28 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



raised by vote of the executive committee of the Maine Seed 

 Improvement Association. 



The appHcations for entries in Aroostook county were much, 

 larger than was expected, yet it seemed that there was a mis- 

 understanding among the growers as to what the work was 

 expected to accomphsh. Many who made appHcation to enter 

 for certification evidently did not take any pains to see that 

 the seed they planted was anything more than the common run 

 of their bins. So large a portion of these fields had to be dis- 

 qualified that it was found cheaper to send a man to make a 

 preliminary inspection before they were accepted for entry 

 for certification, as, otherwise, the corps of inspectors would 

 make a trip to the farms only to find, after a few minutes' 

 work, that the field was hopelessly disqualified. This caused 

 so great a loss of time that the preliminary inspection was in- 

 voked and hundreds of acres given this inspection were not 

 accepted for entry. As it did not seem at the time advisable to 

 keep a record of what was not actually entered, the office has 

 no account of the amount of the work done in this preliminary 

 inspection or number of acres refused entry, nor the miles trav- 

 eled in this work. The inspectors were instructed, as far as 

 possible, to acquaint the growers with the reasons for refusing 

 to accept their fields for entry and a large amount of in- 

 struction was given in this way. 



There were 1,194 acres which were accepted for entry in 

 Aroostook county, or rather, which passed the preliminary 

 inspection. Of these, 1,157 acres had the final inspection and 

 1,091 were paid for; 620 acres of these were Irish Cobbler, 82 

 acres Spaulding Rose, 28 acres of Green Mountain, 27 acres 

 of Gold Coin, 20 Ehnola, 15 Early Eureka and two acres of 

 Comet. 



Outside of Aroostook county there were entered, of all crops, 

 527 acres. Of these, 372 1-2 acres were potatoes. 17 1-2 were 

 corn, 24 1-2 beans, 90 1-2 oats, 12 wheat, 19 1-2 barley, one 

 of buckwheat and one of peas, A large portion of these were 

 withdrawn, owing to the damage done by heavy rains previous 

 to the arrival of the inspectors; another large per cent was 

 disqualified, mostly for the same reason. There were finally 

 passed 131 acres of potatoes, 18 acres of oats, seven of barley 

 and three of corn. The total number of bushels of potatoes 



