_Living in an age of progress we must recognize the fact and adapt ourselves to it or we shall inevitably fall behind, and we do not believe that the men of New England will long close their eyes to the advantages offered by such a course as has been indicated. The change must come, and sooner or later, a part of the change must be the resolute and successful demand for a repeal of the laws that choke industry. Maine men in especial have everything to gain. Their business is stagnant, their population decreasing, poverty staring them in the face and enforced idleness eating like a canker into their very nature. They have it in their power to change all this, to become rich, revive trade, make the state famous for progressive energy, and banish the intemperance that now accompanies and aggravates all their other ills and is accompanied by the other corrupting evils that, as experience shows, always spring up in the shadow of a prohibitory law._ The matter well deserves more space than we can give, but we have presented the leading facts and must leave them for the examination and mature reflection of all who are interested. Great things have been expected of beet-root culture in Maine and other states, and we cannot close this chapter without a word in reference to this topic. The Commissioner of Agriculture, in the prefatory remarks to his last Report, says: “The effort to produce a sugar beet, and the belief and expectation of many that the beet would be made to yield in this country as in Germany and France, of good quality, in sufficient abundance, and at a sufficiently low cost, to make it pay has not been realized—although no pains and money have been spared to insure success.” The difficulty is that the sugar beet will not thrive on poor or exhausted soil, unless it is heavily manured. Such has been the constant experience in those places where the experiment has received most attention, _viz._, Chatsworth, Ill., Sauk county, Wis., and some parts of the state of Maine.[20] New England is unfit for beet-root culture, partly by nature and partly by the exhaustion of the soil, while on the other hand it is as we have said eminently adapted to barley. Even had the expectations of the more reasonable part of the beet-growers of Maine been realized, the material advantages to the people would not have compared with those to be attained by the encouragement of breweries, the growth of barley and hops and the establishment of dairies. All these things go together and stimulate other branches of industry. There will be more demand for other crops, particularly hay and oats, and for lumber for vats, barrels, tubs and building purposes. A busy temperate people must thrive _and we have shown what will make them busy and temperate_.