I02 AGRICUI.TURE; OF MAINE. 



Hudson and Champlain Valleys, the New England States in 

 which, as I have already said, there is considerable territory 

 which is non agricultural. The southern part of these states 

 turns the greater portion of its milk into the local markets. 

 These numerous cities that I spoke of, although they are the 

 smaller cities of the region, take the local milk supply. This 

 leaves Boston to draw its milk and its cream supply from a 

 narrow wedge spreading west and northwest. It cannot come 

 very far to the east, and on the west are the Berkshire hills and 

 the Adirondacks. And as soon as we reach the agricultural 

 land of that section, the city of New York is taking all the sup- 

 ply. That leaves New Hampshire, a little bit of Vermont (the 

 rest has not yet been developed as a milk shipping section) and 

 a portion of Maine to supply sweet cream and milk for the city 

 of Boston. Boston and New York are growing, and are begin- 

 ning to interfere with each other in their territory for milk and 

 cream. 



This may not seem to have any bearing on the conditions of 

 the State of Maine, at first glance, but I think it does have an 

 important bearing on them. We have thousands of acres of 

 good agricultural land, and I know from personal observation 

 that too many of them are producing only one-fourth to one- 

 tenth of the product they might easily produce. As this market 

 increases, and as the products of the State of Maine become 

 better and better established in the markets that they have made 

 for themselves by their own quality, we shall have to produce 

 more milk, more butter and more cream per acre, especially in 

 this part of the State. Some day, some of the learned profes- 

 sors tell us, the milk business is going to extend even into 

 Aroostook county, but we have enough to attend to here for the 

 present. It means, in brief, that the land must be worked more, 

 it must be turned over more. We must get more cream and 

 more butter out of an acre of land, where there is a good acre. 

 There are enough of these non agricultural regions that will cut 

 down the acreage anyway. 



I am connected with the Department of Agriculture at Wash- 

 ington, and in it with the office of farm management, so called, 

 at the head of which is Prof. Spillman, a man who is familiar 

 with the agriculture of practically the whole of the United 

 States. For many years he worked in the state of Washington, 



