l6 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



I want to call your attention, briefly, to a few facts about 

 the Maine farm, and make some suggestions which may affect 

 the subject of orcharding. It is well enough to know a few 

 statistics on any subject. 



The last census report in 1910 shows 60,016 farms in Maine, 

 comprising 6,296,859 acres, with an average of 105 acres to the 

 farm. This is an increase of 717 farms in the last ten years 

 and a decrease of about i 1-4 acres in the average size of the 

 farms. The value of farm property, including farm buildings, 

 machinery and stock thereon is placed at about $200,000,000. 

 an increase in ten years of nearly $77,000,000, or about 62 

 per cent. The average value of these farms is placed at 

 $3,320, an increase of about 60 per cent since 1900. The in- 

 crease in these values would seem ver}^ encouraging, but there 

 are some things about the farm statistics gathered in 19 10 that 

 are not so encouraging, namely : The improved land is only 

 2/^60,657 acres and slightly less than it was ten years ago, and 

 comprises only about one-eighth the entire area of the State, 

 and is not as much as it was in 1880 by 124,000 acres. The 

 population of Maine seems to be divided very nearly equally 

 between the rural and the urban. New Hampshire has lost 

 10,000 and Vermont 8,000 and Massachusetts has gained only 

 5,000 in the rural population during the last ten years, while 

 Maine leads all New England and has actually added 6,026 to 

 her rural population. These figures look very small in com- 

 parison with the great relative gain in the country in the farm- 

 ing population in the same period, which averages over 11 per 

 cent, but it is quite a favorable comparison with the other New 

 England states. 



I give you these figures to impress upon your minds our 

 position in the matter of agriculture. There is being so much 

 said of late about the high cost of living, the relative oppor- 

 tunities in the country and the city, and the advantages of 

 rural and city life, that it is well enough for all of us to under- 

 stand how w^e in Maine compare with the other states. Cer- 

 tainly there is a chance for further development and improve- 

 ment in our agricultural resources, as clearly shown by these 

 figures. 



But it was not my purpose to speak of Maine farms, but to 

 .jpeak particularly of orcharding, which I know you are all 



