40 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



mountain top, steep hillside and declivity was cleared and 

 called a farm, which nature never designed for, nor would allow 

 to be successfully cultivated ; and if we willingly, or unwil- 

 lingly, are giving it up to the purpose for which it is adapted, 

 the better will it be for our other fields and the aggregate pro- 

 ductions. But I deny that our soil as a whole is so depleted 

 that its products in the aggregate do not yield as rich a reward 

 as other sections of the country. Compare the value of the 

 important crops, acre for acre, with the States famed for fer- 

 tility, and the balance is in our favor. Hay, as an example, is 

 a leading and important crop throughout the Northern States, 

 in some respects more valuable than any other. Now the 

 money value of an average acre of hay in Massachusetts is 

 $22.75 ; in New York it is $16.50 ; in Ohio, $17.50 ; in Penn- 

 sylvania, $13.80 ; and in Illinois, $13.30. If you compare the 

 value of the products of hay, cattle, milk, butter and cheese, 

 acre for acre, the balance is in our favor. If we look at the 

 average yield per acre, we shall find we stand in the front rank ; 

 for the very reliable statistics of 1868 show that that year Illi- 

 nois produced on the average, 2,800 pounds per acre; Massa- 

 chusetts, 2,600 ; Pennsylvania, 2,400 ; Ohio, 2,600 ; and New 

 York, 2,000. Turn now to grain, and see how poor, poverty- 

 stricken Massachusetts compares with her famed sisters in their 

 productions. Indian corn is our great national crop. In 1869 

 the value of this cereal produced by the whole country was 

 $655,500,000. That year we averaged more corn per acre than 

 any State in the Union, excepting Nebraska, Kansas and Cali- 

 fornia. The average worth of an acre of corn, that year, tak- 

 ing into account both the corn and the fodder, was, in Massa- 

 chusetts, $44 ; in Ohio, $18 ; in Missouri, $18 ; in Michigan, 

 $16.80 ; in Wisconsin, $15.60 ; in Kentucky, $15 ; and in Illinois, 

 $13.80. The same facts exist in relation to the production of 

 wheat. Oregon alone averages more wheat per acre than Massa- 

 chusetts, and Vermont is the only State which produces an equal 

 amount. The money value to the farmer of an average crop of 

 wheat, including grain and straw, is greater here than in any 

 other State of the Union. 



These facts are the answer which the soil of Massachusetts 

 gives to those who say it is sterile and will not pay for cultiva- 

 tion, and show conclusively that, notwithstanding the exhaust- 



