7(3 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



evidence of advance, unless accompanied Avitli indications of an 

 improved culture also. 



The general tenor of reply to tlie question of the circular is, 

 that tlie amount of tillage land is increasincr, but I am not able 

 from it, to state ■with certainty, whether it is owing rather to 

 an increase in the breadtli cultivated by each farmer, or to an 

 increase in the number of farms and farmers. In some in- 

 stances allusion is made in connection with this increase, to 

 better cultivation as accoj^anying it, which is highly satisfacto- 

 ry as indicating to such ratent as it may prevail, a healthy de- 

 velopment. 



About one tenth of the towns heard from report a decrease. 

 In two of them. specific reasons arc assigned, which show that 

 under the circumstances, this decrease mio'ht be naturallv ex- 

 pected. In all the others, the reason is distinctly assigned, 

 that it is found better policy to work less land and to do it 

 more thoroughly; one says, ''the number of acres is not increas- 

 ing in proportion to the number of tillers. It has been found 

 that one acre well cultivated yields a greater profit than two 

 acres indiifeTcntly cultivated," and much of similar import is 

 received from many sources. 



Woodla7id. 



The value of a forest growth is not confined to its produc- 

 tion of wood and timber. It exercises an influence on climate, 

 and especially with regard to the fall of rain. It is well known 

 that showers are more frequent in wooded and mountainous dis- 

 tricts than in those stripped of their forests. Their removal 

 increases the rapidity of evaporation from its surface, and dimin- 

 ishes the means of condensing the vapor, and precipitating it in 

 the form of rain. In a country so liable as ours, to severe 

 droughts, this is a consideration of no small magnitude. 



An occasional belt of trees is also of great service in furnish- 

 ing shelter to our homes and our fields, by breaking the force 

 and severity of high winds. The value of the shelter thus afford- 

 ed cannot be appreciated without careful and critical observa- 

 tion, and it is believed that it will be found of very much greater 

 consequence than has usually been supposed, as such belts not 

 only lessen the violence of winds, but seem to exercise such a 



