AGRICULTURE OP HAMPSHIRE COUNTY. 155 



front and foremost of farmers, and of an institution, front and 

 foremost of agricultural colleges. 



Therefore 1 would urge as the first essential improvement 

 (not in this county alone, but throughout the State), the adop- 

 tion of a more far-sighted policy in the cultivation of our farms. 

 The capital and labor demanded for permanent improvements 

 upon our rough New England fields will not pay in one year 

 or three, and we are nearly all too selfish to cheerfully sow 

 that others may reap. So our farmer, with the Yankee's love of 

 change or trade, — always ready to " sell out," — does not set out 

 an orchard for some one else to pick the fruit. 



That meadow paradise of frogs, reeds, flags, and all three-cor- 

 nered grasses remains unimproved ; for who shall reap the 

 result ? For the same reason, year by year he hoes and mows 

 around those unsightly, profanity-tempting rocks. Finally, ten 

 chances to one, old age and death find him on the same skele- 

 ton of a farm, graceless and rugged as of yore, and his sons 

 long since disgusted with farming, as they saw and understood 

 it, having turned to other pursuits, the blow of the auctioneer's 

 hammer consigns the old homestead to strange hands, perchance 

 to some thrifty son of Erin. 



This is not a fancy sketch ; you will find its prototype multi- 

 plied in every country town of Massachusetts. During the last 

 decade our farming population has decreased in numbers, and 

 our acres of waste land devoted to scrub oaks and alders in- 

 creased. By comparing the official returns for 1865, with those 

 for 1850, we find the unimproved lands of Hampshire County 

 increased by 28,121 acres. 



We find $10,000 gain in fruits, and 10,000 bushels increase 

 in corn. We find a decrease of over 80,000 bushels of oats and 

 rye, a less quantity of hay, and a large falling off in butter and 

 cheese. Swine are reduced one-half, and with the exception of 

 horses, farm stock is reduced in value. In total value, includ- 

 ing improvements and buildings, we have gained $3,479,344, 

 which we must largely lay to the credit of tobacco, which at our 

 first date yielded about $11,000, at our later date $751,654. 

 Here we see a falling off in those productions tending to sustain 

 the natural fertility of the soil. Supposing that for the next 

 twenty years the farmers of this county would throw aside all 

 migratory intentions, manage their farms not to acquire the 



