xviii BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



a deterrent in the future. An appropriation of $300 has 

 been asked for printing and distributing these posters for 

 the current year, as, witli an increased demand which is 

 likely to arise, it will be impossible to meet the expenses 

 from our appropriation for incidentals. 



Abandoned Farms. 



The efforts of this oflice to make known the locations and 

 to secure the reoccupancy of farms in this Commonwealth 

 for sale at a low price in proportion to theu' productive 

 capacity, begun under the provisions of chapter 280 of the 

 Acts of 1891, were discontinued after the publishing of the 

 ninth edition of the descriptive catalogue, in September, 

 1901. In these catalogues descriptions of 747 farms were 

 published, the total number of catalogues issued being 

 20,500. The number of all farms in the State by the 

 census of 1885 was 45,010. At the time of issuing the 

 final catalogue 334 of the farms advertised had been re- 

 ported to this oiBce as sold, and 122 descriptions had been 

 withdrawn from the catalogue at the request of the owners. 

 There are no statistics to show what changes of ownership 

 have since taken place in the farms catalogued, but, as the 

 tendency has been more and more strongly from the city to 

 the country, it is believed that few if any of these farms 

 are now unoccupied during portions of the year, if the 

 buildings are habitable, or the land suitable for farming pur- 

 poses connected therewith can l)e utilized by neighboring 

 farmers to a greater or less extent. 



Farm property, like any other species of real estate, goes 

 onto the market from time to time for various reasons, and 

 its sale does not necessarily mean a loss to the community 

 or to agriculture. Frequently a sale results in appreciable 

 gain to both. It is believed that when Massachusetts farms 

 are sold they bring fair prices, and that the upward tendency 

 of prices has been marked during recent years, especially 

 in suburban communities and in localities particularly 

 adapted to the finer branches of agriculture, such as dairy- 

 ing, fruit growing, poultry keeping, market gardening, 

 tobacco raising, floriculture, etc. 



