THE 



TWENTY-SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT 



OF THE 



SECRETARY 



OF THB 



BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of 



Massachusetts. 



The increased area devoted to the growth of Indian corn 

 may be stated as one of the marked characteristics of the past 

 farming season. The attention given to this beautiful crop 

 had been gradually diminishing for some years, owing to an 

 impression that there were other crops that could be raised at 

 a greater profit. The fact that it is an article of prime neces- 

 sity for consumption upon every farm, and that, wherever it 

 can be raised at a cost less than the market-price, it must be 

 desirable and profitable to grow it, seemed to be lost sight of. 

 For two or three years a re-action has been going on in the 

 minds of the farming community. Many careful experiments 

 have been made ; and the results appear to show that this 

 crop can be produced at less than fifty cents a bushel, while 

 it is seldom that it can be bought for that in the market. 



Meantime new and improved methods have been tried: 



the use of concentrated fertilizers has greatly increased, and 



a more general substitution of machinery for hand-labor has 



been brought to bear to lessen the cost of cultivating a crop 



of corn. It may be that some other special crop can be made 



to pay better acre for acre, and that, as a money-crop raised 



to sell, a greater amount can be realized upon some of the 



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