24 INTRODUCTION. 



simple one, — the slight development of the Island for 

 agricultural purposes, — an explanation that is fully sus- 

 tained by the facts. 



In earlier times very little attention was paid to farm- 

 ing, doubtless because the physical character of the Island 

 is not of a nature favoring agriculture except under 

 limited or somewhat expensive conditions. The surface 

 is mostly mountainous or rocky, the soil is usually thin 

 and poor, and has often disappeared as a covering, — a 

 result of reckless wood cutting and of the consequent 

 forest fires. Taken as a whole, the north of the Island 

 contains the best farming land ; the south, for the most 

 part, is too near the dominant granitic range to furnish 

 deep soil or level ground save under exceptional condi- 

 tions. Moreover, under these unfavorable conditions 

 there was nothing to encourage farming as a means of 

 support, for there was no market for garden products. 

 It is not strange, therefore, that fishing, lumbering, ship- 

 building, and other pursuits, were the more profitable 

 employments of the early settlers. All agricultural 

 operations were conducted on a very limited scale, and 

 for the most part involved nothing more than the cultiva- 

 tion of small vegetable patches for home purposes. These 

 patches were seldom well cared for, and were rarely culti- 

 vated in the same spot for more than a year at a time. 

 Of late years, however, it has been found profitable by 

 many landowners to raise vegetables to supply the sum- 

 mer demand at Bar Harbor and the other summer resorts 

 of the Island. Consequently there has been more sys- 

 tematic cultivation of the ground both for agricultural 

 and for horticultural purposes. 



In the earlier days of the settlement of the Island, 

 therefore, we should expect to find few of those weeds that 



