70 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



ence of the past year has taught any lesson it is that of greater 

 rehance upon the corn crop. Droughts will come and cows will 

 shrink unless the farmer is prepared at all seasons and the lesson 

 is obvious. 



Throughout Central Maine the growing of potatoes is claim- 

 ing increased attention yearly and we are learning that the more 

 thorougli the cultivation of the land the better for succeeding 

 hay crops, but before that field is seeded there should be grown 

 the corn cro]) to balance conditions and insure that wealth of 

 ]dant food for the large hay crop to follow. Every acre must 

 produce more that the labor item may be minimized. The day 

 has gone for a man to mow twenty acres for a ten acre crop. 



1 consider the recent work of the Station in developing sweet 

 corn seed of inestimable value to that important industry, elim- 

 inating as it has and will, to a large extent, the element of 

 chance which has been so dominant a factor in the past and 

 insuring a (jualitv of seed nearly or (juite as resistant as our 

 yellow corn. You cannot ]iut a cash value upon the possible 

 good certain to follow such experiments. Another step equally 

 im])ortant is th.e )>roposed perfecting of the dent corn, grown 

 for so many years by a farmer in Maine, making of it a most 

 valuable ensilage crop, richer in j)rotein than many of the flint 

 varieties and promising a larger yield of shelled corn per acre. 

 This is the work which taken up and carried forward by our 

 farmers in harmony with the exact methods of the experi- 

 menters will greatly enhance the value of the corn crop to the 

 State and insure a degree of profit to the growers not otherwise 

 to be obtained. 



With this good work I want to enter my plea for more atten- 

 tion to our native yellow corn, for where the corn tassels rear 

 their spires and the stalks rustle in the autumn breezes there is 

 sure promi.se of lasting prosperity. This native product of New 

 l{ngland has not yet been developed to its full capacity either in 

 stalk, yield of corn, or food nutrients, and no man dares today 

 to set the limit along either line. In this field of experimenta- 

 tion the live farmer finds the one chief source of satisfaction, 

 for out of the desire for master}', there is sure to follow the 

 determination to know more of the life history of the plant or 

 animal and. following this, that ambition which alone can 



