3 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



opportunity presented to invite anew, a candid and critical examina- 

 tion of the inducements offered by a judicious selection of virgin 

 soil witliin our own borders, I do not feel at liberty to neglect the 

 latter path, and accordingly propose herewith, first, to present such 

 facts and considerations regarding a part of our newer territory, as I 

 have been able to gather by personal observation and by inquiries 

 instituted on the spot, and afterwards, to resume the consideration of 

 agriculture in the State at large, viewed specially with regard to its 

 defects and available modes of improvement. 



The portion of our unsettled territory which is believed at this 

 time to present the greatest inducements to immigration, is what is 

 known as the Valley of the Aroostook, together with a tract fifty 

 miles, more or less, south of this, embracing the five easternmost 

 ranges of townships, and which is drained in part by other tributa- 

 ries of the St. John, but principally by those of the Penobscot. 



The greater part of this territory, embracing upwards of two 

 thousand square miles, is what is usually denominated settling land, 

 although lumbering has been largely, and is still, to a considerable 

 extent, carried on in some sections of it ; in other portions no more 

 timber now exists than will be needed for building purposes. The 

 land throughout is uniformly good ; in some of these townships 

 scarce a lot of one hundred and sixty acres can be found which is 

 not capable of being made a good farm, and but little waste land is 

 believed to exist in any of them. 



The surface is more or less undulating, the easterly ranges of 

 townships being less hilly, and more free from stone, than is usual in 

 the State at large ; the ranges west of these, as fourth and fifth, are 

 more broken in surface, sometimes hilly, and with frequent boulders 

 and out-cro[S of limestone, slate, &c. Some townships in the first 

 range are so free from stones that even a suflficiency for wells, cel- 

 lars, &c., is not always readily obtained. 



The soil is various, but consists mainly of a deep rich hazel loam, 

 and is usually underlaid with a substratum of limestone, sometimes, 

 but to less extent, with slate, the depth varying from two to six or 

 moi-e feet. The soil seems to have originated mostly from the 

 decomposition of limestone and slate. I noticed nothing like hard 

 pan, clay or other appeai'ance of retentive subsoil, tiie water passing 

 readily downward so as to obviate any necessity for underdraining. 



