secretary's report. 195 



Facilities of Northern Maine for Stock-Growing. 



By Elbddge Knight, Fort Fairfield. 



[This topic was assigned to Ilii-am Stevens, who writes me that 

 his engagements were such as to prevent his attending to it, but 

 he had secured a paper on the subject from his townsman, Mr. 

 Knight. Ed.] 



I propose to consider, briefly, some of the advantages for stock- 

 growing in the northern part of Maine, as compared with the middle 

 and southern portions of New England. 



Nowhere else can the Eastern States boast of a primitive soil 

 equally fertile, if we except, perhaps, the alluvial flats of the Con- 

 necticut River. It generally consists of a deep yellow loam, with a 

 pan of loam, clay, and coarse, gravelly, decomposing fragments of 

 rocks, resting upon a stratum of lime-stone. The pan, or sub-soil, 

 if exposed to the atmosphere for a few months, will produce a crop 

 of hay or oats, without the addition of any fertilizer ; hence, we may 

 infer that the soil has every necessary ingredient, to render it endur- 

 ing and almost inexhaustible. As we go south or west from the 

 Aroostook valley, we find more clay and less loam, until we gradu- 

 ally approach the prevailing granite soil of New England. The few 

 stones that are found here, lie mostly upon the surface, or so near 

 it, that they are thrown out by the plough, without interrupting the 

 furrow. Farms are so level and free from stone, that the pasture, 

 which cannot be conveniently ploughed, is an exception, and not the 

 general rule. 



We have, then, in the soil, the important advantage of natural 

 depth,- that may be increased by sub-soil ploughing to any desirable 

 extent; a.nd the surface may be easily freed from stone, and fitted 

 for the mowing machine and other labor-saving implements, which 

 will lessen the expense of cultivation far beyond what can be done 

 upon the verdant hill-sides of Vermont, or, upon the rocky lands 

 that join the sandy plains which skirt the mighty ocean. 



The porous condition of the soil, owing to its small proportion of 

 clay, permits the roots of grass to extend freely in every direction ; 

 hence its natural security against drought ; its draft for sustenance 

 reaches a larger portion of the soil ; and the roots are seldom or 

 never found matted together near the surface, which is commonly 

 called " binding out," and which lessens the crop to such an extent 



