Maine, its history, resources and government . ears ago. Agriculture. The first farms were community was necessary that all the people of the little settlementswhich marked the beginnings of the commonwealth shouldhave food, and it was a matter of common self-preservationthat no consideration should be had for individual claims tothe products of the soil regardless of whose labor was em-ployed in raising the crops. All produce was put together inone storehouse, to be used by every one alike. It must be 128 AGRICULTURAL AND INDUSTRIAL MAINE 129 recorded that the first attempts at
Maine, its history, resources and government . ears ago. Agriculture. The first farms were community was necessary that all the people of the little settlementswhich marked the beginnings of the commonwealth shouldhave food, and it was a matter of common self-preservationthat no consideration should be had for individual claims tothe products of the soil regardless of whose labor was em-ployed in raising the crops. All produce was put together inone storehouse, to be used by every one alike. It must be 128 AGRICULTURAL AND INDUSTRIAL MAINE 129 recorded that the first attempts at farming were far fromglowing successes. Many of the pioneers knew little enoughof the science and practice of agriculture, and this lack ofknowledge, together with the crudity of their implements andthe character of the soil in some localities, did not help to assurea surplus of food. Without fertilizer the crops were likelyto be failures and, so far as the settlers knew, there was nofertilizer available. But the Indians knew more about this. A Maine Cornfield and Typical Farm Buildings than the whites, and they showed the settlers how to put a fishunder a hill of corn to decay and make the crop grow. Later came a time when individual farms began to be carvedout of the wilderness tracts. The methods of agriculture werestill necessarily crude and clearings were made only by dintof a great deal of hard labor. After the trees were removedand the land burned over to prevent the stumps from sprout-ing, it was by no means an easy task to prepare the ground forplanting. Roots and stumps were often large and could notbe completely cleared away for several years. In manyplaces the soil was filled with boulders and smaller rocks, which 130 MAINE GEOGRAPHY AND INDUSTRY the farmer had to dig out and carry away. There still remainample evidences of the toil of those days in the great stone wallswhich even now mark the divisions between the fields on manyMaine farms, while here and there we
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