50 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



suits have emigrated from your town since A. D. ISoOr Why did 

 they go, and where have they gone ? 



You will greatly oblige me by answering as fully as possible, and 

 returning the reply to me at Saco, before the first of August. 



Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 



S. L. GOODALE, 



Secretary of the Board of Agriculture. 



• 



From the replies whicli have been received, and for wliieli I 

 take this opportunity of tendering to all who have responded 

 to it, my grateful acknowledgments, together witli such other 

 sources of information as have been at command, and from per- 

 sonal observation, the attempt is made to give as accurate an 

 idea of the present condition and prospects of our agriculture, 

 as the means admit; and to present it as nearly as convenient 

 in the order of the questions, grouping togetlier such as are 

 related. 



It maybe well here to say, that although replies were i-cceivcd 

 from all sections of the State, and in considerable numbers, too 

 many towns were not heard from, to warrant the assumption 

 that they certainly give a correct view, yet it may be fair to 

 presume that they make a near approach to it. 



First, as to the adaptation of the soil of Maine, to vaiied 

 farming purposes. Of the towns which respond to this inquiry, 

 thirteen per cent, say," best adapted to tillage ; " thirty-two per 

 cent, saj', " equally adapted to tillage, grazing and stock- 

 growing." A few say, " best for fruit," and other few, " better 

 for sheep husbandry;" while forty per cent, answer, "best for 

 grazing and stock-growing." The replies, as a whole, give the 

 impression strongly, that of the leading branches of agriculture 

 a very large proportion of our soil is as well, or better adapted 

 to the growth and sustenance of cattle, for the various uses to 

 which they are subservient — for the dairy, for labor, for beef, 

 &c., than to any other; and this impression accords with that 

 received from other sources. But if we admit its correctness, 

 a dilemma arises, for when we examine the replies to the query 

 as to the chief products sold from the farm, cattle and beef, 



