T 
5. Soule’s winter wheat, and Siberian and Black Sea spring varieties, are pre- 
ferred in some counties, on account of early ripening, by which rust and the 
midge are escaped. Scotch Fife is common in Orange. In Addison, Canadian 
White-flint, Red-chaff, and Red Mediterranean are sown in autumn, and in 
spring the Black Sea, Berlin, &e«. The “Gold-drop” gives good satisfaction in 
Orleans, where spring wheat is grown exclusively, and the practice of bringing 
seed wheat from the west is common, and productive of good results. In Wasb- 
ington the Canada Club is preferred, as less subject to rust or mildew ; Tea 
and Black Sea are also grown. 
‘Winter varieties are sown about the last of August or first of September, and 
harvested the last of July. Spring wheat is put in from the last of April to 
the 20th of May, and harvested in August. Our Orleans correspondent says 
he never saw a wheat-drill in the county; that the crop is reasonably sure if 
sown early, and the acreage is increasing, though but half the local supply is 
produced. The reporter in Orange alludes to using a one-horse drill last year, 
the first drilling of wheat of which he has any knowledge in New England. 
In Addison, summer fallowing usually precedes the sowing of winter wheat, 
and for spring sowing the ground is usually manured and ploughed in the fall. 
6. Pasturing costs from $4 50 to $6, and in Bennington it is estimated at 
$8. About six months, or from five to six, is the average length of season, and 
$1 per month about the average price. 
_ 7%. Reports are not generally favorable concerning fruits; apples, pears, and 
small fruits are produced with some success. 
MASSACHUSETTS. 
1. The increase in values, in most of the counties, is estimated at about an 
equivalent of the increase of gold—in some localities, less—in a few others, a 
little more. The largest increase has been in Berkshire, amounting to fifty per 
cent. ; in proximity to villages, seventy-five per cent.; in remote locations, thirty- 
five—about the same as in 1860, if calculated upon a gold basis. The attention of 
business men in New York has for several years been directed to the mountain 
air and scenery of Berkshire, and their improvements have increased the value 
of lands, especially in the vicinity of towns. 
2. Some unimproved lands in Worcester county are reported at the low price 
of $6 per acre. Woodlands in Barnstable may be found at $5 per acre. In 
Hampden, rocky and swampy lands, with a sparse growth of wood, are worth 
$5. In Bristol are swamps which are rising in popular estimation, and are 
regarded, when reclaimed, as the most valuable grass lands in that region. In 
Suffolk are salt marshes worth, when ditched and made available for hay, $50 
per acre. Swamps in Middlesex, susceptible of drainage, are made to yield 
large crops of Indian corn, potatoes, oats, or grass. Different classes of unim- 
proved lands are thus estimated: Woodlands, cleared, $16 per acre; swamp 
lands, capable of drainage, $30; peat meadow, $75. ‘These prices are greater 
than those of Barnstable, Bristol, and Hampden, by reason of proximity to 
Lowell and a circle of smaller manufacturing towns. In Berkshire, the best 
pine, hemlock, and chestnut growth are ‘valued at $250 per acre; lands less 
densely timbered, at $50 to $75; in less accessible districts, among the moun- 
tains, the best woodlands, at $100; an average of $100 per acre for timber 
lands. When divested of timber, the roughest and+most rocky tracts are 
scarcely worth more than $5 per acre. The planting of the locust is reeom- 
mended as a profitable disposition of such lands. 
3. Peat meadows are receiving much attention. Many have passed into the 
possession of manufacturing companies. ‘The peat is pressed ina machine, dried, 
and used for fuel, especially in furnaces. In the town of Mansfield, Bristol 
county, a mine of inferior coal exists, not now worked, ,The varieties of timber 
common to New England are utilized most fully, but few peculiar resources of 
