208 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



tliat my claims will not be as modest as those of the gentleman 

 who has just preceded me — who, in this particular, is, I think, 

 quite too " 'umble." 



We claim then, in the first place, that we have the most at- 

 tractive, thrifty, wealth}^ and intelligent village in the State, and 

 we hope and expect to make j^ou accept this statement, as indis- 

 putable before leaving us. Our village is made up of the inhabi- 

 tants in part of two towns ; the northerly skirt of Dover and the 

 southerly belt of Poxcroft, and contains a population of from 

 1700 to 2000 inhabitants. Your first impression, doubtless, was 

 that it was larger — its buildings would indicate this ; but unfortu- 

 natel}^ there is an unaccountable dearth of children here. But for 

 the fact that so long as I have lived here, I could never make out 

 to my own satisfaction the dividing line betwixt the towns, I 

 would eucleavor to explain its whereabouts to you. 



You would naturally suppose the river was this line ; but the 

 river is not the line, nor is its thread or its bank. The eccen- 

 tricity of this line seems to illustrate the catch-word in the "littk 

 joker," "Now you see it, and" now you don't." It has an odd 

 perversitj^ about it, which sunders mills, divides stores, and runs 

 through dwelling houses. One good lady, of my acquaintance, 

 takes her tea in Dover and washes her tea dishes in Foxcroft. 



Mythical, however, as this line is, it affords ample opportunity 

 for splendid raids over the border, on the one side and the othep — 

 things we do and bravely survive — and however the casual "on- 

 pleasantness " infer se we are always a unit against all outside 

 encroachments. 



The settled portion of our county is on its southern belt. This 

 settlement extends from Medford to Greenville, on Moosehead lake, 

 a distance by highways of about sixty miles ; its average breadth 

 is three townships, the third or northerl}^ tier but sparsely settled ; 

 its population the last decade about 16,000, and the present cen- 

 sus, I fear, will show no increase of population, while it will show 

 a very large increase of valuation. 



We claim that for agricultural pursuits, the soil of the' Piscata- 

 quis valley is superior to any other in the State. Its only com- 

 petitor we believe to be the Sandy River valley, and many 

 persons who have examined both give ours the preference. Ours 

 is the broadest timber land county in the State, or indeed, in New 

 England, Aroostook has more settling land — not more timber 

 land ; our county lines embracing more than a hundred townships 



