[Maine Agricultural Footage]

Date1938

AbstractNHF notes, 4/96: Maine agriculture footage shot by Maine Central Railroad, possibly intended for use in promotional film to attract passengers from New York City. With intertitles. Footage initially received as three reels. 'Reel 1': (200 ft.) Scenes of Earl Mosher (Albert's father), Albert Mosher and Albert's brother doing farm operations. Having lunch out in field. ('The film crew provided the pumpkin pie and cider.') 'Reel 2': (200 ft.) Reel label: 'On farm part 1.' Scenes of farm and livestock, also 1938 Fryeburg Fair Baby Beef and other events. 'Reel 3': (400 ft.) Reel label: 'On farm part 2.'

Viewing NotesTitle: Picture of farm animals outside a building: ‘The Bank of Nature’. Intertitle: ‘It Pays Dividends’. Intertitle: ‘The producers of this film gratefully acknowledge the cooperation of New England agriculturists, which alone made it possible’. Intertitle: ‘New England “gildt-edge bonds”’. Close up of various farm animals: sheep, cows, pigs, chickens etc. Intertitle: ‘New England farms are ideal for raising live-stock’. Cows lying in a field. A house and a barn. A little boy walks into a barn. Milk jugs on a bench. Dogs. Farm fields. A barn and silo. A cow in a barn. People seated on the house porch. Scenes around the farm. A horse drawn combine. Moving a wagon load of hay into a barn hayloft. A field. Intertitle: ‘New England can grow her own grain’. A combine pulled by a tractor. Close up of wheat stocks. Intertitle: ‘Threshing the grain’. A belt attached to the tractor motor powers the threshing machine. A man feeds wheat stocks into the machine. Intertitle: ‘Clover in bloom’. Shot of a field of clover. Mowing fields. Intertitle: ‘Hayloader takes the backache out of haying.’ A horse drawn wagon pulls the hayloader. Intertitle: ‘Supplementary feeds to balance the ration’. A tractor mowing plants. A hayloader picking up the cut plants. Unloading the plants onto a conveyor belt. A machine separating the plants. (peas?) Intertitle: ‘Pea-vinery waste’. Conveyor belts dropping waste straw. Intertitle: ‘Plenty of good water’. View of a pond with mountains in the distance, cows in the foreground. A windmill. Intertitle: ‘Grass, the basis of all agriculture’. Men unloading hay. Intertitle: ‘Grass silage’. Grass being fed into a machine. Intertitle: ‘Making hay for winter feed. A horse drawn hayloader. Intertitle: ‘Lunch hour-- "Punkin” pie and apple juice’. A group of men seated under a tree. Two boys walk over with food. Pouring out apple juice and eating pie. Horses in a field. Intertitle: ‘Horseflesh, large and small’. A man leading a large horse. Horses in a paddock. A mare and foal. A boy riding a pony. Intertitle: ‘Boys and girls are interested in raising beef’. Children leading cows at the Fryeburg Fair (?). Intertitle: ‘The 4-H baby beef champion, 1938’. A boy poses with a calf and a trophy. A line of people and cows. Children leading cows. Men with horses and a foal. Intertitle: ‘Good cows produce pure milk for human use’. Cows in a field. Intertitle: ‘Herefords on pasture’. Cows in a field. Intertitle: ‘The head of the family’. Cattle. Intertitle: ‘“And a little child shall lead them”’. A toddler stands next to two yoked steer. People leading cows. Intertitle: Poultry, ideal for the small farmer.’ Chickens, geese, quail and chicks. Two boys holding chicks. Intertitle: ‘Turkey IS Thanksgiving in New England’. Sign: ‘Jacques Turkey Ranch’. Sign: ‘Thanksgiving and Christmas Turkeys E. N. Jacques Augusta 169-11.” Turkeys in pens. Geese, ducks, and turkeys. Intertitle: ‘New England wool and mutton’. Sheep in a pen. Men pushing sheep out of a barn. A man holding a lamb. Sheering sheep. Sheep in pens. Intertitle: ‘The most precious “live-stock” of all’. A little girl turns a somersault in the grass. Three children seated on the front steps of a house. Close up of a toddler. Children riding on tricycles. A boy eating toast. Intertitle: ‘A production by the industrial Department of the Maine Central Railroad’. [End of Reel]