SECRETARY'S REPORT. 53 



In rcsumino; the consideration of asiriculture as it exists in the 

 older parts of the State, what strikes one first and most forcibly 

 after viewing these new lands of Aroostook, suggests an unpleasant 

 topic, but nevertheless one which we are compelled to entertain and 

 deem it a duty to discuss ; namely, tliat a large proportion of our 

 lands now under cultivation have not maintained their original pro- 

 ductiveness, but are more or less exhausted. This none will deny. 

 It is too stern a reality and too painfully realized by all ; and if it 

 be asked how this came to pass, there can be as little doubt with 

 regard to the reply as there is with regard to the fact, to wit : by 

 injudicious taxation of the soil and by making too scanty returns to 

 it, of the elements of fertility which were cari-ied off in the crops. 

 The system of husbandry pursued from earliest times, or more pro- 

 perly, the husbandry without system which was pursued, had for 

 its object the acquisition of the greatest crops, (at least expendi- 

 ture,) and lolthout reference to the continued fertility of the soil. 

 Labor was dear and land cheap. A little labor would purchase a 

 goodly tract of virgin soil, which possessed every needful element 

 for luxuriant growth. When the land, after repeated croppings, 

 began to fail, it was deemed cheaper to extend the clearings and 

 occupy new soil, than to recover to fertility the old, and so the ex- 

 hausting practice became the prevailing one, and has continued to 

 be up to a late date, if, indeed, it may not be said that a better 

 course is not rather the exception than the rule, at the present time. 

 That it was so at first, is more to be regretted than to be wondered 

 at. Whether it shall continue or not, is a matter worthy of grave 

 deliberation, and one for the formers of Maine to decide. 



In a circular issued in April last, besides inquiring as to the best 

 means of renovating such lands, the question was put, whether, in a 

 pecuniary point of view, it was now the better policy to exhaust them 

 still further and then to abandon and emigrate, or to recover them 

 to a generous degree of productiveness. The replies are numerous, 

 and show conclusively that while some difference of opinion may 

 exist as to the more advisable course if immediate gain be the only 



