101 



by oral discnssiou, is applied iu a grander scale tbau ever before known. 

 Special skill and remanerative results are developed j^ari jmssu witb 

 general intelligence in progressive counties. This cannot fail to excite 

 emulation in less favored communities and to stimulate a more eifective 

 handling of natural resources, thus enlarging the scope of production 

 and adding to the general happiness of the whole. 



ISTew England, with limited agricultural resources and devoted es- 

 pecially to manufacturing industry, has long felt the drain of her agricul- 

 tural population to the richer lands of the West and South. The pres- 

 ence of a large consuming population has largely directed cultivation to 

 special branches, thus breaking up its completeness as a co-ordinate 

 branch of industry and creating a class of conditions not the most favor- 

 able to improvement. Yet even here cheering aspects of the problem 

 are frequently presented, though the superior attractions of other indus- 

 tries have exerted a depressing influence upon agriculture by withdraw- 

 ing capital, labor, and intelligence. 



In the JMiddle States, where agriculture is practiced less in subordina- 

 tion to other pursuits and on a more complete and independent system, 

 our reports of imi^j-ovements are far more numerous and important. 



Stationary communities are comparatively fevr. The growing insufti- 

 eiency of labor is here a matter of serious concern. In some cases the 

 difiiculty is hopefully and successfully met by the employment of more 

 labor-saving machinery and by better tillage. In other cases crops 

 requiring an excessive amount of labor are abandoned and large areas 

 lately in grain are put down in grass. The cheese-factory exercises au 

 important influence iu diversifying production iu a large number of 

 counties. 



Maryland is more closely assimilated to the Middle States than to the 

 South Atlantic coast States with which it is usuallj' classed. Lingeinng 

 traditions of the old system of labor still resist progress in some coun- 

 ties. In others the j>roper employment of the freedmen is still an un- 

 solved problem. The system of working on shares has resulted in a 

 serious deterioration of the soil. In other counties, however, the evidences 

 of progress are unmistakable and cheering. Montgomey County, for 

 instance, has doubled its rate of production per acre. In Virginia, the oldest 

 agricultural community of the Union, and iu the States farther south, 

 the extremes of conservatism and progress are in still greater contrast. 

 The cotton mania still holds sway over common sense in many counties 

 in spite of the lessons of experience. In some parts of South Carolina 

 the freedmen are purchasing homes and are energetically improving 

 them. In some parts of Georgia there is a growing attention to im- 

 proved culture and implements, but elsewhere is visible the same inertia 

 that has paralyzed progress iu the past. 



Of the Gulf States Florida reports a general absence of improvement. 

 Alabama and Mississippi are more hopeful; several counties report im- 

 provements in general knowledge and in practical skill in farming. 

 Improved implements and processes of culture have been introduced 

 and a better understanding between laborers and employers noted. In 

 Texas the progress of improvement is more general iu consequence of au 

 enormous immigration ; the population is rapidly changing and old 

 traditions are fading out. In the inland States, Arkansas, Tennessee, 

 West Virginia, and Kentucky, the indications of progress are far more 

 numerous and hopeful than iu the Gulf States. There is a healthy 

 tendency in some counties toward mixed husbandry. Improved breeds 

 of farm-animals and processes of culture are of fi'equent mention. En- 

 terprises in fruit-culture are quite promising. Improved farm machinery 



