l6 AGRICULTURE 01^ MAINE. 



the best country on earth to farm in, and I have been in every 

 state in the Union, Mr. President, but two. Now there are 

 fruits grown in some sections of this country that are equally 

 beautiful with our Maine fruit. In the State of Michigan they 

 raise apples that to look at are as fine, and perhaps larger than 

 ours; but they have not the flavor. They have not the keep- 

 ing qualities that our fruit may have with proper care. And 

 the one thing for the farmers of Maine is to educate them- 

 selves, and the young men particularly, that their fruit shall 

 be properly cared for. We are living in an age when quality 

 counts, whether it is in fruit or men. And within a few years 

 we have learned that we can not only raise apples in the State 

 of Maine, but grapes as fine, as sweet, as can be produced any- 

 where on earth. We are just beginning to learn something 

 about these things, and I want to say that now in the State of 

 Maine farming is not only the most profitable but it is the 

 most popular business on earth. If a young man wants to 

 select a business that will be profitable and popular, he wants 

 to stay right at' home on the farm, and begin where his father 

 has left off or is still laboring. As I look into the audience 

 this evening I see before me some of these elderly gentlemen 

 who have made such a success. I see Air. Tucker right before 

 me tonight, and you will pardon me. Air. Tucker, for mention- 

 ing your name. If you should go to his farm, to his home- 

 stead, and see the blooded stock that he has raised — he has 

 forty head of pure-bred Holstein cattle, he has cows that he 

 wouldn't take $4000 for today^ — you would see what a profitable 

 business he has. He is successful as a fruit grower, as a 

 breeder of blooded stock. We are having a change, and I am 

 glad to see that the young men are coming back to the farms. 

 The old pioneers, those sturdy old gentlemen who during the 

 last thirty or forty years have reared families and educated 

 them, have remained on the farms themselves, but too many 

 of the boys and girls have gone to the cities and to the states 

 farther west. That is the cause of the high price of food stuffs. 

 Now there seems to be a return to the farms and I want to 

 say to you that the time now is wlien a young man can start 

 on a farm and work up as profiable a business, and live as 

 clean, moral and successful a life as in any other business on 

 earth. 



