44 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



and capital, and the wants and oppression of the operative class, 

 there is nowhere else an aggregate population of equal num- 

 bers who have such stable employment, are weekly earning and 

 receiving and accumulating so much money, and are better 

 able to procure the necessaries and luxuries of life. 



Once the idea was entertained that it made little difference 

 where a farmer was located, provided the soil was good. He 

 might be in the centre of a wilderness, on a distant mountain- 

 top, or a hidden valley among the hills, far away from great 

 thoroughfares and populous centres, and no roads to them but 

 bridle-paths and trails. Then it made little difference, for it 

 was little he had to sell, and that was of a kind which the mar- 

 ket would not take. He depended upon his farm to supply all 

 his own wants of food and clothing, and was independent of the 

 outside world as a purchaser or seller. Then, farming was the 

 raising of every crop which it was possible for the soil and cli- 

 mate of a given locality to produce. Now, farming is the con- 

 centration of all intelligence and energies to the making of one 

 or two crops for which our soil and climate is specially adapted, 

 and for which some market makes a demand. For this reason, 

 quick and cheap transportation is all-important — is just the 

 difference between success and failure ; good, easy communica- 

 tion enabling us to send to market those products which are 

 most profitable, and poor ones compelling us to make crops 

 which little more than pay for their transit. Now a farmer 

 should have to his premises a good, public highway, kept in 

 complete repair, along which he may, without let or hindrance, 

 convey with his own team his products to his near market, and 

 should be conveniently near to the lines of steam transporta- 

 tion, that his crops sent to more distant localities may reach 

 their destination speedily and uninjured, and be enabled to 

 make those profitable products which must not be long in 

 reaching their destination. In this respect, also, our advan- 

 tages are superior to those of any other section, and especially 

 of the great producing States of the West. Our legal system, 

 by which our common highways are constructed and kept in, 

 repair, is one of the best, and it is heartily sustained by our peo- 

 ple. Our common roads are a perfect network, crossing the 

 country in all directions, and giving our farmers direct, free 

 communication with the centres of trade and population. 



