and tee can have good cattle. 



The largest profits and the most successful results in our farming 

 come from the dairy and from stock-raising. Neglect these, and 

 we lose ; be careful with them and we gain. 



In this region where our farms are small, we are by necessitj- con- 

 fined to mixed crops, and it is well that we are. One class of pro- 

 ducts can follow another, each drawing the elements of its growth 

 in different proportions, from the soil, and thus jnelding greater re- 

 sults than can be secured b}' devoting the land to a succession of 

 the same product. 



Marketing the products of the farm is a branch of our business 

 that needs sharply to be looked after in f^astern Maine. We have no 

 large towns, and our home market is small and easily supplied, and 

 the question of what shall we do with our products is continually aris- 

 ing. Upon the sea-coast we are in direct communication with the 

 great business centres, and we can market as readil}' from Maine as 

 can be done in any other State. It costs no more to ship by steamer 

 or vessel to Boston or New York from here than it does many times 

 to ship fifty miles by rail in the vicinity of those places. In my 

 vicinit}', for a few 3ears past, we have been in the habit of shipping 

 our produce to Boston, b}' clubbing together and filling a vessel, and 

 either giving the master a commission for selling, or consigning 

 them for sale. This plan has worked well, and has given us the 

 highest mai'ket rates for our products. There has alwa3-s been a 

 want of co-operation among the farmers, which has left them in their 

 individualit3'*a pre^' to the avarice of the traders who give what they 

 have a mind to for our products, and ask their own prices for their 

 goods. The whole trade has been one of barter, and it is rare for 

 a farmer to get his cash for his labor, unless he sells at reduced 

 rates. This must be remedied, and concert of action among us, and 

 that alone, can remed}' it. The most profitable farming is not done 

 by the nail-keg farmer in the country- store, but b}- the stalwart son 

 of the soil, whose well directed industry', and well balanced busi- 

 ness mind, keeps him constantly looking after all the little things, 

 that, taken together, will give him large results. 



