To the editor:
In 1850, B.F. Robbins of the Kennebec Valley submitted his observations as a correspondent to the Commissioner of Patents in Washington for inclusion in the second annual Agriculture Report to the U.S. House of Representatives Agriculture Committee. Not until 1862, under President Lincoln’s Administration, would these reports be issued by the secretary of the newly established U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Mr. Robins concluded his report with comments on the agriculture of Aroostook County, which he described as “the wild land in the north-eastern part of Maine.” Here are some of his comments “relative to the soil, products, and agricultural prospects of this new country.”
“I have traveled during the past autumn, some 200 miles in the county of Aroostook, visiting the principal settlements, and noticing, so far as I had opportunity, the success that had attended the hardy and industrious pioneers. There are many thousands of acres of very good land in this county, which, by industry and skill, may be converted into beautiful and productive farms. From what I there saw, I feel confident in the opinion that the valley of the Aroostook is the best grain-growing district in New England.
Much of the land lies in beautiful ridges or swells, not too abrupt for cultivation, it is well wooded, there is a great abundance of noble cedars for fencing and other purposes, and the soil is deep and fertile, and generally free from stones. There is no frost to check vegetation until after the 25th of September.
The crops of the past season were excellent. I have never seen any better wheat, oats, buckwheat, millet, and potatoes, than I noticed on this journey; and the average yield of all these crops is much greater than in the older settled portions of the country. The potatoes are of very superior quality, and, in many neighborhoods, they appeared to be entirely free from disease (late blight).”
Mr. Robbins included a statement of crops raised in 1850 by Mr. John F. Goss, of Presque Isle Plantation with the assistance of his son, 17 years of age, and a hired man 4 months. These included 25 tons of hay, 700 bushels of oats, 100 bushels of wheat, 200 bushels of buckwheat, 40 bushels of millet, 25 bushels of rye, 30 bushels of corn, 300 bushels of potatoes (on about one acre), 100 bushels of turnips, 300 bushels of carrots, and 6 bushels of beans.
According to a local “trader,” the fair market value of the hay was $8 per ton, and — per bushel — wheat was $1.25; corn, beans, and rye $1; millet 75 cents; buckwheat 50 cents; oats 30 cents; and the turnips, carrots, and potatoes were worth 20 cents a bushel. This adds up to $833 for the year — before expenses. It is little wonder that many of these farmers also tried their hand at part-time lumbering to help pay for the necessaries of life.
In “History of Aroostook,” by Edward Wiggin, the first record of an acre — perhaps the cradle of potatoes planted in central Aroostook — was on a wilderness farm settled in June 1840 by Capt. Henry Rolfe, a veteran of the Aroostook War. Capt. Rolfe, on his first clearing of 16 acres two miles north of the Aroostook Bridge (in Maysville), planted an acre of potatoes, an acre of wheat, and the rest in oats. This was years before the road from Presque Isle to Caribou had been “cut thru” — or the wooden covered bridge built.
The price offered at Fairbank’s mill in Presque Isle was 50 cents a bushel for potatoes and oats, $1 per bushel for buckwheat, and $2 a bushel for wheat. Hay, purchased by the lumber operators, was valued at a lofty $20 a ton. From his farm, Capt. Rolfe had to carry grain on his back through the woods “by a spotted line” to the Aroostook River.
In 1840, the population of Aroostook County was only 9,413. By 1850, the County was home to 12,535 people; 2,045 families living in 2,038 dwelling-houses. There were 1,228 farms and 59 manufacturing establishments.
Steve Sutter
Presque Isle
