64 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



purchased cheaper than it could be produced. This spirit of 

 dependence upon the western grain store has been a positive 

 block in the pathway of progress. That condition must be 

 broken before there can be that spirit of enthusiasm permeating 

 our rural sections which will attract young people to the farm. 

 It is not that individuals are not able to realize in spite of the 

 burden of grain bills but that the unconscious influence of this 

 practice checks the promotion of the industry. When the 

 impression is made that a finished product is possible only by 

 the use of raw material brought from a distance, the effect is 

 to divert attention towards the seat of production of that raw 

 material. If, in the case of our stock husbandry, this is 

 necessary we could face the situation and prepare to do the best 

 that is possible, but it is not, except in the case of a restricted 

 amount of feeding stuff. Better knowledge of food elements, 

 the valuable demonstrations by scientific investigators and the 

 low price of western feeding stuff in the past have combined 

 to turn attention away from New England farms, but with this 

 knowledge coupled with the demonstrations and backed by the 

 fact that the day for low prices of western grain has passed, 

 never to return, the lesson presents itself in different form, 

 Maine farms can and must produce in larger degree the feeding 

 stuff' wanted for the perfecting of any stock or making of any 

 product. Deny this proposition and you bar the further progress 

 of our agriculture, admit its truth and the lesson is self-evident. 

 If the development of agriculture rests upon stock husbandry, 

 or milk production, success in stock growing can be insured 

 only through increased dependence upon the home grown crops, 

 corn, next to grass, being our chief reliance. 



Very close to the heart of this problem of agricultural devel- 

 opment, so important to the State and Nation, lies this ques- 

 tion of the corn fields. Upon the success of the corn crop in 

 New England, more than any other, rests the future of the 

 industry. Nowhere does the flint corn perfect itself more 

 completely than throughout southern and central ]\Iaine and 

 nowhere is greater yield per acre possible. 



Sixty bushels of shelled corn per acre is far and away beyond 

 the yield of the corn belt of the west, but not the limit on Maine 

 fields. There is great danger today that public attention may 



