AGRICULTURE OF MASSACHUSETTS. 373 



CORN. 



We raised of corn, in 1840, 1,809,192 bushels, worth 68 

 cents per bushel ; and year by year the quantity was in- 

 creased, till it reached its highest point, in 1855, of over 

 2,500,000. From this it gradually decreased till 1875, after 

 which it advanced at such a rate, that in 1880 it was only 

 11,597 bushels less than in 1840; but at the going price of 

 Northern corn (90 cents per bushel) it amounts to $1,617,- 

 735, or $387,485 more than the crop of forty years ago, 

 and the most encouraging feature is an increase of nearly 

 800,000 bushels during the past five years. 



The lessening of the amount of corn-growing was partly 

 owing to the eagerness with which people in every county 

 of the State, except Nantucket, pursued the cultivation of 

 tobacco, which for some years brought large sums, (running 

 from $57,000 to $1,500,000), but consumed the best corn- 

 land the most and best of the manure, and a very large 

 proportion of labor and attention. 



For feeding to cattle, farmers have thought they could 

 import corn from the West at a less price than they could 

 afford to raise it ; and this may be so, where every thing 

 must be done by hand-labor. If fields are large enough and 

 smooth enough to use horse-power in planting and cultivat- 

 ing, corn can be grown here for a less price than we pay for 

 Western, which is not as good. 



Mr. Bowditch of Framingham raised on seventeen acres 

 and a quarter 100 bushels shelled corn to the acre at a cost, 

 carefully kept, of 30^ cents per bushel, and with no hand- 

 labor till harvesting. 



Some half-dozen competitors in Franklin County for the 

 special premium reported to have raised from 75 to 100 

 bushels of corn to the acre at a cost of only 22 to 35 cents 

 per bushel. 



OATS. 



The decrease for some years in the crop of oats is partly 

 accounted for by importation ; but probably not as many are 

 used or raised as formerly. 



In 1845 we grew 1,238,159 bushels, which, at 33 cents 

 per bushel, amounted to $405,057: in 1880 we harvested 

 645,159 bushels, which, at 64 cents per bushel, amounted to 

 $412,901, or $7,244 more than the crop forty years ago. 



