j88 AGRiCULTURIC OF MAINE. 



of rural pursuits by carrying on such investigations and experi- 

 ments and by growing and disseminating such new and superior 

 varieties of farm seeds and plants as shall be of benefit to all 

 parties interested in progressive agriculture ; by distributing 

 literature bearing upon the work of the Association and other 

 agricultural investigations, and by holding an annual meeting 

 for the discussion of topics and experiments beneficial to the 

 members. Relative to these various purposes of the Associa- 

 tion, I will endeavor to explain the work of the Field Agent 

 and the problems encountered in plant improvement. In my 

 visits to farmers of the Maine Seed Improvement Association 

 my object has been to get a general idea first of the man, and 

 second, of the farm which he operates. In order to be a suc- 

 cessful seed grower a man must first be a good farmer. Unless 

 one has some idea of what constitutes the principles of plant 

 selection and of the benefits which will come to him in the 

 .growing of superior seed, it is a pretty difficult matter to make 

 of him a successful seeds grower. He must be interested in his 

 work and the possibility of advancement through intelligent 

 management of his farm. Every member of the Seed Improve- 

 ment Association ought to carry on his farm according to some 

 definite system and that system should embrace crop rotation. 

 No man can keep his land clean and free from weeds unless he 

 cultivates the soil every few years. On many of our farms we 

 find men plowing up small fields within large areas, that is, 

 taking, as is often done, a .piece in the middle of a large hay 

 field. From this location of his cultivated field this year he 

 will go to some other part of the hay field to plant a hoed crop 

 the next year. The result is an unsystematic plan of cropping. 

 Observation will teach almost anyone studying Maine agricul- 

 tural conditions that much of our trouble with weeds comes 

 first through this unsystematic method of cropping. Clean 

 fields mean everything to the grower of crops for seed, and 

 with this aim in view, and knowing as we do that cropping 

 systems based on a definite rotation are producing the best 

 results in the Old World and in the better farming regions of 

 this country, it would seem that the seeds grower cannot hope 

 to gain the greatest success unless he has in mind a definite 

 system of rotation. 



I believe that farmers and educationists in Maine must 

 realize more than ever todav that in order to better our condi- 



