408 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



be a potent factor in the onward march of a nation's pros- 

 perity. 



In a narrow sense this policy of free land and cheap trans- 

 portation has borne hard upon some lines of New England 

 farming. It has compelled us to face a constantly decreas- 

 ing value in our lands not situated near to centres of popu- 

 lation. Some lines of production once profitable we have 

 been forced inch by inch to relinquish to those more favor- 

 ably situated for producing the same product. This is forci- 

 bly illustrated by the beef industry, which forty years ago 

 formed one of the corner-stones of profitable Massachusetts 

 farming ; .to-day, excepting as a by-product, it has ceased to 

 be a factor for intelligent effort. The agricultural census of 

 1885 gives the number of pounds of beef produced that year 

 in Massachusetts as 10,668,941, while in 1865 it was 

 70,825,396 ; these figures indicate a decline in this product 

 of over 80 per cent in twenty years. Can this shrinkage 

 be explained upon the ground of decreased demand ? By no 

 means. Our increasing population has called for more and 

 more of this product ; every freight train entering our 

 portals from the West has at least one car labelled 

 " Chicago Dressed Beef." 



The question is raised why our sheep industry shows con- 

 stantly diminishing returns. If eloquence from gifted mem- 

 bers of this Board could stem the ebbing tide ; if the 

 example and teaching of one so wise, so beloved (around 

 whose fresh-made grave we stand as mourners to-day), could 

 convince our farmers of the desirability of calling back to 

 these brush-ridden lands the prodigal flocks, — then long 

 since would this industry have been quickened and revived. 

 In 1865 our production of mutton was 8,989,506 pounds, in 

 1885 954, 179 pounds, — a shrinkage of 89 per cent. Of wool 

 we raised 610,255 pounds in 1865, in 1885 257,544 pounds, 

 — a loss of 57 per cent. The loss in our pork product fol- 

 lows the same law, although the decline is not so rapid. No 

 known law can completely drive the hog from our midst. 

 In 1865 the census shows a return of 29,440,447 pounds, in 

 1885 16,546,752 pounds, — a loss of 43 percent. Beef, 

 mutton, wool, and pork show a marked decline. 



How have our cereals fared at the hands of Western com- 



