128 agriculture; of maine;, 



tin & Haines finally agreed to reorganize under the name of 

 the Farmers Union Grain and Supply Company and increase 

 the capital stock from $10,000.00 to $20,000.00, the total cap- 

 italization to be paid in by Austin & Haines. A side contract 

 was then made with the said Austin & Haines whereby they are 

 to sell to the Farmers Union, or its constituent members, as 

 they may desire, said stock of said grain company so held by 

 them, at par, until the amount of stock so sold by both of them 

 shall equal 49 per cent of the total amount of the stock of said 

 Farmers Union Grain and Supply Company issued and out- 

 standing. Then they agreed to turn over the whole remain- 

 ing 51 per cent in a block, to said Union or any of its 

 constituent members at par as aforesaid, if said members or 

 the Union so desire to purchase. The said Austin & Haines 

 further agree to sell to the new corporation its real estate in 

 Waterville for thirteen thousand eight hundred dollars ($13,- 

 800.00.) 



This property consists of two large buildings fully equipped 

 for doing a grain business and quite a large tract of land, on 

 which it is proposed to build a storage house for potatoes and 

 other products, and also open a coal and wood yard. Since 

 the reorganization, business has increased rapidly ard it is 

 estimated that the first year will show a gross business of more 

 than $100,000.00. 



FERTILIZER. 



One of the most important articles purchased by the farmer 

 is commercial fertilizer. It is estimated that the total tonnage 

 of the state amounts to 130,000 tons and this undoubtedly is a 

 conservative estimate. Estimating the value at $36.00 per ton 

 the farmers of Maine pay out annually $4,680,000.00. This is 

 about one-third of the value of the potato crop annually mar- 

 keted. 



While the Maine farmer exercises great care in preparing the 

 seed bed and carrying on other farm operations, he purchases 

 his fertilizer as a rule without any knowledge of its actual 

 growing qualities and gambles as to results. The Department 

 believed that all farm operations should be conducted with as 

 much certainty as the nature of the business would permit and 



