262 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



suming public, and that he is coming to care less and less for 

 the cost or nutritive value of an article so long as it pleases the 

 eye and sense of taste. 



I recommend that this subject be taken up at this meeting 

 for discussion. 



A crop that seems to need a great deal of care and atten- 

 tion is sweet corn. It means a good deal to the State of Maine, 

 for no other soil conditions seem to produce such corn. 



Our state is the garden spot of the world for the production 

 of sweet corn and, as such, should not we see to it that we do 

 not lose an income that is rightly ours if we take proper pre- 

 caution to keep it within our grasp. I think it is conceded, by 

 practically all growers of this product, that the chances of ob- 

 taining a fair yield is becoming a greater gamble every year. 

 This is due in a great part to the fact that a very sm.all percent- 

 age of our seed is raised in the state or in latitude^ as far north 

 as ours. Nearly all of our seed comes from southern points 

 where the seasons are much different than ours. Should not 

 we raise our own seed? Is it right that we should waste our 

 time and the fertility of our soil in trying to raise a crop from 

 unacclimated seed? Probably we will never knew by many 

 thousand dollars the amount that has been lost this year, due 

 largely to this cause. Someone will say that the greatest loss 

 in crops any year is largely due to poor or improper seed, but 

 for the amount of seed planted there is not the slightest doubt 

 but that the sweet corn yield is, or possibly has become, the 

 most conspicuous example of what is likely to happen when our 

 seed is raised where the seasons are longer and warmer. 



The last few years have given us warnings. Shall we heed 

 them? In order to protect the sweet corn industry some way 

 must be devised for making it an object for all farmers in 

 every section where sweet corn is raised to devote their energy 

 to the production of seed. 



This work is being carried on to some extent by the ex- 

 tension work of the University and has proven a success in 

 so far as they have practiced planting locally grown seed. 



Is it not time that we appoint a committee to Nvait upon the 

 Canners' Association, to ascertain views on this subject and 

 the best methods of handling a crop so eventually a crop of 

 Maine? 



