Aroostook Farm Census of 1930

To the editor:
    According to the Fifteenth Census of the United States for 1930, Aroostook County was home to 6,459 farms averaging 134 acres in size, with just 5 farms topping 500 acres. This number was down a little from the 6,741 farms in 1920 that averaged 126 acres.    Potatoes, hay (mostly timothy or timothy/clover mixed), and oats totaled 132,887, 151,913, and 81,164 acres, respectively. These crops accounted for 96 percent of cropland harvested. Horses on April 1, 1930 totaled 17,002 (or 2.6 per farm).
    Of these Aroostook County farms, 5,110 (79 percent) had chickens. The average flock of 27 birds over 3 months of age produced about 13 eggs a day. With 13,615 head of hogs and 20,832 sheep, Aroostook was Maine’s leading county in producing these two classes of livestock.
    Beef and dairy cattle on 2,372 Aroostook farms totaled 26,903 head, a tiny number relative to total cropland in the County. Aroostook was also home for 3,350 turkeys, 844 ducks, 976 geese, and 12 goats.
    Aroostook was Maine’s leading county, and among New England’s top three counties, with 1,181 hives of bees owned on 100 farms. These hives produced 25,698 pound of honey in 1929. Aroostook also produced 2,177 gallons of maple syrup on 153 farms.
    Production of mixed vegetables for sale was limited to 66 acres in 1929. Vegetables most commonly reported by farms included cucumbers, snap beans, cabbages, tomatoes, sweet corn, green peas, and turnips. Farms with a garden (for home use only) totaled 3,735 (58 percent), and 3,690 farms reported harvesting a total of 78,379 cords of firewood.
    Farms reporting apple production totaled 2,273, with an inventory of 68,513 trees. With 1.45 bushels harvested per tree of bearing age, Aroostook County topped the State average 1.25 bushels per tree for 1929. At least seven Aroostook farms reported production of cherries, plums, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, and cranberries.
    In 1930, the average value of land and buildings per Aroostook farm was $10,345. Value of implements and machinery averaged $1,645; livestock inventory $679. The proportion of farms mortgaged was 55.3 percent, by far the highest rate among Maine counties. Aroostook farmers also paid the highest property tax rate on land and buildings at $1.19 per acre.
Steve Sutter
Presque Isle