SECRETARY'S REPORT, 4g 



desire to exalt ono or degrade the other. I wish to correct the erroneous views 

 which exist in reference to this favored portion of our State, and to remind 

 you that the lines have fallen to you in pleasant places, that witli cheerful 

 hearts, and willing hands, you may meet the unfinished task that lies before 

 you. 



The valley of the Aroostook is not, as many suppose, a narrow strip of land, 

 upon either side of this important tributary to the St. John, hemmed in by 

 lofty mountains or barren hills. On the contrary, we have a wide spreading 

 country, neither mountainous nor hilly, with a surface generally undulating, 

 interspersed here and there with a narrow swamp of ever-verdant cedar, not 

 unfrequently diversified with the more stately tamarack. As every portion of 

 this extended valley is similar in its general aspect, so also is there an uncom- 

 mon uniformity in the productive power of the soil. And without fear of 

 contradiction, I assert that it is more fertile than .any other county in New 

 England. The reports of this society show that our soil, without the addition 

 of any fertilizer, is capable of producing forty bushels of wheat to the acre, 

 and of oats more than ona hundred. The other cereal grains are also produced 

 in corresponding abundance, with the single exception of Indian corn. Even 

 with this, many have met with fair success, some growing forty, some sixty, 

 and some eighty bushels to the acre. But whether corn will ever be, with us, 

 a safe and profitable crop, is in my opinion a matter of uncertainty. The 

 potato crop, naturally abundant and of superior quality, has suffered from 

 that mysterious blight, the potato rot, as it has in other portions of our Stato 

 and country. As yet, compared with other portions of the potato-growing 

 world, we have escaped almost uninjured by this fell destroyer. 



Our soil, almost free from stone, and easy of cultivation, is well adapted to 

 the culture of other esculent roots. Various kinds of turnips, beets, and 

 carrots, have been no mean agents in augmenting the farmer's wealth. 



The hay and grazing crop, the chief production of New England, that from 

 which nine-tenths of all her agriculturists derive their greatest profits, is not 

 more partial to any portion of the eastern States, unless it has been pampered 

 by a higher state of cultivation. 



In our northern climate we do not expect every advantage of Southern New 

 Ejigland ; yet with judicious management, the cereal grains, with a single 

 exception, do not fail to reward the laborer's toil. If we are more exposed to 

 untimely frosts, we are more secure fronv the intrusion of the insect tribes, 

 and the drought of summer ; and hence, with proper care, I consider a crop 

 in North Aroostook, as certain as in any portion of the eastern or northern 

 States. 



But let us turn from the natural resources of the country, and inquire what 

 has been done by the first settlers of this infant community. When I reflect, 

 that within the last ten or twelve years, nearly all of them, with liitle or no 

 property, have settled upon lands covered bj a dense forest, and that by the 

 unremitting toil of their own unaided hands, they have sustained families 

 they loved, changed the wilderness to a fruitful field, erected dwellinga, and 



