10 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



luxuriant grass. Others in the same town plow deeper, some to 

 the depth of nine inches, but all agree in opinion, that it is not 

 advisable to disturb more than an additional inch each year, unless 

 manure of some kind be liberally applied, as otherwise the crops not 

 only get no immediate benefit, but are rather injured. Thirty or 

 forty miles north of Houlton, as at Fort Fairfield and vicinity, the 

 first plowing is often eight to ten inches deep, and with the most 

 gratifying results. The soil generally exhibits unmistakable evi- 

 dences of great inherent fertility, and of the land at large, it may 

 be said, as of another in olden story, in it "thou mayest eat bread 

 without scarceness." 



The natural fertility of the soil is also shown in a satisfactory 

 manner by the actual thrift and prosperity of the settlers, many of 

 whom came here a few years ago, poor and destitute, and some seri- 

 ously embarrassed, but are now in easy circumstances. I did not learn 

 of a single instance in which a man, enjoying ordinary health, and 

 resisting the temptation to meddle with timber, had devoted himself 

 to farming operations without highly gratifying success. 



Natural Growth. The forest trees of this section are of mixed 

 growth. The sugar maple and yellow birch prevail chiefly, and 

 these attain very great size. They are intermingled with occasional 

 lofty pines, spruce, fir, white cedar, poplar, elm, ash, &c. In the 

 lower lands, the evergreens here named, with some hemlock and 

 abundance of larch or hackmetac, are plenty, but they are by no 

 means confined to wet soils. Although much choice timber has 

 been cut and found a market via the river St. John, considerable 

 wealth of foi'est yet remains. 



Climate. This is the great bugbear, in the minds of many, as 

 an obstacle to successful farming any where in Maine ; and Aroos- 

 took, being the most northerly county in the State, is often deemed 

 moreobjectionable for this reason. But while it has its peculiarities, 

 I failed to see cause to deem it the worst. 



It is an exceedingly healthy climate. Upon this point, I cannot 

 do better than to quote from the late statistical report on the sickness 

 and mortality in the ^rmy of the United States, compiled from the 

 records of the Surgeon Generars office, as the testimony of the sur- 

 geons stationed in Aroostook in 1844-5, when their reports were 

 made, is both disinterested and conclusive^ and reveals a remarkable 



