LAND USES 37 



is in the eastern part of the State. Most of them are in the western areas where 

 the main reliance has always been on agricultural land utilization accompanied 

 by extensive areas of woodland. In the remaining 176 towns under 10,000 pop- 

 ulation where figures for industrial employment at the present time are available, 

 the group classified as the lowest third has so little in the way of industries that 

 it can be practically disregarded as a factor in industrial classification. In the 

 intermediate group the number of industrial employees ranges from 1.9 to 9.0 

 percent of the total population, with an average just under 5 percent. The 

 towns in this group are scattered throughout the State, although in most cases 

 they adjoin towns with the highest concentration of industrial employment. 

 This upper third group of towns is decidedly industrial in character and is con- 

 centrated mostly in the eastern and central parts of the State. From the stand- 

 point of land utilization the existence of established industries in these towns has 

 a definite significance by providing an additional source of income for the town 

 and b}' involving a certain amount of land use for residential, recreational, and 

 part-time farming purposes. 



Land Values 



The influence of various factors on land utilization in any community finds its 

 final expression in the prevailing values of land. While from the standpoint of 

 agriculture the value of land should be determined primarily by its productive 

 capacity, in many Massachusetts towns this condition obtains only to a limited 

 extent. In working out the map indicating the division of towns into three 

 groups, the average value of both land and buildings has been employed because 

 of the character of the information available by minor civil divisions. The 

 actual division is therefore on the average \'alue of farm real estate per acre of 

 farm land. In the lowest of the three groups the average value of farm land and 

 buildings per acre ranges from $9.05 to $63.62 with an average for the group of 

 $37.38. The map shows that these towns are located mostly in the western part 

 of the State. Inasmuch as this section is least subject to the influence of more 

 intensive land uses, the farm land values in this area come the nearest to being 

 based on the agricultural importance of the land. The supplementary land uses 

 in this area are largely forestry and less intensive types of recreational develop- 

 ments. 



For all the towns in the intermediate group the average value of land and build- 

 ings rises to $98.85 per acre. While some of the towns in this group, as in the one 

 preceding, derive their land values solely on the basis of their agricultural impor- 

 tance, most of them, especially in the upper range, definitely show the influence 

 of more intensive uses. This follows both from their location and from the relative 

 density of the local population. The major concentration of the towns in this 

 group is in the western edge of the eastern third of the State and in the Connecticut 

 River Valley. 



The third group of towns, with the highest land values, appears in the eastern 

 densely settled area of the State. The values here range from $146.28 to $1,910, 

 with an average for the group of $284.57 per acre. In these towns, agricultural 

 land utilization, with a few minor exceptions like cranberry bogs, is dependent, 

 from the standpoint of land values, upon more intensive uses present or antici- 

 pated. In these towns, the interdependence and interrelationship among 

 several major land uses is most apparent and effective. Agricultural land 

 use planning, therefore, can not be carried on adequately in these towns without 

 giving full recognition to the presence of residential, part-time farming, recrea- 

 tional, and industrial land uses. (Table 10) 



