ever ready to help in the fulfillment of these needs, are to be com-
mended for paying special recognition to this important segment of
our economy—farming.

Generally speaking, Maryland has achieved no renown beyond its
borders as a farming state, or, that is to say, our image abroad is
not that of an agricultural community. Our friends in other regions
do not think of us as the wheat state, the corn state, the hog state,
the cattle state or even the poultry state. And yet, as we know here—
and especially those of us who were born and reared on this Eastern
Shore—agriculture has been from the beginning, is now, and we expect
will be in the future the very backbone and marrow of our Maryland
economy.

It is no accident that the Great Seal of the State of Maryland
bears the figures of a fisherman and a farmer, and these symbols are
as appropriate today as they were when they were devised centuries
ago. For, as I have said, the cultivation of the soil has been from the
very beginning a basic part of Maryland life. We have 25, 000 farms
in Maryland today, with an annual productivity of approximately
$285, 000, 000. And although, being a relatively small state, Maryland
does not vie with many of the other states in the total production of
its farms, it ranks high in terms of production per farm and pro-
duction per acre. And this, to me, seems to be very important. Our
farmers, for the most part, are progressive and prosperous. Our farms
are well tended, well kept and scientifically operated.

We pride ourselves in Maryland in the great social, geographical
and economic diversity of our State. We have farms, villages, towns
and big cities. We have mountains, plateaus, plains and the ocean.
We have an unexcelled transportation system—water, land and air.
We have both big industry and small industry. Something very
important would be missing from this picture if we did not have our
farms and our agricultural enterprises.

Maryland has been richly endowed in many ways, and in none more
significantly than in geography. We have surroundings conducive
not only to pleasant living, but to abundant living. Our agriculture
has prospered because we have fertile soil, and equable climate. ade-
quate water resources, proximity to markets, a good transportation sys-
tem. More importantly, perhaps, we have men and women with the in-
telligence, the industry and the vision to use the resources to supply
their wants— for the betterment of themselves and their communities.
And so, we have produced tobacco, poultry, truck crops, livestock,

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