62 



BOARD OF AGRICULTUIIE. 



less than 900.000 tons,"'^ which at a low estimate is worth, where 

 it is stored, seven to eight millions of dollars, and which is 

 nearly as much as all our otlicr cultivated crops amount to, 

 coupled with the fact, that with due care and attention, it might 

 easily be doubled, if not trebled, shows at once, both its present 

 importance, and what it is capable of being made. 



To the above suggestions are here appended several state- 

 ments received from various individuals, as to the soils and 

 adaptation of their respective localities : 



FROM JAJIES M. SIIATV. 



" The surface of tlio town of "Waterford is undulating, and in parts^ 

 hilly and mountainous. Its area is fifty square miles, or 31,775 acres. 

 It contains several ponds, the area of which is 1,784 acres. The soil is 

 mostly gravelly loam, formed from the detritus of granite rocks ; a 

 small portion of sandy plain, and a few patches of bog or meadow 

 land. The soil is generally deep and productive, and well adapted to 

 tillage crops and grazing." 



FKOM ASA CHARLES. 



" The soil of Fryeburg is well adapted to most of the cultivated 

 crops raised in the State. In addition to the hay crop from cultivated 

 land, it has a large extent of natural or fresh meadow lands, yielding 

 a great quantity of very passable feed for stock in winter. It can, 

 therefore, successfully compete with any toAvn in this vicinity, in win- 

 ter feeding of stock ; but it has no pasturage, and can have none, with- 

 out taking for this purpose lands best adapted to cultivated crops. We 

 have, therefore, to seek pasturage out of town — a material drawback 

 on stock-raising." f 



* The hay crop of Maine in 1819, according to the Censns Report, was 755,889 tons ; whpat 

 290,259 bushels; rye, 102,910 bushels; oats, 2,181,037 bushels; Indian corn, 1,750,050 bushels; 

 potatoes, 3,430,0-10 bushels; barley, 132,731 bushels; buckwheat, 104,523 bushels; hops, 40,120 

 lbs.; butter, 9,213,811 lb?.; cheese, 2,434,454 lbs.; peas and beans, 205,541 bushels; prndnco of 

 market gardens, $122,387 ; orchard produce, $342,805 ; beeswax and honey, 189,018 lbs. Who- 

 ever will estimate the value of these, will see that tlie hay crop about c(itials all the rest in value.. 



+ [laving mountain land in abundance in the immediate vicinity, which must be cheap, the sug- 

 gestion is ofTered whether the circumstances of the people in this town do not indicate that they may 

 make stock-growing all the more profitable, by the adoptionof a judicious system of management .'' 

 Is it not the true policy to have a mountain pasture for young stock, and then adopt a short term 

 of pasturage for horses, working oxen and cows, as one part of a system of rotation on their cul-- 

 tivated lands.' In this way, may they not raise stock cheaper than others in different circuu* 

 ■tancos ! 



