1892 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
6o9 
Taking  Starch  Out  of  Potatoes. 
IT  STIFFENS  FARMING  IN  AROOSTOOK  COUNTY. 
All  About  the  Business. 
A  Bit  of  County  History. 
The  great  county  of  Aroostook,  Maine,  which,  in 
extent  of  area  is  nearly  as  large  as  the  State  of  Massa¬ 
chusetts,  was,  previous  to  the  culmination  of  the  north¬ 
eastern  boundary  controversy  with  Great  Britain,  little 
known  except  as  an  immense  wilderness  abounding  in 
timber  suitable  for  building  purposes  and  traversed  by 
numberless  rivers  and  streams,  by  means  of  which  the 
lumber  cut  in  those  distant  forests  could  be  floated  to 
tidewater  at  Bangor  and  St.  John,  there  to  be  manu¬ 
factured  in  the  mills,  or  to  be  shipped  in  the  form  of 
hewn  timber  across  the  water  to  England.  The  Aroos¬ 
took  war,  an  event  regarded  by  this  generation  as  an 
expensive  farce,  and  remembered  mainly  from  a  few 
incidents  of  a  somewhat  ludicrous  nature  connected 
with  it,  was  in  fact  the  only  manly,  heroic  protest 
against  the  unjust  and  rapacious  pretensions  of  Great 
Britain  in  its  long-continued  attempts  to  disregard 
solemn  treaty  obligations  and  to  rob  the  State  of  Maine 
of  a  large  portion  of  her  most  valuable  territory.  This 
contest,  during  which  many  thousands  of  the  patriotic 
citizens  of  Maine  marched  into  the  great  northern 
wilderness  to  defend  the  frontier,  first  served  to  call  at¬ 
tention  to  the  grand  agricultural  resources  of  the 
county,  and  many  who  went  to  fight  remained  to  till 
the  soil,  or  returned  with  their  families  to  make  homes 
for  themselves  in  the  great  forest  region  of  northern 
Maine.  The  military  roads  opened  by  the  State  and 
National  governments  aided  much  in  the  development 
of  the  new  county,  and  thus,  as  in  many  previous  in¬ 
stances  in  the  world’s  history,  war  was  an  important 
factor  in  the  advancement  of  civilization. 
How  the  County’s  Population  Has  Grown. 
In  1840  the  population  of  the  county  was  but  9,413, 
and,  in  18(50,  this  had  increased  to  22,497,  at  which  time 
the  total  valuation  of  the  county  was  but  little  more 
than  $1,000,000.  During  the  next  decade  the  popula¬ 
tion  increased  to  29,609,  and  the  valuation  in  1870  was 
but  little  short  of  $5,000,000.  Up  to  this  time  the  agri¬ 
culture  of  the  county  was  marked  by  very  little  sys¬ 
tem,  as  the  only  means  of  transportation  were  the 
long,  and,  in  many  portions  of  the  year,  almost  impas¬ 
sable  roads  leading  to  the  outside  world.  The  princi¬ 
pal  market  was  that  afforded  by  the  lumber  operations 
upon  which  the  farmer  dependec?  for  the  sale  of  what¬ 
ever  surplus  lie  might  have  to  dispose  of.  Remote  as 
they  were  from  the  great  centers  of  trade,  the  early 
settlers  were  thrown  largely  upon  their  own  resources, 
and  each  endeavored  to  raise  upon  his  own  farm  as 
many  of  the  necessaries  of  life  as  was  possible  in  this 
latitude.  The  farmer  and  his  family  were  fed  and 
clothed  mainly  from  the  products  of  their  own  land, 
and  thus  very  little  system  was  observed,  and  special¬ 
ties  jn  agriculture  were  then  unknown  in  Aroostook. 
The  Potato  Business  Starts. 
Previous  to  the  construction  of  the  present  well 
equipped  and  managed  railroad  system  the  production 
of  potatoes  had  formed  but  a  small  Dart  of  Aroostook 
agriculture,  only  a  sufficient  quantity  for  home  con¬ 
sumption  being  raised.  A  few  years  before  the  com¬ 
pletion  of  the  New  Brunswick  railway  to  Andover, 
N.  B.,  the  attention  of  New  Hampshire  starch  manu¬ 
facturers  was  called  to  the  excellent  quality  of  Aroos¬ 
took  potatoes  and  they  at  once  saw  the  practicability 
of  introducing  this  industry  into  the  county.  After 
carefully  looking  over  the  ground  and  conferring  with 
the  farmers,  a  factory  was  built  at  Caribou  by  Albe 
Holmes  about  1872  and  very  soon  afterwards  the 
second  factory  was  built  at  Presque  Isle  by  Messrs. 
Wheeler  &  Hale  of  New  Hampshire.  As  starch  sold 
at  a  very  high  figure  in  those  days  the  venture  proved 
highly  remunerative  and  others  were  soon  induced  to 
go  into  the  business.  Factories  have  contined  to  mul¬ 
tiply  from  that  time  until  there  are  to-day  nearly  50 
in  the  county.  During  the  first  years  of  the  estab¬ 
lishment  of  the  business  the  practice  was  for  the  farm 
ers  within  reach  of  the  factory  to  contract  to  plant  a 
certain  number  of  acres  for  a  term  of  years — the  first 
contracts  were  for  five  years — and  to  deliver  the  pota¬ 
toes  at  the  factory  in  good  condition,  the  operators  on 
their  part  contracting  to  pay  at  the  rate  of  25  cents  per 
bushel  of  63  pounds.  At  that  time,  as  the  business  of 
shipping  potatoes  had  not  been  established,  “  whole 
stock,”  that  is  to  say,  the  entire  yield  of  the  acres  con¬ 
tracted,  was  hauled  to  the  factory  and  the  additional 
three  pounds  per  bushel  were  exacted  by  the  operators 
for  dirt.  At  the  first  factory  built  at  Presque  Isle  by 
Messrs.  Wheeler  &  Co.,  preparations  were  made  for 
the  handling  of  possibly  30,000  bushels  of  tubers. 
These  New  Hampshire  gentlemen  had  little  knowledge 
of  the  capabilities  of  Aroostook  soil  and  soon  after 
their  factory  was  opened  for  receiving  potatoes  it 
became  evident  that  the  storage  room  provided  was 
far  too  small.  Long  lines  of  teams  extended  in  every 
direction  from  the  factory,  each  man  anxious  to  unload 
and  return  to  his  field  for  another  load.  Additional 
storage  room  had  to  be  provided  and  even  then  the 
rush  was  so  great  that  for  a  time  each  farmer  had  to 
be  restricted  to  one  load  per  day.  Upwards  of  60,000 
bushels  were  received  at  this  factory  the  first  year 
and  from  the  high  price  received  for  the  starch  the 
proprietors  paid  the  entire  cost  of  their  factory  and 
divided  a  clear  profit  of  about  $4,000. 
After  the  extension  of  the  railroad  branches  of  the 
New  Brunswick  system  to  the  four  villages  of  Houlton, 
Fort  Fairfield,  Caribou  and  Presque  Isle,  potato  buyers 
appeared  at  all  the  stations  and  the  farmers  were 
encouraged  to  raise  large  quantities  of  potatoes  to  ship 
to  the  outside  market.  In  recent  years,  since  the  ex¬ 
piration  of  the  contracts,  the  factories  located  near 
shipping  stations  receive  very  little  “  whole  stock”  in 
years  when  prices  are  good  for  market  potatoes.  The 
merchantable  potatoes  are  sorted  out  and  shipped  and 
the  “culls”  only  hauled  to  the  factories.  Many  fac¬ 
tories,  however,  are  located  at  points  distant  from 
shipping  stations  and  in  those  localities  the  farmers 
dispose  of  their  entire  stock  at  the  starch  factories. 
The  introduction  of  the  starch  factories  and  the 
great  potato  raising  industry  thus  made  possible 
entirely  revolutionized  the  business  of  farming  in 
Aroostook.  Formerly  most  of  the  trade  at  the  stores 
was  by  barter  and  the  credit  system  was  the  general 
practice  throughout  the  county.  The  factories  and 
the  consequent  shipping  of  potatoes  to  market  brought 
ready  cash  to  the  farmer  and  made  it  possible  for  him 
to  conduct  his  farming  operations  on  something  nearer 
T.  B.  Terry.  Fig.  245. 
to  business  principles.  It  resulted  also  in  great  im¬ 
provement  upon  the  farms.  Large  breadths  of  rough, 
stumpy  land,  formerly  only  used  for  pasturing,  were 
cleared  and  smoothed  for  the  potato  crop  and  when 
seeded  to  grass  made  broad  and  beautiful  fields  fitted 
for  the  mowing  machine  and  the  harvester. 
(To  be  continued.)  edwabd  higgin. 
Chemical  Fertilizers  in  Drought. 
A  HARD  TEST  THIS  YEAR. 
Mr.  D.  C.  Lewis,  the  “Chemicals  and  Clover”  farmer, 
is  about  the  warmest  advocate  of  complete  chemical 
fertilizers  we  have  ever  met.  There  is  reason  for  his 
warmth,  too,  because  these  fertilizers  have  restored 
his  farm  and  given  him  an  average  income  of  $3,000 
from  100  acres  in  hay,  corn,  wheat  and  potatoes.  We 
have  had  so  much  to  say  about  his  farm  that  readers 
are  interested  in  keeping  track  of  its  crops  from  year 
to  year.  As  regards  this  year’s  crops  Mr.  Lewis  gives 
us  these  facts. 
The  season  has  been  very  dry  indeed.  His  hay  is 
good,  wheat  and  corn  rather  above  the  average  and 
potatoes  not  much  over  half  a  crop.  The  ground  was 
too  dry  for  potatoes  to  do  well,  but  prices  promise  to 
be  above  the  average,  so  that,  on  the  whole,  total  sales 
will  not  fall  much  below  the  average.  He  has  not 
sold  any  potatoes  yet  for  less  than  60  cents  a  bushel, 
and  reports  all  indicate  a  short  crop,  particularly  in  the 
large  potato  growing  districts.  Hay  and  corn  promise 
to  be  above  the  average  in  price  ;  therefore  there  is 
no  reason  to  complain  particularly,  as  the  smaller  the 
potato  crop,  the  more  fertilizer  is  left  in  the  soil  for 
the  succeeding  wheat  and  grass.  A  40-cent  bushel  of 
potatoes  requires  as  much  fertilizer  as  one  that  sells 
for  60  cents.  Ten  of  the  latter  sell  for  as  much  as  15 
of  the  former  and  require  one-third  less  fertilizer. 
The  smaller  the  crop  the  larger  the  residue  of  fertil¬ 
izer  and  this  is  a  comfortable  thought  to  one  who 
knows  that  his  fertilizer  is  as  safe  in  the  soil  as  his 
money  is  in  the  bank. 
Mr.  Lewis  says  that  this  year  has  been  the  greatest 
test  for  high-grade  manures  that  he  has  ever  known. 
In  every  case  where  high-grade  goods  were  used  the 
crop  is  ahead  of  that  on  fields  where  low-grade  goods 
were  employed.  This  dry,  parching  season  weighed 
them  both  in  the  balance  and  found  the  low-grade 
wanting.  Why  ?  Because  there  was  a  short  supply 
of  moisture.  The  high-grade  fertilizers  were  made  of 
soluble  materials  and  contained  the  necessary  fertiliz¬ 
ing  elements  in  half  a  dozen  different  forms.  With 
every  light  shower  this  fertilizer  was  made  available 
to  the  roots  of  the  plants  and  they  grew  and  developed 
tubers  in  spite  of  the  drought.  No  plant  can  eat  solid 
food.  It  can  take  nutriment  only  in  solution.  The 
low-grade  goods  were  so  insoluble  that  the  light 
showers  could  not  dissolve  enough  of  their  locked-up 
fertility  to  feed  the  plants.  Plant  growth  depends 
upon  water  and  the  only  way  to  economize  with  water 
is  to  use  the  most  soluble  fertilizer,  because  that 
requires  less  water  to  dissolve  it  and  feed  it  to  the 
plant. 
Mr.  Lewis  believes  that  his  farm  needs  extra  sup¬ 
plies  of  potash.  He,  therefore,  uses  a  bag  of  muriate 
in  addition  to  each  ton  of  complete  fertilizer.  There 
have  been  two  striking  results  from  this  practice  in 
this  bad  season.  Wherever  he  put  the  extra  potash, 
he  has  had  his  best,  and  in  some  places,  his  only  clover 
catch.  Many  nearby  farmers  have  complained  of  a 
failure  to  secure  a  good  catch  of  clover.  In  almost 
every  case  they  have  used  a  fertilizer  low  in  potash, 
or  have  neglected  to  use  the  extra  bag  of  muriate. 
Mr.  Lewis  concludes  that,  on  his  farm,  particularly  in 
a  season  like  the  past,  clover  must  have  a  plentiful 
supply  of  potash,  or  it  will  fail.  This  is  in  line  with 
Veille’s  experience — “  more  potash,  more  clover,  more 
clover,  more  nitrogen.”  Thus  the  fat  potash  is  able 
to  induce  the  pretty  Miss  Clover  to  capture  smart 
young  Nitrogen. 
The  other  thing  noticed  about  the  muriate  of  Dotasli 
is  that  on  parts  of  the  field  where  it  was  used,  the 
plants  suffered  least  from  drought.  It  seemed  in  some 
way  to  conserve  and  hold  moisture  as  salt  has  been 
observed  to  do.  In  fact,  the  muriate  is  more  like  salt 
than  any  other  form  of  potash.  The  good  effect  of 
the  muriate  in  holding  moisture  was  observed  up  to 
the  very  row  where  its  application  stopped. 
The  Baltimore  Milk  Trade. 
There  seem  to  be  no  accurate  statistics  of  the  milk 
business  of  the  city  of  Baltimore  that  are  available. 
J  he  average  quantity  consumed  daily  is  variously 
estimated  at  from  50,000  to  75,000  gallons.  It  comes 
largely  by  the  various  railways  entering  that  city, 
none  from  greater  distances  than  75  miles  and  most  of  it 
from  within  50  miles.  A  considerable  quantity  is  brought 
in  by  the  producers  in  wagons,  from  farms  about  the 
city.  Freight  on  milk  is  two  cents  per  gallon  regard¬ 
less  of  distance  over  all  the  railway  lines,  and  it  is 
brought  in  twice  a  day — morning  and  evening.  The 
milk  is  also  delivered  morning  and  evening  to  con¬ 
sumers.  Retail  wagons  distribute  from  50  to  80  gal¬ 
lons  per  day.  The  milk  is  of  good  quality,  owing 
to  a  sharp  competition.  Skimmed  milk  is  also 
sold,  but  from  wagons  which  sell  only  that  kind 
1  he  milk  is  shipped  to  the  city  in  three,  five  and  ten 
gallon  cans  and  there  is  also  a  trade  in  bottled  milk. 
I  here  is  no  organization  among  the  producers,  thoug’h 
attempts  have  been  made  in  this  direction.  The  pro¬ 
ducer  pays  the  freight  on  the  milk  and  receives  from 
14  to  16  cents  per  gallon  the  year  through.  It  retails 
generally  at  eight  cents  per  quart. 
Business  Bits. 
For  the  picture  of  Mr.  T.  B.  Terry,  shown  on  this  page,  we  are  in¬ 
debted  to  W.  II.  Maule,  of  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  publishers  of  Mr.  Terry  s 
books. 
No  butter  dairyman  can  afford  to  be  without  a  liberal  supply  of 
parchment  butter  paper.  We  have  used  It  for  years  In  the  dairy,  and 
would  no  sooner  think  of  going  without  It  than  we  would  think  of  go¬ 
ing  without  salt.  Butter  should  never  be  left  exposed,  and  parchment 
paper  Is  the  cheapest  and  best  cover  that  can  be  had.  Send  to  A.  G. 
Elliot  &  Co.,  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  for  sample  quantities. 
More  Old  MAcmxES.-On  page  5G1  of  The  Rural  you  ask  about 
the  “  life  of  a  good  mowing  machine.”  We  have  a  McCormick  mower 
that  has  done  good  service  for  111  years,  cutting  from  GO  to  125  acres 
each  season.  A  neighbor  has  a  Buckeye  mower  22  years  old— in 
good  order— which  has  cut  from  50  to  90  acres  each  season.  I  think  that 
a  good  mowing  machine,  with  proper  care  and  handling,  will  cut  from 
1,200  to  1,500  acres  of  grass  in  this  section  and  not  need  any  expensive 
repairing.  N  r  M 
The  dairy  exhibit  which  will  be  a  prominent  part  of  the  Food  Exhi¬ 
bition,  to  be  held  at  Madison  Square  Garden,  In  this  city,  October  1  to 
27,  promises  to  be  a  most  interesting  affair.  Mr.  James'  Cheeseman, 
(a  suggestive  name)  of  the  State  Dairy  Department,  will  be  in  charge! 
There  will  be  given  $125  in  premiums  for  farm  butter,  $125  for  creamery 
or  factory  butter,  $125  for  farm-made  cheese,  and  $125  for  factory 
cheese.  In  addition  to  the  above  the  Vermont  Farm  Machine  Com¬ 
pany  will  give  five  gold  medals  worth  $20  each  for  butter  made  by  the 
Cooley  system,  Mosely  &  Stoddard  will  give. a  10-bottle  Babcock  tester 
to  the  winner  of  the  highest  premium  on  farm  cheese;  Francis  D. 
Moulton  &  Co.  will  give  $25  for  butter  salted  with  Ashton  salt,  and,  if 
the  winner  of  the  first  prize  on  farm-made  butter  has  salted  with  Ash¬ 
ton  salt,  he  will  receive  from  them  $35,  and  the  same  offer  is  made  to 
the  prize  winner  of  the  best  factory  butter,  and  the  Cornish,  Curtiss 
&  Greene  Company  for  the  best  collection  of  factory  cheese  will  give 
a  50-bottle  Babcock  tester  worth  $50.  Dairymen  and  others  interested 
who  may  desire  particulars  should  write  for  them  to  James  Cheesman, 
Superintendent  Dairy  Departmen^-Madlson  Square  Garden,  New  York. 
