26 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



ural labor, and the aggregate amount would be $509,668,801. 

 Now their actual cash value, as returned by the assessors of 

 that year (and it is a low estimate) was $9,262,803,861. In 

 other words, farm-labor has added to the landed wealth of 

 the nation $8,753,135,000. The same returns make the cash 

 value of our farm-fixtures and stock $1,862,154,886, swell- 

 insr the ffrand total of agricultural contribution to the incon- 

 ceivable sum of $10,615,289,646. This, it should be noticed, 

 is its accumulations, and is distinct from its annual produc- 

 tions. This amazing sum is the permanent capital of the 

 state, and its peculiar character is really of more importance 

 to it than the amount. The other property of the nation in 

 individual hands — money, bonds, notes, merchandise, real 

 estate of towns and cities — is good of its kind in ordinary 

 times, when everything moves smoothly, and is available for 

 government use ; but in great emergencies — in times of national 

 convulsions and war — when the vital strength and enduring 

 power of the state is brought to the test, this class of prop- 

 erty disappears, or is unsuited to the occasion ; but the value 

 of the farming-lands and their power of production become 

 the real-estate security which sustains the nation's credit at 

 home and abroad, and enables it to recover from the greatest 

 disasters. France, at the present time, is a good example of 

 this. Crushed, subdued and devastated by the great military 

 power and armies of Prussia, laid under enormous contribu- 

 tions to pay the war expenses of both countries, we are 

 astonished at her unimpaired credit, and the rapidity with 

 which she is repairing her manifold injuries. This is not the 

 influence of the capital or products of her commerce or man- 

 ufactures, but the result of long years of wisely-directed efi'ort 

 in creating a nation of skilful farmers, and raising her farm- 

 ing-lands to the highest point of value and power of produc- 

 tion. The aid which farming gives to the nation's regular 

 prosperity, to its annual products, is no less marked than its 

 influence on its permanent capital. In fact, the former, to a 

 great extent, is the result of the latter. Referring again to 

 the last census, I find the appraised value of all kinds of farm- 

 products of 1870, while in the hands of farmers, and before 

 any value was added by transportation or dealers' profits, was 

 $2,515,593,076. This is the result of a single year's work on 



