g ■ AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



best wheat that can be raised in North America can be grown 

 in this State, especially in Aroostook County, and I hope the 

 farmers of that county will grow more wheat in the future 

 and be able to supply th.ose in the central and southern parts 

 of the State with a large portion of the wheat that they now 

 consume. 



THE BARLEY CROP. 



The barley crop has increased over last year, it being esti- 

 mated at $115,000. This crop can be grown to good advantage 

 in our State. It is a splendid grain for feed for all kinds of 

 live stock and poultry and should receive more attention from 

 the farmers as I believe it would be a very valuable crop to 

 be raised in this State. 



MISCELLANEOUS CROPS. 

 Our farmers are not paying attention enough to truck gar- 

 dening, especially in the southern part of the State; as we are 

 obliged to send to Alassachusetts for a large portion of the 

 garden truck to supply the hotels and summer homes of the 

 people who spend their summers with us. This supply should 

 be grown on our farms. We should not be obliged to send 

 out of the State for what we can grow to such good advantage 

 and supply to our visitors fresh from the farm. I hope this 

 matter will be considered by the farmers in the southern part 

 of the State, as I believe they have a great opportunity to take 

 up this work. There are sections of the State where the farm- 

 ers are raising large crops of squash and cabbage to good ad- 

 vantage, but this year the price of cabbage is very low and this 

 crop will not bring the farmers very good returns. 



THE MAINE ORCHARDS. 



The orchards of this State are steadily on the increase. A 

 number of new orchards were set out during the last year and 

 old ones improved, and the fruit growers are taking better 

 care of their orchards. " I believe the demonstration work that 

 has been conducted by our State PTorticulturist and his Assist- 

 ant in trimming, pruning and spraying has been of great as- 

 sistance to the farmers for they did not realize the benefit from 

 such work or know that it could be done with so little expense 



