SURVEY OF FOUR TOWNSHIPS IN SOUTHERN NEW HAMPSHIRE. 5 



AREA SURVEYED. 



The area selected for the survey was a group of four townships in 

 the southern part of Ilillsboro County, N. II, They represent a 

 typical locality in the southern portion of the State, extending from 

 the Nashua River on the east to the higher and rougher land on the 

 west. The town ' of Ilollis may be considered to be an upland town, 

 partially surrounded by a belt of lowland made up of sandy soils. 

 All the central part of this town is devoted to varied types of farming, 

 while to the west and north are considerable areas of woodland. 

 Amherst lies directly north of Hollis and extends to the town of New 

 Boston on the north. This town includes two types of agricultural 

 land, part of it being river bottom with many varieties of soil, while 

 all the western and northern part of the town is more or less hilly, 

 Milford, the smallest in area, includes considerable hilly land in the 

 southern part and the wide valley of the Souhegan River. The soils 

 in this river valley are considerably heavier than those on most of 

 the low land. Lyndeboro is distinctly an upland town, having 

 practically no low lands, and is of a rough, hilly nature. Its soils on 

 the whole are heavier than those in the Merrimac Valley or sand plain. 



In all the towns the types of farming vary widely. Fruit growing 

 is confined cliiefly to Hollis and Lyndeboro, poultry raising to Mil- 

 ford, while dairying is practiced about equally in all the four towns. 

 One of the chief objects of the survey was to study the relation 

 between these types of farming. 



The agriculture of the region as a whole is as varied as its topog- 

 raphy and its soils. No one type of farming predominates and no 

 system of definite rotations is found. In fact the farming operations 

 of the region are merely remnants of the system which was prevalent 

 50 years ago. Everywhere one finds examples where habit has con- 

 tinued a type of farming long after that type has ceased to be profit- 

 able. A farmer who has grown up with the agriculture of the com- 

 munity is slow to see that his type of farming is no longer suited to 

 present conditions. The results shown in some of the tables that 

 follow bear out this statement. 



The tables are arranged (1) to show a comparison of the farms in 

 the different towns and (2) to compare the different types of farming. 

 A farm is classed with a particular type if 50 per cent or more of its 

 income is derived from the products characteristic of that type. 



METHODS OF CALCULATION USED. 



The capital or investment is the average inventory for two years 

 of the real estate and equipment that the farmer owns. 



' The word "town " Is used here In the sense In which It Is commonly used In New England. In this sense 

 It ia synonymous with the word "township" as used in most parts of the United States. 

 [Clr. 75] 



