258 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



are farmers. Hungary is a food producing country. Belgium 

 is a manufacturing country; Servia an agricultural country. 

 Russia now imports fruits, vegetables, and oils, and exports 

 cereals and cattle. Italy exports fine food stuffs, as does France. 

 England cannot feed herself in times of peace. Not quite one- 

 eighth of the xVmerican working population is engaged in agri- 

 culture. America has, more than any other country, a system 

 of economy and uses science in the work of agriculture. We 

 have the most efficient implements in the world, and yet we 

 cannot supply our own needs, without the cost being compara- 

 tively high, due in large measure to poor seed. 



Who is going to coax from the earth food to feed the armies 

 of Europe and their families, who a few months ago were 

 peacefully plowing their fields? A terrible burden has fallen 

 upon the world. The men in the armies, who are engaged in 

 destroying, must be clothed and fed by some one other than 

 themselves. Armies produce only death and destruction. Their 

 people who remain at home cannot do much to relieve the bur- 

 den. The women, their children, and the aged men were busy 

 before the war. 



We, the people of America, have a problem we never had 

 before. We must feed ourselves and who shall say how many 

 more. How much of your time does it take to provide for 

 yourself food such as you now demand? How much for cloth- 

 ing and shelter such as you demand ? 



This is an age of luxury. W'e cannot be confined to primitive 

 necessities without loss mentally and physically. How much 

 time does it require for heads of families to provide food, shel- 

 ter and clothing for their famihes? Double this time, and see 

 the appalling figures. How are we going to adjust ourselves 

 to these new conditions, without suffering loss? We do not 

 want to get along with less living but with more. The times 

 demand that we use our brains, not as academic scholars but to 

 solve new practical problems. "Back to the soil !" is the com- 

 mand of the times. Use the finest brain developed in com- 

 merce to organize the production and marketing of agricultural 

 products. 



One man farming alone has unceasing labor. Few choose 

 such agriculture, as an occupation, for that reason. Think of 

 the toil once required to produce a bushel of wheat ! At the 



