No. 4.] OUR AGRICULTURAL ADVANCE. 



97 



Populaiion and Products. 



Population, 



Rice, . 



Sugar, 



Sweet potatoes, 



Buckwheat, 



Rye, . 



Tobacco, 



Butter, 



Potatoes, 



Cotton, 



Corn, . 



Hay, . 



Wheat, 



Oats, . 



Barley, 

 Fruits, 



Per Cent 

 Increase. 



270 

 60 

 191 

 112 

 163 

 198 

 313 

 323 

 331 

 355 

 367 

 376 

 465 

 551 

 1,506 

 2,000 



These figures indicate that, while tlie staple crops have 

 increased only slightly faster than [)opulation, fruits — the 

 only intensive specialty in the list, with the possible excep- 

 tion of butter — have increased at the enormous ratio of 

 2,000 per cent. 



Summary of Arguments. 



In closing this too statistical, and therefore dreary, lect- 

 lU'c, it will be best to recapitulate the facts presented, 

 placing them under their several heads. They may be 

 classified and summarized as follows : — 



1. Avea of Farms. — It is shown that the average area 

 of farms has increased slightly in the United States during 

 the last twenty years, the increase amounting to about 10 

 per cent. In Massachusetts, however, the average farm 

 area has remained about stationary. 



2. OicnersJiip of Farms. — There has been a steady de- 

 crease in the proportion of farms operated by owners in the 

 United States. This decrease, though still well marked in 

 Massachusetts, has been considerably less than in the coun- 

 try at large. This change in the proportion of owners 

 operating farms has occurred, apparently, not by former 

 owners losing their farms, but by the purchase of farms as 

 investments by people Avho could not operate them. This 



