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This newspaper page contains 18 articles. Subscribers can read the full text of each article.
Newspaper
Bath Independent
Location
Bath, Maine, United States of America
Date
Jan 27, 1917
Page
10
A Iowa market gardener describes a method to obtain extra early Irish potatoes in spring 1916. Selected tubers are cut and started on stable manure beds under glass, then transplanted by hand into a warm, sunny field. The yield is nearly double the usual early crop, with high market prices offsetting transplanting costs.
The piece notes W. W. Thomass praising New Sweden Maine as a thriving community. It also reports the Shaker estate of 1700 acres in Enfield Connecticut becoming a large tobacco farm despite Shaker opposition to tobacco and a dwindling Shaker presence nationwide. The Shakers, linked to Quakers, are described as virtuous and industrious with Ann Lee seen as the Eternal Mother.
The article notes many people combine farming with city jobs. Living on small plots lets households raise dairy, produce, and fruit for home use and sale. It highlights factory locations in small towns and trolley lines boosting this lifestyle with growth over the past decade.
W. W. Thomas spoke at the state House urging Maine to expand colonization by selling unimproved lands to Swedes. He praised New Sweden as a model and argued settlers need time to pay, proposing three years without payments followed by seven years to complete payments. He urged selling adjoining lands to attract more Swedish communities across Maine.
John P. Buckley of Westbrook, former Agriculture Commissioner, says Maine farmers oppose a seven member commission to pick the agriculture head. He argues the department should serve practical farmers, not politics or reform driven by associations that lack farming experience. The Richmond Farmers Union reportedly gains in the grain trade.
Mr. and Mrs. William A. Olds of Mason Michigan leave home to ride by horse and wagon through Ohio New York and New Jersey to Florida. They plan to return via Alabama Tennessee Kentucky and Illinois by August or September. They embrace a slow unscheduled journey with a tent bed stove rifle and fishing gear, enjoying freedom over hard work.
W W McPherson argues two advantages for rural districts from the Federal Farm Loan Act. It would unite conservative farmers into a durable local body and enable broader community business use beyond loans. It would also create safe investment bonds for farmers, artisans, and laborers, competing with government bonds.
A recipe for bread using two quarts mashed potatoes, compressed yeast, salt, milk and flour to form a stiff dough. It notes mashing to cream, raising the dough, shaping loaves, then baking, with optional lard or sugar and water as substitutes.
Oaklawn farmers and dairymen join a cooperative buying program receiving a mixed carload from wholesalers and distributing it under the purchasing agent. The note urges farmers to feed second crop clover to pigs and ensure dry nesting material and good air for all livestock during cold nights.
A farming couple once trusted Bill the horse with daily labor from plowing to reaping. As Bill aged and lost his sight and vigor, the farmer sells him for ten dollars, while Mrs. Jones laments the loss and a broader plea to treat aging animals with kindness.
Rural carriers endured a cold storm last Thursday as they delivered mail and stage drivers returned home. D A Merry of Winneyance reports hens laying over a case of eggs weekly at 55 cents a dozen and two cows with a calf and a near birth. Farmers face high Western grain prices, oats and rye hay praised for cattle feed, and ice storage advised. Town markets show Toose hay at 16 dollars a ton and potatoes at about 2 dollars per bushel. farmers urged to read the Independent market report for profits.
The article discusses farming tips from cows to hogs and home grain use, plus maple syrup making on spring farms. It notes 10,390 acres reforested in 1916 with 6,146,637 trees planted and 8,280 pounds of seed sown, and relays stories of long school commutes, a fatal ice crossing, and efforts to organize milk producer unions in Lisbon.
Oliver Cabana Jr of Elma, New York reports a seven day butter production world record of 50.08 pounds from Segis Faynes Johanna 114,658, the Holstein Friesian cow. Cabana purchased Rag Apple Korndyke 8th for 25000 at Brattleboro sale in 1915 and already owns four cows with over 40 pounds weekly butter records.
The new reformatory at Skowhegan for women will include a farm with garden truck fruit poultry sheep pigs and cows. The superintendent plans women’s inmates to perform work deemed suitable for women.
Edwin R. Stewart reports ice harvest done and firewood prepared as buyers in Richmond pay $1.60 per bushel for potatoes. Some Richmond farmers consider sweet corn for a factory while locals debate rebuilding the Merrymeeting bay bridge.
Cornell University Agricultural Department warns city residents seeking country life that farming is complex and not suited for all. It advises beginners to follow local experienced farmers, avoid cheap, unprofitable land, and weigh family obligations before leaving steady city wages for agriculture.
Maine agricultural expert B Walker McKeen of Fryeburg urges converting worn grass lands to corn for silage. Some farmers use silos while others store semi-ripe corn in shocks. Without a silo, cows will eat semi-ripe corn fodder and the grain cut as hay unthreshed helps reduce western grain costs.
The American Farm Finance League calls meetings in every county seat on January 27 to discuss how best to profit from the operations of the federal farm loan act.
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