Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 12.djvu/799

MAINE. marketed with a value of $179,450. Potable waters of the highest quality are found in great abundance everywhere, the glacial drift being the usual source of supply for domestic use. Maine is one of the leading States in the Union in the extent of wooded area and in the annual value received from the forest products. The woodland is estimated at 23,700 square miles, or 79 per cent. of the total land area. The forests cover largely the interior and northern portions of the State, the coast and lower valleys being generally cleared. The land rapidly reforests, and since most of the land is not well suited to cultivation, reforestation is extensive. Large areas at one time under cultivation have been allowed to go back to woodland. The primeval forests of pine are all gone, and the second growth is being used to some extent. The spruce forests are the most extensive and most heavily drawn upon at present. Authorities estimated in 1890 that the State had 21,239,000,000 feet of standing spruce. Of this nearly a third was in the region drained by the Saint John River, and nearly a fourth in the region drained by the Penobscot. The densest spruce forests—the largest, finest trees—are found in the upper basin of the Androscoggin River. The basin of this river has contributed about 44 per cent. of the supply used in the manufacture of pulp and paper. The Kennebec and Penobscot basins have contributed the remainder. The table on the following page shows that the paper and wood pulp industry is largely a development of the last decade of the nineteenth century. The pulp mills are located along the three rivers above mentioned. A belt of white birch timber extends entirely across the State, and this species figures prominently in the lumber industry. From it spools to the value of a million dollars are manufactured annually. Spool timber is shipped extensively to Scotland. Poplar is cut most extensively in the Kennebec region, where it is used in paper manufacture. In the Saint John and Penobscot basins there are extensive forests of cedar. Much has been done in the way of constructing dams, canals, and sluices to facilitate the transportation of logs.

Maine ranks second among the New England States in the value of its fisheries and first in the number of men engaged in the fishing industry. In 1898 the total number of persons so employed was 16,954, of whom 8237 were shoresmen and 6770 were employed in shore or boat fisheries. The total value of the product for the same year was $2,654,919, of which $992,855 represented the lobster fisheries, this being more important in Maine than in all the other New England States combined. Clam fishing ranks next, being also more important than in any other New England State. The salmon fishery on the Penobscot River, though small, is the largest on the Atlantic Coast. The canning industry is very prominent in connection with the shore fisheries, particularly the preparation of small herring as sardines. Clams also figure prominently in the canning products. The State law of 1895 resulted in the discontinuance of lobster-canning, which was formerly very important. The preparation of smoked herring is of considerable moment.

Like that of the other New England States, the surface is too rugged and broken, also the soil for the most part too sterile, to admit of the extensive development

of agriculture. In the river valleys, however, the soil is very fertile. The Aroostook Valley, in the northeastern part of Maine, is the largest district of fertile farming land in New England. Only 32.9 per cent. of the total land area is included in the farms, and of this acreage only 37.9 per cent. is improved. But these areas increased steadily until 1880. Since then both have decreased—the latter very considerably. During the period from 1850 to 1900 the average acreage per farm remained nearly constant, the average for the latter year—106.2 acres—being the largest for the entire period. The average size of the farms varies greatly in the different counties. The State is remarkable for the small percentage of rented farms—less than 5 per cent. of the total.

As elsewhere in New England, the influence of the Western competition has obliged the Maine farmers to give up cereal farming in part, especially wheat. Oats is now the principal cereal, although this too decreased in the last two decades of the century. Buckwheat, the next most important cereal, has more than held its own, but corn and wheat decreased from 1880 to 1900. The area devoted to cereals is rapidly increasing in Aroostook County, constituting in 1900 one-half of the total for the State. The potato crop, though having a less acreage than oats, produces a greater income than all the cereal crops combined. In Aroostook County an average of 6.6 acres per farm is devoted to potatoes. Intensive methods of cultivation are used, and a very high per acre product is obtained for potatoes, as also for most other crops. The acreage of hay and forage is over seven times as great as that of the cereals. Increased attention is being given to dairying and market gardening, the poorer soils being turned into permanent pastures and the most fertile being appropriated for the raising of market products. Sweet corn is the most important of these crops. Much attention is given to the raising of apples, the total number of trees in 1900 exceeding 4,100,000—an increase of 39.3 per cent. for the decade ending in that year. Other orchard and small fruits receive little attention.

Stock-raising is not a leading industry. Since 1880 the number of sheep has decreased over one-half, and the number of neat cattle had decreased rapidly after 1860 until the last decade of the century. The number of horses more than doubled during the last half of the century. Likewise the growing interest in dairying has resulted in the number of milch cows increasing considerably during the same period. In 1900, 29.9 per cent. of the farms of the State derived their principal income from dairy produce. The production of milk increased 71.8 per cent. during the decade ending in that year. Over $5,600,000 was realized from the sale of dairy products, about two-fifths being the returns for milk, two-fifths for butter, and one-fifth for cream.

The following tables show the importance of the leading kinds of crops and farm animals for the census years 1890 and 1900: