SECRETARY'S REPORT. 27 



one-fifth, perhaps ; but, confining the question to the time 

 named, it would be but a small proportion of this increase. 

 Probably there is no increase of this article from improved 

 cultivation, nor of other farm products, from this or from either 

 way named." 



So in Plymouth County, an eminent writer says : — " The av- 

 erage product of hay is probably about one ton to the acre. 

 On some well-cultivated fields, from two to three tons are 

 taken ; but many old fields are mowed where the yield is less 

 than half a ton. English meadows have not been increased 

 in the last fifteen years, and less hay is made now than for- 

 merly. This diminution may be accounted for partly, py the 

 increasing mechanical pursuits, and partly by the partial failure 

 of several domestic markets, since the establishment of rail- 

 roads." 



In Bristol County, the evidence is to the same effect. One 

 correspondent says : — " One ton of English hay, per acre, is 

 considered an average yield, though some farms average more 

 than double that, but there are more that produce less. The 

 increase, for the last ten years, has been but a little, though 

 some farmers have doubled their crops, and more than that on 

 an average ; others have fallen off." 



The reason of this is given, as follows : — " But little atten- 

 tion has been paid to reclaiming land ; most farmers think it 

 better to let the swamp and very rough land come into wood. 

 A few have paid some attention to it, and find it pays well ; but 

 most farmers say they cannot afford it, labor is so high. I am 

 of the opinion, that not more than two hundred acres have 

 been reclaimed." 



In Barnstable County, a writer says : — " The average yield 

 of a single crop of English hay, we conclude, will fall some- 

 thing short of one ton to the acre. Yet some have small 

 fields, that yield two tons to the acre, and a second crop in 

 addition." 



So in Middlesex : " Our most intelligent farmers think that 

 fifteen hundred weight is a fair average, per acre." 



These extracts might be multiplied, if it were necessary. 

 They are not introduced, in any case, as showing the produc- 

 tiveness of the whole county, but only of particular localities 



