356 



BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



engaged live ? There must be a complete inter-relation estab- 

 lished. The farms must feed them, and in consequence a portion 

 of these products must be taken away from the farms and go to 

 those cities. 



Now look at our own State. What is the proportion of popu- 

 lation in our cities, compared with tlie entire population of the 

 State ? 1 do not know precisely what it is. Here is the city of 

 Bangor, with 20,000 population ; the city of Portland, with 30,- 



000 ; and there are six or seven other cities, besides the villages. 



1 suppose I should be safe in setting the population of our cities 

 at 100,000. That is near one-sixth of the population of the State. 

 ' Now, unless these cities are to be blotted out, a portion of the 

 products of the farm must go to supply them. Here is an in- 

 evitable necessity, and Prof. Brackett is but recognizing facts as 

 they exist, when he says there must be a constant drain from the 

 farm to supply the wants of our cities ; and unless some means 

 can be devised by which returns can be made, there is an operation 

 constantly going on that must, in the course of time, tend to run 

 down these farms, unless by superphosphates or other fertilizers, 

 they can be kept in good condition. 



Now, how are we succeeding in our agriculture, pure and 

 simple ? Going back and taking up more and more land, and so 

 we are able to live. We are wearing out the land in certain 

 places, but taking up more, and so on. Now, when these Slates 

 come to be so fully populated that there is no more land to be 

 taken, what then ! Is not Prof. Brackett right in saying that they 

 must necessarily wear out, unless improvements can be devised 

 by which returns can be made to the soil ; if there is to be a con- 

 stant drain, and that drain must be growing greater and greater, 

 proportionally, from year to year, and from age to age, through 

 these centres of population ? And I do not see how we can do 

 otherwise than recognize the great fact, that these centres of 

 population must exist, as a matter of necessity, for all coming 



ages. 



1 do not anticipate that the time is ever coming Avhen we shall 

 not be able to raise from the earth all that is necessary for the 

 -wants of all who may live upon the earth ; but the question is, as 

 Prof. Brackett puts it, how, when a large amount of the products 

 of the farm goes to supply the cities, shall we get back what will 

 make up for this drain upon the soil, so as to keep up the farm ? 

 The question is, in what way is that transfer to be efiected ? No 



