AGRICULTURE OF MASSACHUSETTS. 381 



show good taste and thrift within, quite inconsistent with 

 the idea of decline. 



The introduction of special fertilizers into our system of 

 agriculture, to supply the want of farmyard-manure where 

 there is a deficiency, and also for appliance in preference to 

 manure for some purposes, must be reckoned among the 

 great improvements of this age. 



Less than fifty years ago, the first cargo of guano was 

 brought to this country from the Chincha Islands, — the first 

 special fertilizer used by us, with the exception of a worthless 

 manufacture called poudrette. 



Soon after commenced the preparation of special com- 

 pounds of the chemical constituents which supply plant-food, 

 which has continued with a steady increase to enormous pro- 

 portions, and which has been of incalculable value in our 

 farming and gardening operations. 



The manufacture and introduction of honestly compounded 

 special fertilizers is an immense advance in the agriculture 

 of Massachusetts. 



A brief summing-up of the gains and losses in our agricul- 

 tural productions within thirty or forty years prior to 1875 

 and 1880, according to the Federal and State census reports, 

 shows an increase in the values, as follows : — 



