INDUCEMENTS TO FARMING. 13 



« 



us. But few counties in the State have less rocks ; and, if 

 the soil were cold and poor, it could not be made to produce 

 over a hundred and forty bushels of shelled corn to the acre. 



I do not deny that the cultivation of the soil has been very 

 much neglected ; but I am unwilling to admit that this neglect 

 is caused by the climate, or sterility of the soil. 



Until within a few years our manufactories have increased 

 so rapidly, and the demand for our manufactures has been so 

 great, that our manufacturers have found it necessary to 

 raise the price of labor high enough to draw into their work- 

 shops the boys as soon as they were old enough to work, and 

 also young and middle-aged men who were at work in the 

 fields. 



In consequence of this, our supply of farmers has been 

 cut off; and our farms have been left to Nature, which soon 

 covers them with bushes, to be rapidly followed with wood, 

 which in time grows to timber. 



To the man who fully understands his business, but few if 

 any portions of our country offer greater inducements to the 

 market-gardener or to the producer of milk than Plymouth 

 County. 



Good farming-lands which are within from thirty-five to 

 sixty minutes' ride of the city of Boston can be purchased at 

 from ten to twenty-five dollars per acre. This land is well 

 adapted to the growth of small-fruits and vegetables, and, in 

 the towns which border on the ocean, can be cheaply fertil- 

 ized with the large quantities of rich fertilizing materials that 

 are being continually landed upon the shore, and are within 

 the reach of every farmer in the vicinity ; but a few dollars 

 being charged by the owners of the beaches for all that a 

 farmer can carry away during the entire year. This never- 

 failing rich deposit of Nature is of immense advantage to 

 the young farmer of limited means ; for, instead of paying 

 out large sums of money for fertilizing materials, he saves 

 his money, and utilizes his spare time and that of his team 

 in improving his farm with the free valuable deposits of 

 Nature. 



Being within easy reach of an almost unlimited market, 

 he is able to find a ready sale for the products of his farm. 

 Having purchased his farm at a much less price than the 

 most of those who are now supplying Boston market with 



