20 ■ AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



First, education and assistance in all matters relating to the 

 improvement of the methods of producing and handling his 

 many crops. 



Second, suitable and convenient arrangements for securing 

 the credit that is necessary to enable him to conduct his busi- 

 ness from one crop season to another. 



Third, he needs assistance in the establishment of a market- 

 ing system which will return to him the true value oi the 

 particular qualities of the various crops that he produces, minus 

 reasonable charges for handling, transportation and the legiti- 

 mate profits of middlemen. 



Numerous efficient agencies are now engaged in assisting 

 the farmer in a multitude of useful ways on the production 

 side of his activities. The agricultural colleges and experiment 

 stations, the United States Department of Agriculture, many 

 railroad systems, commercial bodies and other organizations are 

 giving valuable assistance along this line. The devising and 

 adoption of a credit system suited to the farming industry is 

 now very much in the public mind and may be realized in 

 the near future. 



As one step toward the goal of a more rational system of 

 marketing and distribution, the Department of Agriculture has 

 established an Office of Markets for the study of the basic 

 principles involved in this problem, for the wide dissemination 

 of information relating to it, and for the demonstration of 

 such methods as may seem to promise best results. Several 

 of the states and a number of municipalities have also estab- 

 lished commissions or set aside funds for activities toward 

 the same end. 



A great many people seem to consider the matter of getting 

 more money for the farmer as an end in itself and not as a 

 means to an end. To make farming more profitable without at 

 the same time educating the farmer as to how to spend his 

 additional gain would fail wholly of any useful purpose. This 

 money must be devoted specifically to making the farm home a 

 place where the young people will be glad to stay, to promoting 

 social life in the country, to providing rural recreation, better 

 roads, better schools, better churches and a higher type of 

 manhood. 



