. 1 J 



Address. 11 



various periods of the National census, since the enumeration includ- 

 ed crops, we have the following figures, the crop years being those 

 preceding the enumeration : 



Connecticut. Massachusetts. 



1839 4,114,93(1 bushels. 4,075,128 bushels. 



1849 3,084,832 bushels. 4,241,155 bushels. 



1859 3,630,076 bushels. 4,053,099 bushels. 



1869 3,186,773 bushels. 2,660.466 bushels. 



1879 3,449,951 bushels. 2,819,656 bushels. 



These sums are the aggregate of the six cereals, wheat, corn, oats, 

 barley, buckwheat and rye. The different grains have fluctuated 

 greatly, the production of corn has not so greatly declined in Massa- 

 chusetts, but wheat has, until at the last census less than 16,000 

 bushels were grown, while in 1839 the crop was about 158,000 bush- 

 els. In Connecticut as much corn is grown now as there was forty 

 years ago, and nearly as much oats, but other grains have declined. 

 Remember that this includes the whole period of railroad transporta- 

 tion, of reapers and of steam threshers, and yet the cultivation of 

 grain lingers here, and I have no doubt but that it pays. Farms are, 

 at each decade, becoming more numerous, and smaller, and with this 

 the cultivation becomes intenser. It must be remembered that in 

 no other vocation is the large and small operator so nearly on a level 

 in comj>etition as in farming. Just as the industry is adaptive, as to 

 methods and products, so it is also in its suitableness for men of 

 very unlike capacity as to business ability and working capital. In 

 the three western States cited, farming is the leading interest and 

 calls to it a larger proportion of the men with superior business 

 ability. This undoubtedly tends to increase the average production 

 there, but I think that the small farmer stands a better chance here 

 than in the West because of the better market for the class of pro- 

 ducts he would have for sale. 



I have left out of consideration entirely the gain that comes to 

 the farmer in a new region that is being settled up, in the increase 

 in the value of his land. This is undoubtedly an advantage, but is 

 not a gain strictly by farming. Even a poor farmer may go to a new 

 region, get new land very cheap, manage to scrape a living from it, 

 and if it does no more, his farm will increase in value as the country 

 settles up around him. In this way a man may, in a sense, succeed 

 in the West who would fail in the East 



We must bear in mind that each and every place has its disad- 

 vantages as well as its advantages. No class of men have to work 

 harder for their income than the farmer in average seasons. It is 



