41 J AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



Ques. It is being told to us through the press and in dif- 

 ferent ways that sweet clover not inoculated will grow and 

 thrive and in growing the sweet clover the soil is inoculated 

 for alfalfa. Is that your experience? 



Ans. I have grown alfalfa on soil that had been inoculated 

 with sweet clover, and as far as I know it is still alive. That 

 was done five years ago. 



Ques. Did you have a comparison where sweet clover had 

 not been grown ? 



Ans. Not on the same plot. 



Ques. Did you examine the alfalfa to see if those nodules 

 were on the roots ? 



Ans. I exhibited the nodules on the roots from that piece of 

 alfalfa. 



Ques. Did you lime the piece to start with? 



Ans. The alfalfa piece was limed. I got it in as good a 

 condition as I could. 



Ques. Have you been able to make fibre crops pay finan- 

 cially ? 



Ans. I have not, because we can buy wood cheaper than we 

 can raise those crops. The price has got to advance consid- 

 erably beyond what it is now in order for the use of fibre crops 

 in place of wood to be profitable. 



Dr. Woods: There is a very interesting amount of data 

 which came from the experiments made by Mr. Holston under 

 the direction of the superintendent of the mill in which they 

 were trying to find a fibre crop to do away with the railroad 

 haul. The railroad haul today is half the cost of the pulp stock 

 of that particular mill. They were trying to find a .fibre crop 

 that could be grown in sufficient amounts within hauling dis- 

 tance and at renumerative prices. I wish there was some way 

 for those facts to be published. 



Ques. Have you ever tried hemp, Mr. Holston? 



Ans. Yes, sir; I have raised probably as good a hemp as 

 could be raised anywhere in the country, even in Kentucky 

 where they raise the best hemp in the world. 



Ques. What crop came the nearest to what you wanted? 



Ans. Hemp. 



Ques. Then you can raise hemp in Maine? 



