INTRODUCTION. XV 



average 6| or T bushels to the cask after it is slacked. I bought 

 some refuse-black lime once, but did not think it profitable. I 

 barrow it in. Generally I use only the roller with which to cover 

 my grass seed. The discussion occupied the entire forenoon, and 

 was regarded as very profitable. 



In the afternoon a paper on the Resources of Aroostook County, 

 was read by Isaac Barker, member of the Board for that county. 

 " There is no county in Maine so rich in all the elements of a 

 great wealth and for sustaining a great population as the county 

 of Aroostook — with its noble river and tributaries entering more 

 than fifty townships, many of them still covered with primeval 

 forests, which become more and more valuable each year as immi- 

 gration still continues to these hitherto worthless forests. Aroos- 

 took's mighty forests contain hundreds of thousands of acres of pine, 

 spruce, hemlock, cedar, maple, birch, beech, ash, elm and basswood. 

 In addition to all this, there is scattered about this county lime- 

 stone of excellent quality. Since the opening of the railroad to 

 Houlton, larger quantities of hay, oats and potatoes are shipped, 

 to Boston. Starch factories are scattered about the county to the 

 extent of ten or twelve, which consume annually from fifty to 

 eighty thousand bushels of potatoes each. With us, as in other 

 counties, the stimulating idea of a 2 40 nag has proved detrimen- 

 tal to the farmers' true interest. But in .consideration of the 

 many cheese factories which are being built throughout our county 

 and the facilities for grazing, it is hoped the farmers will awaken 

 to the idea of keeping more cows and raising more stock." 

 Following the reading of the paper, proper, Mr. Bai'ker made 

 some additional statements concerning farming in the county, of 

 which a summary is given herewith : 



There are in Aroostook county three cheese factories and eight 

 or ten starch factories. The latter pay from 25 to 30 cents per 

 bushel for potatoes — at Houlton 30 cents ; at Bridgewater and 

 Presque Isle, 25 cents, and I believe they pay 35 cents at Fort 

 Fairfield this year. They take them large and small, as they come. 

 When the factories were built the farmers contracted to furnish 

 potatoes, delivered at the factories, for 25 cents per bushel for five 

 years. The factories are owned mostly by parties in the county. 

 They run as long as they can get potatoes. How much they 

 could afford to pay on the average I cannot tell. They do not 

 want to tell us what their profits are, but they say 30 cents is as 

 much as they can afford to pay. They buy them by weight, 60 



