AGRICULTURE IN MASSACHUSETTS.

BY WARREN A. DURANT, OF LAWRENCE.

When we consider the number of societies that havebeen formed in this Commonwealth by the tillers of the soil for mutual encouragement and improvement, the variety and large circulation of periodicals devoted to their interests, the machines and implements which the inventive genius of the day is producing to lighten their la-bors, the superiority of modern farm buildings, the new fruits and vegetables which are yearly offered to the public, and improvement in all kinds of stock, it is natural to infer that our agriculture is progressing rapidly, for are not all these things sure indications of a deeper interest, more careful study, and a higher success?

It is true there has been a great advance in the ways and means in farm management, that never before did farmers manifest so strong a desire for thorough, accurate knowledge, and never were so many educated men devoting their time and talents to its elevation; but amid these cheering signs of progress are others of a different character, which give another view to the subject. Ride about any county, traverse the length and breadth of the State, and the traveller may go a long

distance without seeing a single work of permanent improvement in progress. Occasionally he will find a man subduing meadow land, or breaking up a rough pasture, but not in a strong-handed, energetic way, as if he were positive of the utility and profitableness of his labor. Here and there he will see new buildings. The fact that the old ones are tumbling down is as often the cause of their erection as the pressing necessity of enlarged accommodations. If he examines every farm carefully, he will be surprised at the number where the pastures are growing up to bushes, briars and brambles, where mowing fields need to be renovated, where the crops suffer for want of thorough under draining, where a majority of the fruit trees are upon the decline from old age or neglect, where walls and fences require re-building, and the buildings are behind the times and rapidly going to decay from lack of timely repairs. A large portion of the farms are owned by people who have passed the meridian of life; their children are grown up and gone; under increasing years and increasing infirmities, what was once to them a pleasure has become a burden. Short of reliable and efficient help, they adopt that course of management which involves the least care and labor. These men can tell you of the larger crops this farm has produced, or the greater number of stock which that one kept, and freely admit the backward tendency of their own homesteads. The simple fact that none of the children can be induced to assist in carrying on the farm, causes scores in every county to be thrown upon the market for sale. Everywhere can be seen field after field that does not pay interest, taxes, and cost of maintaining fences. Scarcely a beginning has been made in thorough drainage, and yet the wet lands, which consti

'tute no small portion of the area of the State, can be rendered the most profitable of any according to the labor. Thousands of acres of hillside, and rough, rocky lands, which have been stripped of their natural product, the trees, and are now kept for a sort of pasturage, would return a higher percentage if they were at once converted into vigorous young forests. It will be seen, taking the State as a whole, that the number of farms which show a steady increase in productions is not large, and all that can strictly be called progressive in her agriculture lies in improvement in quality; that notwithstanding the numerous appliances for saving labor, the quanitty of products has not been increased during the last twenty-five years.

If any one wishes further evidence on this conclusion, he can turn to the statistical record, and there he will find that the State had in 1845, 52,541 more cattle than the returns show for 1865; there were 185,509 more of sheep—the falling off being principally in the Merino blood; there has been a decrease of 41,519 in swine. The horses, however, are more numerous, there being a gain of 25,101. This gain may be attributed to farmers substituting horses for oxen, and to the larger numbers required in cities. The corn crop in 1845 was nearly as large as that of 1865, the difference being only 1,470 bushels; the increase in barley is 16,664. The hay crop shows an increase of 19,189 tons, while during the same period wheat fell off 7,206; in rye the decrease is 176,512 bushels; in oats, 572,162; in potatoes, 940,575 bushels. In 1845 there was made 3,410,045 pounds of cheese more than in 1865. The butter sold from our farms at the latter date was 3,892,766 pounds, which is nearly four million pounds less than the product in

1845. Some decrease might be expected in the dairy, since selling milk is taking precedence of butter and cheese making, but neither the increasing demand for milk, nor the high price of butter and cheese have prevented the number of cows from diminishing, for the returns at the last decade show a loss for the State of 9,624, and of this the share of the leading dairy county, Worcester, was 3,890.

It may be suggested that this diminution in stock and staple products may partly be accounted for by the increasing attention given to Horticulture, the raising of raw material for our manufactures, and by the absorption of some of our best land into house lots and suburban residences. In answer to this-it may be stated that the market gardens are mostly confined to the three counties encircling Boston, and flax, broom corn and tobacco are the only articles raised that are not strictly edible, and that the whole area devoted to these three articles, and also to market gardens, is only 9,891 acres, which would not account for the deficiency in the oat crop alone, allowing a yield of forty bushels to the acre.

The question may here well be asked, why, while our commerce and manufactures have achieved unparalleled success, our agriculture has not likewise prospered? Is it owing to a lack of enterprise? The past twenty-fiveyears have in some respects been trying times to our farmers. It has been a period of changes, and to keep up with the advance of the day has required a succession of radical changes -in the kinds of crops - in modes of cropping and cultivation-in the introduction of labor-saving implements-in the system of marketing and means of transportation; and while striving to keep up with these they have been contending in sharp

competition with the first fruits of the richer soil of our
younger States. Moreover, a spirit of discontent has
prevailed; said some, the lot of our Pilgrim Fathers did
not fall in a goodly place; the promised land of this
Western world lies beyond in the great valley; why
delve we here amid these many hills, rocky fields and
sterile plains? let us go and possess it! Others said,
money can be made easier and quicker in the factory,
the work-shop, or counting-room, and we will go hither!
Our business men have spoken contemptuously of till-
ing such a soil as this; Eastern capitalists largely inter-
ested in Western railroads and in the sale of lands, have
urged on emigration from our rural districts; every man
thus withdrawn from the farm is a material loss to our
agriculture. When the ranks of our farmers have been
continually thinned by the removal of the young and ro-
bust, what could our old men do? Where was the en-
couragement for them to remodel their buildings, buy la-
bor-saving machines, smooth down their rough fields, un-
derdrain and adopt all the new improvements of the
day? Where would our manufactures be were it not
for the young men crowding into every department
ready and willing to rise early and bear the heavier bur-
dens, and who have the courage and spirit to try the
new projects? If under such circumstances our farms.
have held their own, they have done well; if they show
a decrease it is not surprising.

It is well known that the production of food in our
State is not equal to the consumption, and from the fore-
going it will be seen we are less and less able to meet
the demands of the yearly increasing population. Our
markets are so regularly supplied at all seasons of the
year that it is difficult to tell how much comes from