266 agricuIvTure; o^ maine. 



SMALL GRAIN GROWING IN MAINE. 



By Prof. H. G. Bkll, Orono. 



From the close of the Civil War to the early 8o's New Eng- 

 land was famed for her production of small cereals. Wheat 

 fields were found on nearly every farm and busy mills supplied 

 the demands of the people with flour made from locally grown 

 grain. But all this is changed. In the 8o's and 90's the open- 

 ing up of fertile areas in the West made it possible for the 

 western sons to lay down grain on eastern markets at a lower 

 price than that for which their fathers could produce this 

 commodity on the home farms. Hence, it was natural that 

 the grain field should give place to the pasture or meadow, 

 and even to the abandoned farm. But the pendulum is swing- 

 ing back to the other side of the arc. Rise in land values, 

 increase in the demands of a growing populace, and high 

 freight rates have forced the price of corn, oats, and wheat 

 up to a height that is almost prohibitive to the easterner. The 

 time has come when he can again compete with profit in the 

 raising of these much needed cereals. 



The climate of Maine is indeed somewhat severe for the 

 growth of corn, but great hopes are entertained for the breed- 

 ing of a corn that will mature in 90 to 1 10 days, which is about 

 the limit of the average corn growing season of many of the 

 fertile districts of this State. Small grains such as oats, wheat 

 and barley, coming from the more rigorous climates of Europe 

 and Asia, thrive under the conditions which prevail in 

 Maine. Probably no state in this great Union has a more pro- 

 pitious climate for oat growing than has our own Pine Tree 

 Commonwealth. Moderately cool temperature, accompanied by 

 abundant rainfall, are conditions that make good oats. These 

 three cereals, moreover, prefer a medium clay to sandy loam 

 soil in preference to soils rich in humus. Undoubtedly such 

 soils which prevail in Maine are capable of producing good 

 small grains if they are properly drained, and the crops handled 

 in judicious rotations upon them. A clover crop should be 

 grown and plowed under once in 3 or 4 years, on most of our 

 fields. More cattle could be kept if more feed was grown and 



