140 



XEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



MAHdl 



peated, and a strip of cloth dipped into melted 

 brimstone and hung down in the bnng hole, 

 set fire to and the bung slightly driven in. 



SWEDISH SETTLERS LN" MAINE. 

 A few days since we received a letter from 

 a Swedish correspondent, making some in<pii- 

 ries relating to the Aroostook lands in Maine, 

 and the Swedish settlers in that county. We 

 have not at hand the data necessary to give 

 a satisfactory answer to the inquiry as to the 

 lands, further than to say that they are well 

 adapted for cultivation, especially for grain, 

 while the yield per acre compares favorably 

 with other sections of the State. In the re- 

 port of the Land Connnissioner, just made to 

 the Legislature, there is some information re- 

 garding the new colony and the State policy 

 of settling her wild lands, which is of interest 

 not only to our correspondent, but to all New 

 England readers. A letter in the Journal 

 gives the following summary : — 



As the result of the Commissioner's labors, 

 a colony of 114 Swedes — fifty-eight men, 

 twenty women, and thirty-six children — have 

 paid their own ])assage from Sweden and set- 

 tled on the wild lands of Maine. Seven miles 

 of road hav(! been cut through the forest ; one 

 hundred and eighty acres of woods felled ; one 

 hundred acres hand-piled, burnt off and cleared 

 ready for a crop, and twenty acres sowed to 

 winter wheat an(l rye. Twenty-six dwelling 

 hotises and one public building have been built. 



The Commissioner says in his report that 

 this is the first successful attempt Maine has 

 ever made to induce foreign immigration. It 

 now remains for tiie Legislature to determine 

 whether the result shall stand as an isolated, 

 spasmodic efTbrt, or be the commencement of 

 a broad, systematic policy for peopling our 

 State and realizing our latisnt wealth. Maine 

 has a larger area of unsettled land than is in- 

 cluded witliin the entire boundaries of Massa- 

 chusetts ; and of this the State yet owns 52G,- 

 114 83 acres, of which 246,843 38 acres are 

 settling lands. Of the Swedish innnigration 

 flowing to tlie United States, wliich in 1869 

 amounted to 3"),0(J() souls, tiie Connnissioner 

 thinks Maine's fair (juota is not less than 3,000 

 souls a year, wliicii, if the common estimate of 

 the cash value of the immigrant to the State 

 be correct, will add more than $,1000,000 ])er 

 annum to our wealth, and is theorize which 

 Maine should strive for and win. In securing 

 Swedish immigration foi* ourselves, says the 

 C'ommissioner, we shall be forced to compete 

 at every step with the \^'^estern States ; and to 

 compete successfully we have only to follow 

 out the liberal ])()licy inaugurated by the Legis- 

 lature of 1870, the cliief measures of which are 

 two : First, one hundred acres of land/ree to 



every actual settler ; second, advertising this 

 fact broadcast over Sweden. With tliis policy 

 Maine can shout "free homes for the home- 

 less," as loud as the West ;. but JMaine can 

 never attract immigration to herself with the 

 inducement of fifty cents, or any other sum, 

 pi«r acre for our lands, payable in work or any 

 other way (her present policy), while the West. 

 under the liomestead law, ofler one hundred 

 and sixty acres of prairie land free. 



The Connnissioner recommends that an 

 agent should be employed jn Sweden to adver- 

 tise our free farms and their advantages suc- 

 cessfully, and that the entire enterprise at 

 home and in Sweden should be under the .di- 

 rection and ccmtrol of a central commission 

 resident in Alaine. If the measures the Com- 

 missioniir recommends are adopted, he believes 

 that in a few years at farthest the stream of 

 Swedish immigration to Maine will be strong 

 and l)road enough to roll on of itself, and that 

 not only all the public lands will be largely set- 

 tled by Swedes, but they will spread over the 

 entire State, become our farm hands, mill 

 hands, house servants, sailors and fishermen, 

 form an im^iortant working element among us, 

 and add thousands to the population and mil- 

 lions to the wealth of Maine. 



Eye-Giasses. — The use of glasses becomes 

 a necessity or convenience, at some time in 

 their lives, to a large proportion of tiie ])eo- 

 ple of civilized communities. If short-sighted, 

 they require glasses in youth as well as in age, 

 for distant vision. If possessing normal eyes, 

 they need assistance, with advancing years, 

 for seeing near objects. The comfort and 

 safety of the eyes often depend on a proper 

 selection of these auxiliaries. * * ]f ^^^y 

 difficultj' is met with in finding such glasses, 

 the eye should be examined by some compe- 

 tent authority, to determine if, any unusual 

 combination of lenses is required, or ascer- 

 tain the ])resenee of disease if the difficulty in 

 suiting the eyes arise from this source. — Dr. 

 H. W. WiUiams, in Atlantic Mt>id]tly. 



Muck and I\Iai?l. — The muck of our swamps 

 su])plies not only vegetable matter but a con- 

 siclcrable amount of those valuable fertilizing 

 materials which we piirchase at a high ])rice, 

 in a more concentrated form, under the name 

 of guanos and superphosphate. Muck and 

 marl are sometimes found near each other, 

 and should be used in connection whenever it 

 is convenient. A compost made up of those 

 materials, enriched by a small amount of ex- 

 crementitious_ maiuire is a good fertilizer for 

 all crops. — Rural Carolinian. 



Cleaning Wheat from Cheat. — In the 

 ordidary winnowing mills, put a board in the 

 place of the riddle, by which means the wheat 

 will be carried nearly off the screen board. 



