454 



MAINE. 



water, and of the land surface nearly two thirds, ag- 

 gregating about 20,000 square miles, or 12,000,000 

 acres, are still covered by forest. 



The granite product for 1893 was estimated 

 by an agent of the United States Geological Sur- 

 vey at $1,274,954; the slate at $139,200; and 

 the limestone, $1,474,095. 



The total value of live stock in Maine is $15.- 

 223,360. 



Game. The Game Commissioner reports that 

 a very conservative estimate of the deer killed in 

 the State during the open season, not counting 

 those killed and eaten by sporting parties in the 

 woods, is 4,000. The commissioners have no 

 hesitancy in saying that the fish and game of 

 Maine are the means of attracting over $3,000,- 

 000 annually into the State. 



The Maine Central and one of the steamboat 

 companies have given notice that no more game 

 of any kind can be carried in their conveyances 

 as personal baggage. 



An important test case came before the Su- 

 preme Judicial Court at Paris concerning the 

 legal responsibilities of setting traps on wild or 

 abandoned lands. A calf was caught in a trap 

 set for a bear. The court ruled that the owners 

 of such dangerous traps are not responsible for 

 accidents if the usual precautions are used. The 

 verdict was for the plaintiff, with $733 damages. 



The State Liquor Agency. The State has 

 for many years authorized the maintenance of a 

 liquor agency " to furnish municipal officers of 

 towns in this State, and duly authorized agents 

 of other States, with pure, unadulterated intoxi- 

 cating liquors, to be kept and sold for medicinal, 

 mechanical, and manufacturing purposes." The 

 city and town agencies ha% e been gradually re- 

 duced, and in 1894, in the 438 cities and towns 

 in the State, only 23 agencies were in existence. 

 During the past three years intoxicating liquors 

 were sold through the State Commissioner to 

 the established city and town agencies, amount- 

 ing to $338,801.71." 



Indians. The report of the Passamaquoddy 

 tribe gives the present membership as 493. 

 There have been 8 births and 16 deaths. The ap- 

 propriation for the year was $7,490. Good 

 church and school work has been done. 



The Penobscot tribe numbers over 390. Deaths 

 to the number of 13 have taken place. Appro- 

 priations amounted to $8,419. The leases of all 

 the island shores belonging to the tribe expired 

 Jan. 1, 1894, and in accordance with law they 

 were sold at auction. The number of those who 

 plant crops is on the increase. The business of 

 guiding has largely increased. 



Summer Resorts. The last Legislature pro- 

 vided for the collection of statistics of summer 

 resorts in the State by the Commissioner of 

 Labor and Industrial Statistics. These appear 

 in the seventh annual report of the bureau. A 

 few of the items follow : Number of houses re- 

 porting capacity for guests, 190 ; aggregate ca- 

 pacity, 13,611 ; amount paid for farm products 

 by the 77 making such report, $116,830 ; amount 

 paid by guests from out of the State to 174 

 houses making such report, $971,952 ; number 

 of guests from out of the State, in 174 houses, 

 62,589. The whole number of houses on the 

 commissioner's list is 559. Estimating the num- 

 ber of guests and amount paid on the basis of 



reports made by those that responded, the num- 

 ber of guests would be 175,881 from out of the 

 State, and the amount $2,731,431. 



When all the elements of expenditures are taken 

 into account, including transportation to and from 

 the State, conveyances to different points within the 

 State, hotel and boarding-house accommodations, 

 money paid to guides, and especially for the erection, 

 maintenance, and support of cottages, the '" pecuniary 

 results to the State" from its summer- resort bu>' 

 can not be estimated at less than $10,000,000 per an- 

 num. 



Forests. The Forest Commissioner says : 



Although Maine is known as the State of magnifi- 

 cent forests, the pine tree has become, comparative! \ . 

 a thing of the past. Within the memory of very 

 many of the older inhabitants, in speaking of the tim- 

 ber lands, only the value of the pine was taken into 

 consideration in fixing prices, even spruce, which lias 

 since become so very valuable, being considered of so 

 little value as to enter as a very small factor in their 

 calculation. No one seemed to dream that the spruce 

 growth could ever yield such enormous revenues as 

 they have since done far exceeding those from pine 

 and, stranger still, that cedar lands were formerly 

 regarded as absolutely worthless and marked as 

 lands on their charts and plans, but have since proved 

 to have been the most valuable, per acre, of any of 

 the timber lands, having yielded in many instances 

 $30 to $40 an acre. With the increased cutting of 

 spruce, however, the character and quality of the 

 lumber has gradually grown poorer. 



From the last State assessors' report we learn that 

 the total acreage of wild lands of the State is '.'. 

 V27 acres. From this we deduct for the average of 

 lakes, cleared lands, bogs, burned and waste lands 

 enough to give the actual lumber-producing acreage, 

 of the wild-land region which we call 9,000,000 acres, 

 to which the State assessors have given a value of 

 $18,210,894, or about $2 an acre, which we will assume 

 is about correct. For a number of years past the total 

 cut of the State from these wild lands has equaled at 

 least 500,000,000 feet, upon which the average stump- 

 age has been about $2.50 a thousand, making the 

 yearly income from stumpage about $1,250,000, or ap- 

 proximately 7 per cent, of the total value of the wild 

 lands each year. 



One thousand and fifty spruce trees were examined 

 for the purpose of determining the average size of 

 spruce logs. Spruce trees on an average throughout 

 life maintain a growth of 1 cubic foot in six and two 

 thirds years. These 1,050 trees average one hundred 

 and ninety-two and two tenths years. The av< 

 butt diameter is 14 1-10 inches; average length, '!<' >'>-lo 

 feet; average top diameter, 9 2-10 inches. In pine, a 

 considerably larger log than the spruce is only thir- 

 teen years of age, while the average growth is 2t 

 times that of spruce. 



The Collateral Inheritance Tax. Much 

 trouble has been experienced in the probate 

 courts with the law on taxation of collateral in- 

 heritance passed by the Legislature of 18!)3. 

 Its constitutionality was questioned, but the 

 law court at Portland decided in its favor. A 

 further difficulty was found with the exemption 

 of $500 from tax, which was granted by the 

 law whether it should be construed as meaning 

 that $500 should be exempted from the whole 

 body of the estate, or $500 from the share of 

 each inheritor. The question was settled differ- 

 ently by the courts of different counties, the 

 State claiming that but one exemption should 

 Toe allowed on an estate. The opinion of t 

 Supreme Court was adverse to the claim of the 

 State, deciding in favor of the exemption from 

 each legacy. 



