SECRETARY'S REPORT. 57 



at wasteful and unproductive places, should be spent upon waste and unpro- 

 ductive lands. About one-quarter of the farmers pursue the above mentioned 

 slovenly practice." 



J. Davis, Webster. 



" I have not much doubt, if we take a pecuniary point of view, solely, that 

 emigration would be the better policy, but when we look at the case in all its 

 bearings, doubtless in most cases the other would be the wisest course." 



\Y. H. Powers. 



" The former is the common idea. Easy to prove that the latter is our true 

 policy. Capital and labor expended on our farms is well expended." 



E. S. Hopkins, New Portland. 



" If there was no other consideration by which to be influenced than where 

 can be obtained the greatest returns for the least amount of labor, there can 

 be no doubt but the west must be preferred to Maine. But there are other 

 considerations which in my mind, far outweigh the increased fertility of the 

 soil." 



Elijah Barrels, Greene. 



" The policy now seems to be, to exhaust the land, go west and practice 

 there the same exhausting principles. There seems to me to be nothing noble 

 in walking over God's heritage in this ruthless manner ; rather let us be gen- 

 erous and return something to mother earth in the shape of fertilizers, and we 

 shall have no reason then, for pulling up stakes and going to the west." 



S. Haskell, Gape Elizabeth. 



" I should not think it best to exhaust it, nor to emigrate, but to crop less. 

 I had about twenty-five acres that I cultivated, and my health became poor, 

 and one of my boys went to sea. I had but one at home, and I found my 

 land was running out. I turned about one-third of it into pasture, and now I 

 get a third more than previously from the whole, and at less expense." 



N. Hinckley, Monmouth. 



" We do not think man was designed to be a mere migratory animal, con- 

 tinually moving onward and leaving desolation behind them, but that the 

 God of nature has given us means, if we will discover and attend to them, by 

 which we may keep our 'mother earth in heart,' and leave her in as good 

 condition as we found her." 



E. Jones, Mi not. 



" The better policy would be to recover the lands to a good state of pro- 

 ductiveness. I believe it is more for the interest of Maine, to encourage her 



