238 PENOBSCOT AND AROOSTOOK SOCIETY. 



an avcraf^c, sixty-one pounds per bushel ; also eight tons of 

 pumpkins on tlic same acre. In more backward seasons I 

 apply the same rule which I was frequently under the necessity 

 of doing while in ;^[assachusetts, viz : by cutting up and stock- 

 ing, leaving it to ripen, taking care to take in before the late 

 rains ; and on the whole, have succeeded as safely and as well as 

 in Massachusetts, except requiring a little more attention and 

 care. My neighbor, Mr. Alfred Cushman, says he has raised 

 eighty-six bushels of ears of corn this season from a half acre 

 of plowed land. The Hon. Ira Fish of Patten, and Mr. Lovejoy 

 of Crystal plantation, with many others, have raised good crops 

 of corn, the amount I have not ascertained, all of which is as 

 ripe and probably as heavy as any raised in Maine. Although 

 our land in this section is capable of producing large crops, as 

 has generally been the case formerly, the past season lias failed, 

 in consequence of the continued rains and foggy weather. Some 

 farmers have come up to from twenty to thirty bushels of wheat 

 to the acre, while a majority fall much below. 



The root crop also has been affected as above, notwithstand- 

 ing many have raised fair crops. A. Cushman has raised from 

 one-quarter of an acre two hundred and seventeen bushels of 

 carrots, being somewhat injured by rustt I have also been 

 informed that Mr. Twitchell of Shin pond, so called, has raised 

 seven hundred bushels of potatoes from about two acres. Mr. 

 Isaac Robinson of Crystal plantation, from one acre, raised two 

 hundred bushels, called the Irish apple, all free from rot. By 

 the same, twelve bushels of Russia onions on six rods of land. 

 Mr. II. N. Darling raised at the rate of eighty bushels of white 

 beans to the acre. I would remark that beans do well here. 

 I have every season, for fourteen years, raised a surplus above 

 what I use in my family. 



There is no necessity for want or famine in the Aroostook 

 valley. So long as we mind our own business, stick to our 

 farms and do our duty, with the help of Providence we are sure 

 to prosper. I have never known a single instance, when the 

 above rule has been complied with, where the individual has 

 not risen in wealth and comfort, although he may have com- 

 menced poor. I know of no place where such persons receive 

 more or even as much remuneration for their labor. Rut I am 



