98 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



point, however, cannot be demonstrated, and should not be 

 insisted on too strongly. 



In both these matters, i.e., area of farms and ownership, 

 our American agriculture seems to have been moving toward 

 a more extensive practice. This view-, however, is not sup- 

 ported by other data now to be cited. 



3. Imjwoved and Uniirqiroved Farm Land. — The pro- 

 portion of unimproved land as compared with improved 

 land has been steadily increasing in the United States. In 

 Massachusetts the amount of improved farm land is not only 

 relatively but absolutely less than it was twenty years ago, 

 the amount having fallen in that time from a little over 

 2,000,000 acres to a little over 1,000,000. 



4. Value of Farm Products. — In spite of the reduction 

 in the proportion of improved farm lands, agricultural pro- 

 duction has enormously increased. During the last decade 

 the value of agricultural products has increased 92 per cent 

 in the United States, and that with an increase of only 15 

 per cent in the amount of cultivated land. In Massachusetts 

 the increased production has amounted to 51 per cent, with 

 an absolute decrease of 22 per cent in the amount of land 

 under cultivation. 



5. Productiveness. — The efficiency of intensive cultiva- 

 tion may be 3^et more clearly shown by the comparative 

 productiveness of small farms. Statistics for the United 

 States show that the productivity of farm land is inversely 

 proportional to the size of the farms. This formula may be 

 called the law of productivity. 



6. Popidation. — The population of the country has in- 

 creased rapidly during the last twenty years, but this in- 

 crease has been much more rapid in the cities than in the 

 rural districts. Massachusetts noAV has 87 per cent of the 

 total population of the State resident in cities, — an increase 

 of 21 per cent in twenty years. This means a marked en- 

 largement of the farmer's market ; in fact, taking Massa- 

 chusetts alone, the farmer's market in twenty years has 

 been multiplied by tlu*ee and one-half. 



7. Localization. — It is easily shown that our American 

 agriculture exhibits this further mark of progress, — that 



