162 



MAINE. 



perous place. Population 3,100. Machias, JMachiasport, and jEasi JJf«c/urts, are 3 villages 

 on the river of the same name, within a few miles of each other, containing numerous saw-mills, 

 and carrying on an active trade in lumber. Population 3,500. Ellsworth is a very pleasant 

 and growing town on Union river, with 2,200 inhabitants. 



5. Agriculture. The agricultural products of Maine are maize, wheat, oats, barley, rye, 

 pease, beans, potatoes, flax, hops, &c. ; these not only furnish directly the food of the inhabi- 

 tants, but support a numerous stock of horses, oxen, cows, sheep, and swine, which form an 

 important article of exportation. In a great part of the State, a negligent and wasteful mode of 

 agriculture is pursued, and poor crops are the consequence ; but there are many judicious and 

 skilful cultivators, and ihe business is manifestly improving. The crops of maize in difl'erent 

 parts of the State vary from 30 to 50 bushels per acre ; wheat, 15 to 40; rye yields rather 

 more ; and hay from 1^ to 3 tons. The amount of tilled land in this Stale, is about 150,000 

 acres, yielding, in 1838, about 1,200,000 bushels of wheat, 1,630,000 of Indian corn, &c. : 

 hay is one of the most important items of agricultural produce. Land is very easily obtained 

 by cultivators ; in some instances it has been customary for the landlord to furnish the imple- 

 ments, cattle, half the seed, and pay half the taxes, and to receive half the products. It is con- 

 sidered that, in general, one half the crops, deducting one half the value of the seed and taxes, 

 pays the expense of cultivation The agriculture of the western counties furnishes ilie princi- 

 pal exported articles ; the eastern counties are more devoted to commerce and lumbering. The 

 whole amount of improved land is reckoned at little more than a 20th part of the w hole State. 



(5. Commerce. From the earliest settlement of Maine, its inhabitants were a commercial 

 people, and their trade by sea is now very extensive. Their commerce consists chiefly in ex- 

 ports of timber, masts, spars, boards, plank, scantling, staves, wood, bark, dried and pickled 

 fish, beef, pork, live stock, wool, butter, cheese, cider, hay, candles, soap, shoes, boots, nails, 

 oricks, lime, slate, granite, and marble. Most of these articles are shipped coastwise, but a 

 considerable trade is carried on likewise with New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, the West Indies, 

 and Europe. Many of the foreign cargoes imported into this State, are immediately shipped 

 to Boston, New York, and other places. Maine is now the fourth State in the Union for com- 

 merce. The shipping registered and licensed for foreign and coasting trade amounts to nearly 

 300,000 tons. The amount of exports, inclusive of exports coastwise, may be estimated at 

 12,000,000 dollars. The coasting trade forms the chief part of the commerce of the State. 



7. JManufactures. In those branches of manufacture which are indispensable to agriculture, 

 some progress has been made in this State, but there are few large manufactories ; in the list 

 of articles manufactured may be named woolen and cotton cloths, nails, leather, iron castings, 

 paper, candles, soap, rum, whiskey, &c. The annual value of manufactures exclusive of ship 

 building, is estimated at 10,000,000 dollars. 



8. Fisheries. The coast of Maine swarms with fish ; such as cod, pollock, herring, mack- 

 erel, alewives, salmon, &c. The fisheries are conducted partly by boats and small vessels near 

 the shore, and partly by large vessels employed in the Bank and Labrador fisheries half the 

 year, and the rest of the time in the coasting trade. The fishing craft amounts to 20,000 tons ; 

 the fish annually taken are estimated in value at 1,200,000 dollars. In Passaniaquoddy Bay 

 and the neighborhood, vast quantities of herring are taken, by scooping them up with hand nets. 

 This fishing is carried on during very dark nights, and often displays the most striking and pic- 

 turesque appearance to the spectator on shore. The fishermen go in small, light boats, each 

 bearing a flaming torch. The boats row with great swiftness through the water, and the her- 

 ring, attracted by the glare of the light, crowd after the boats in such numbers, that those sta- 

 tioned in the stern for this purpose scoop them up by thousands. The fish frequently throng 

 together with such eagerness as to throw one another out of the water. When there are twelve 

 or fifteen boats at a time upon the water, with the strong red glare of (heir birchen torches re 

 fleeted from the surface, the lights swiftly crossing and recrossing each other, now suddenly 

 disappearing, and again appearing among the islands, as if by enchantment, the whole contrasted 

 with the darkness that shrouds every other object, produces a scene of the most novel and ro- 

 mantic character. 



9. Other Sources of Wealth. The immense forests in the interior of this State furnish the 

 materials for a great trade in timber, masts, spars, boards, plank, scantling, staves, &c. ; vast 

 quantities of fuel are supplied from this State to Boston, and other seaports in New England. 

 The value of timber annually sawed is 10,000,000 dollars. The felling of timber in the inte- 

 rior districts is generally performed during the winter. The inhabitants unite in small bands, 



