96 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Profits of Farming. 



After the examination we have been engaged in, of the vari- 

 ous sources from which the farmer is to draw his profits, it 

 may not be inappropriate to consider what these profits are, 

 and how they are to be increased. It is a significant fact, that 

 in a large portion of the State, the vahie of farm land, as such, 

 is either positively decreasing, or remains just what it was 

 some years ago. From Worcester County, we have the follow- 

 iing statement : — 



"By increase of population, land has generally rather in- 

 creased in value, especially for building lots ; but for farming 

 purposes it is not considered any more valuable now than ten 

 or fifteen years ago, and not so valuable as it was fifty years 

 ago. One reason for that is, we could then hire a good man to 

 labor for a single day for half a bushel of corn; now the 

 man will require a bushel and a half for the same labor. Corn 

 then was worth one dollar per bushel with us,'and is worth no 

 more now." 



This opinion is somewhat qualified, and probably with justice, 

 in a communication from another part of the same county, as 

 follows : — " The value of farm land to sell, has decreased for 

 the last ten years ; but for cultivation it has increased, the 

 business of farming paying a larger profit now tlian ten years 

 ago." 



The decrease in the estimated value of farm land, is not 

 confined to the interior of the Commonwealth, but is equally 

 great in many parts of Essex County, situated, as it is, in the 

 immediate neighborhood of the best markets in the world. 



In many towns in the Commonwealth, it is thought by some, 

 that the profits of farming do not amount to more than one or 

 two per cent, on the value of the land and stock. In other 

 cases, they are much higher. The average in the State, as 

 shown by the returns, is a little over four and a half per cent. 



There must be some cause for this singular difference in 

 profit, and for the low average. If agricultural investments are 

 not remunerative now, when every thing which the farmer 

 brings to market commands a ready and high price, it seems 

 hardly possible that they ever can be under the present man- 



