Vol. LXVIII No. 4019. 
WEEKLY, $1.00 PER YEAR. 
NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 6, 
DOWN IN MAINE. 
The State of Contentment. 
We have called Vermont the “Bashful State.” The 
name is appropriate, for with many advantages and 
opportunities to offer Vermont people seem to hesi¬ 
tate to “blow their horn.'” Maine is another New 
England State with great natural advantages. Yet 
while the Pacific Coast and Western Canada are kept 
in the limelight, did you ever read a “boom” or a 
“boost” for Maine? Some of the most beautiful and 
finely-flvored apples that ever went down the happy 
apple lane are grown in Maine. The Aroostook coun¬ 
try is one of the world’s noted potato sections. The 
poultry business has reached large proportions. 
found great stretches of smooth level land. Parts of 
Eastern Maine reminds one very much of Michigan. 
While most of the State is very productive, the local 
markets are particularly good. During the Summer 
the State is one great camping ground for tourists. 
They camp or live in boarding houses and hotels 
along the ragged shores, or follow the river back 
to the wilderness. They eat with an appetite which 
greets them as they enter the State, and they pay for 
the food. Thus while Maine cannot be called a man¬ 
ufacturing State, there is a great Summer market for 
fruit, vegetables, poultry and dairy products and other 
things which good farmers can produce. Along the 
rivers on the rich bottom lands are many hay farms 
which yield good incomes. The State has never been 
run in culls the reputation for Maine fruit would be 
second to none. , 
Some years ago a Maine man told us about a pau¬ 
per. This man applied to the town for support, and 
the selectmen went with a wagon to carry the family 
to the poorhouse. The wife and children went that 
way, but the man rode on his own bicycle. Surely 
nowhere else except in the “Contented State” do pau¬ 
pers own bicycles. In one of her short stories Sarah 
Orne Jewett tells of an old lady who lived on the 
town farm. A small legacy was left her, and the old 
lady spent it in going to the Centennial Exposition— 
and then went back to the happy family at the poor- 
house. The farmers ride in automobiles on occasion 
and many of them make enough out of their farms to 
A GROUP OF MAINE FARMERS AT A FRUIT GROWERS’ MEETING. Fig. 523. 
If you want a horse than can “go” and keep going 
get one bred in Maine. As for a wife Vermont and 
Maine are in much the same latitude. One could 
easily fill a column with the superior qualities of 
Maine’s products—yet who ever read an article wav¬ 
ing the flag about them, as is done about Oregon, 
California or Alberta? The reason why these arti¬ 
cles are not written appears to be the fact that as a 
rule Maine folks are so thoroughly contented that it 
is not necessary for them to shout. We may there¬ 
fore call Maine the “Contented State.”. 1 
But seriously, up in the northeast corner of this 
country lies some of the best farming land on the 
continent. The Winters are cold, but the Summers 
are mild and quick, and with proper care of the soil 
great crops of potatoes, hay, sweet corn and similar 
things are grown. New England is usually thought 
of as a rough rocky country, yet in Maine will be 
“boomed” as a farming section, yet for quiet, indus¬ 
trious people it offers many attractions. 
The picture shows some Maine people and the way 
they turn out at farmers’ meetings. This meeting 
was held on the farm at Monmouth which the State 
has bought for experiments in orcharding. There are 
225 acres, and already 3,500 trees have been planted. 
On this farm the experiment station people will try 
to learn what varieties and what methods are best 
for Maine apple growers. It is a great and wise un¬ 
dertaking, and the people turned out to start it. It 
seems that some shippers of Maine apples have tried 
hard to pass off inferior fruit for A No. 1 apples. 
The folly of such work ought to be clear to every¬ 
one who knows what an apple is. At this meeting 
Prof. Woods of the Experiment Station hit the key¬ 
note when he said that if Maine fanners would try 
as hard to put specials on the market as they do to 
buy motor cars. The group in the auto is made up of 
solid Maine folks. The artist whq took the picture 
says: “The lady on the rear seat with hand on the 
frame, raised and marketed 150 bushels of Burbank 
plums this year—but she does not grow the Wonder- 
berry.” _ 
EARLY BEARING MAINE APPLES. 
The picture at Fig. 525 shows two boxes of Alexan¬ 
der apples grown by H. W. Littlefield of Waldo Co., 
Me. They were packed for the Boston market. Mr. 
Littlefield sends the following facts about the apples: 
“Dimensions of upper box 18x18x8, and contains 
60 apples: lower box, 10x11^4x20, a standard Maine 
box. and contains 55 apples. These apples were 
grown on budded whole-root trees, planted out in 
i895; treatment of orchard since 1905 as follows: 
1906 orchard in grass whh top-dressing of. stable 
