B. P. I.— 641. 



AGRICULTURAL SURVEY OF FOUR TOWN- 

 SHIPS IN SOUTHERN NEW HAMPSHIRE. 



INTRODUCTION.! 



The agriculture of New England has undergone very marked 

 changes within the last 50 years. Previous to 1860 the area of im- 

 proved farm land increased, but upon the opening of cheap land in 

 the West large areas of New England farm land commenced to revert 

 to forest. This change was desirable on some areas that were cleared 

 in early days and which never were adapted to farming purposes. 

 The popular belief that New England farm land is a deserted waste 

 is untrue, as the much-talked-of abandoned farms that are commonly 

 pictured as lying idle, with bare fields growing up to weeds, are not to 

 be found. On these farms, many of which are abandoned agricul- 

 turally, nature has been remarkably quick to start reforestation. 

 No one in traveling through the New England States can fail to note 

 the large area of woodland as compared to the improved farm land. 

 The 1899 census figures for New Hampshire show only 29 per cent of 

 the State to be in improved land, wliich means that the other 71 per 

 cent is practically all in forest. The curve in figure 1, showing the 

 increase in the area of unimproved farm land, is an index of the extent 

 to which tliis country has become reforested. 



PURPOSE OF THE SURVEY. 



A farm survey was undertaken during 1909 by the New Hampshire 

 College Agricultural Experiment Station and the Office of Farm 

 Management of the Bureau of Plant Industry of the United States 

 Department of Agriculture. The purpose of the survey was to 

 determine the relative condition of the farms in the region, the pre- 



i During 1909, at the request of the New Hampshire College Agricultural Experiment Station, Mr. Thom- 

 son was assigned to make a careful study of the equipment, expenses, and income on the farms in four 

 townships In southern New Hampshire. These townships were selected as representative areas for that 

 section of the State. The expenses of this investigation were borne jointly by the Department of Agricul- 

 ture and the New Hampshire College Agricultural Experiment Station. The results are of much interest 

 in connection with the general status of agriculture in that section and they also furnish valuable data 

 concerning the relative profltablenessofseveraltypes of farming.— Wm. A. Taylor, Acting Chief of Bureau. 



[Clr. 75] 3 



