viii BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



to liold their cro})s in storage reaped a substantial reward 

 for their investment and trouble. 



Agriculture in Massachusetts, and we may say in New 

 England as a whole, though perhaps more especially in our 

 own State, has come to be a matter of specialization and 

 close attention to detail. We no longer compete with the 

 fertile and easily tillable farms of the great west in the pro- 

 duction of the cereals and staple crops, but in our own lines 

 great rewards still await the careful student of conditions 

 and methods. The market at our doors is one of the best — , 

 perhaps the best — in the world ; but it is a critical market, 

 an educated market, one trained l)y 3^ears of the best to 

 accept nothing ])ut the best, and to go be3'ond our local 

 producers when they do not furnish it. Tliere is still an 

 outlet for an innnense amount of inferior produce, but at 

 prices usually below the level of profit. It is by seizing 

 the opportunities presented, by catering to the demands of 

 our market and by creating new ones, that the long list of 

 marked successes in agriculture in Massachusetts have been 

 produced. Fresh, sweet, wholesome milk and cream, fresh 

 vegetables, strawberries with the dew still on them, table 

 fruits of all kinds suited to the climate, provided they are 

 of the first quality, find a ready sale, and at prices highly 

 remunerative. In greenhouse products many a farmer has 

 found the opportunity to make skill and energy yield him 

 a handsome profit. With the great variety of soil and ex- 

 posure which our diversified surface affords, there is oppor- 

 tunity for an exceedingly wide range in the choice of lines 

 of special work. To the farmer who studies his market and 

 directs his natural resources with intelligence and judgment, 

 farming in Massachusetts will prove more profital^le than in 

 any other section of the country. He must, however, be 

 alive to the situation, and ready to discard old methods and 

 ideas for those of more modern date. 



It is in keeping abreast of these developments, in giving 

 aid to those who are seeking for new lines of work or to 

 improve old methods, that the greatest usefulness of this 

 Board must lie. The opportunities for useful service in 

 these lines, through our agricultural societies, through the 



