The rivers and lakes are well stocked with fish; the State is considered the sportsman's paradise. Some of the varieties are the speckled trout, sturgeon, pickerel, sal mon, bass and bream. Lobsters, clams and mus sels are in large quantities along the coast, and in the bays and inlets are bluefish, rock-cod, sculpins, cunners, flounders and others. In the off-shore waters there are cod, herring, mack erel, haddock, hake, porgy, menhaden and pol lock, which are caught in large quantities. One species of herring, the Culpea harengus, fur nishes a large portion of the fish used in the sardine-canning establishments of Lubec, East port and other places. The fisheries of Maine rank second in value among the fisheries of New England, but more men are engaged in industry ndustry in Maine than in any other New England State except Massachusetts. The commissioner of sea and shore fisheries for 1914 estimates the number of persons depend ent upon the fisheries at 50,000 and the value of the product at $5,786,000.
In 1892 the lobster fisheries product was $992,855, this amount being greater than for all lobsters in all the other New England States. The law passed in 1895 for the protection of the lobster fisheries greatly curtailed this branch of the fishing industry, as it prohibited the tak ing of lobsters less than 1054 inches in extreme length. This caused the removal of canning establishments to Nova Scotia, New Brims. wick and the Magdalen Islands. The govern ment experiment stations plant large quantities of lobster fry along the coast. The value of the catch for the year 1913-14 was $3,277,806. Clam fishing ranks next in importance; canning clams is a prominent industry, also the prepara tion of smoked herring. Salmon fishing is largely in the Penobscot and Kennebec riven The fishery trade is centred chiefly at Portland. Rockland and Vinal Haven. The sardine fish eries are located in Washington, Hancock, Lin coln and Cumberland counties. The following quantity of fish cured and canned was, according to last report, 8,751,392 pounds of sardines and 2,173,277 pounds of clams. During the 10 years preceding 1909 this industry grew from 74,022,141 pounds to 116,289,900 pounds, and increased in value from $4,753,071 to $5,738,685.
Agriculture and Stock The soil of a considerable portion of the State is not adapted to agriculture, owing to the large acre age of forest land. But a little over 33 per cent is farm land and of that nearly one-third is not improved. The most fertile lands are in the river valleys, the largest acreage being in the northeastern part of the State in the Aroos took Basin. The farms average in size about 105 acres, and less than S per cent of the farms are occupied by tenants (Government Census Bulletin for 13 Dec. 1910). The owner living on the farm means more intensive methods of cultivation, a systematic enrichment of the soil and a careful rotation of crops. The cereal
crops, especially wheat, have decreased in ex tent owing to Western competition, but in Aroos took County they are increasing. The Federal census of 1910 shows that in this county the cereals occupied one-half the total of the cereal acreage of the State. The crop of oats, once large, has also decreased; yellow corn, for merly cultivated on all the farms, never pied much area and is now raised for fodder. The finest sweet corn in the world is raised in Maine for canning and goes to all parts of the country.
The green-corn industry originated wih Isaac Winslow who invented the process in 1838-39. On 8 March 1853 he applied for a patent for preserving frf)Sh fit7C00 corn by her metically sealing process. In suits against in fringers of the patents it appeared that the canning of corn originated in Maine at the early dates mentioned, and Maine-packed sugar corn still leads in all markets. In 1915 Maine packed 1,959,000 dozen green corn, valued at $1,470,750.
Buckwheat, which produces excellent flour in a soil and climate like Maine, is still culti vated. The returns from the potato crop are greater than from all the cereals. Hay of an excellent quality is marketed at good prices. Farmers living near markets are giving con siderable attention to market gardening and dairying. Fine grained vegetables, sweet corn, small fruits and apples flourish and bring ex cellent returns. Apple orchards are increasing in number and increased attention is being given to their care and cultivation. The raising of horses is increasing, but the number of neat cattle and sheep is decreasing. The number of milch cows is increasing. The statistics of 1900 show that nearly 30 per cent of the farms de rived more income from dairy products than from all other sources. However, such statis tics are sometimes unreliable as a large part of the living of the farmer's family comes from the farm, but that only is reckoned as income which is sold from the farm, The amount re ceived in 1900 for dairy products was about S5,605,000. The Federal Census Reports of 1910 gave the following statistics: 59,773 farms, covering 6,291,000 acres, of which 3,933, 000 acres were unimproved. The total value of the farm property of the State was $199, 271,998. The value of the products for 1899 was $37,104,375. For the year ending 1 June 1910 some of the farm products were as fol lows: Quantity Value Hay 1,750,000 tons $22,400,000 Potatoes 27,940,000 bushels 11,735,000 Oats 3,554.000 bushels 2,666,000 Buckwheat 748,000 bushels 509,000 Corn 782,000 bushels 355,000 Barley 248,000 bushel* 188,000 267,000 bushels 272,000 In 1917 the chief crops were oats, 4,930,000 bushels; corn, 780,000 bushels.