4 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



That the disadvantage under which the distant producer 

 labors in competition with our home farmer is very great, 

 might sufficiently appear from the consideration of the cost 

 incurred and waste in transportation. But a condition 

 inseparable from the cultivation of large areas of cheap 

 land is distance from local markets ; and this condition 

 becomes doubly unfavorable when viewed in the light of the 

 tact alreadv mentioned, that no soil can Ions; be made to 

 yield even a fair return to mere tillage. For if it is con- 

 ceded to be an axiom that a constant renewal of fertility is 

 a necessity of continued production, it is surely no great 

 leap by which we come to the conclusion, that, other things 

 being equal, the successful conduct of a tillage form depends 

 upon the cost of manuring the land. And it is further evident, 

 that where population is most dense, this condition is best 

 fulfilled. 



Were I asked to point out the best-paying farms of this 

 country, I should seek them, not where land is cheap and 

 agriculture conducted on a vast scale, but upon the outskirts 

 of some metropolis, — as, for instance, among the market- 

 gardens about Boston, the secret of whose success is hidden 

 only by the shades of night, when cart-load upon cart-load, 

 the waste of city consumption, is conveyed back to the out- 

 lying farms ; and thus, while the world is sleeping, is supplied, 

 as to a growing boy, such vitalizing gain as more than bal- 

 ances the daily loss. Nowhere better than in such sections 

 of city-surrounding country as our own county represents, 

 can the system of high farming be carried to perfection. The 

 nearness of the consumer furnishes a ready market tor veg- 

 etable products which, from their perishable nature, demand 

 immediate consumption, while unrivalled facilities for obtain- 

 ing fertilizers leave a margin for profits which can scarcely 

 be equalled in places more remote. It must not be forgotten, 

 however, that such favored sections have also their dis- 

 advantages. Little is the skill and capital needed profit- 

 ably to raise field-crops, compared to that which can enter 

 upon market-gardening with reasonable expectations of 

 success. 



But a comparatively small number of husbandmen, either 

 East or West, are in a position to warrant high farming ; and 



