THE HAY CROP IN MASSACHUSETTS. 



BY PROF. WM. P. I5ROOKS, PROFESSOR OF AGRICULTURE, MASSACHU- 

 SETTS AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 



In Massachusetts the relative importance of the hay crop 

 is much greater than in the United States as a wliole. This 

 crop occupies nearly three-fourths of the improved area of 

 our farms. The last State census reports the total improved 

 area in farms as 902,000 acres. The hay crop occupies 

 (!60,000 acres. Large as is this proportion, the tremen- 

 dously preponderating importance of grass as a crop be- 

 comes yet more evident Avhen we consider the area devoted 

 to pasturage, which the last State census reports to have 

 been 1,119,000 acres. There is, of course, little doubt 

 that much of this so-called pasture was occupied to a con- 

 siderable extent with trees, bushes, ferns and numerous 

 other forms of vegetation other than grass. The total an- 

 nual value of the farm products of ^Massachusetts, according 

 to the last State census, was $52,880,000. Tlie hay crop is 

 reported by the same census to have been worth $12,491,000. 

 The value of this crop, therefore, amounted to nearly one- 

 fourth of the value of all our agricultural products combined. 

 A large portion of our dairy products is derived from the 

 ])astures, and dairy })roduets are reported b}" the last census 

 to have amounted to $16,234,000, or nearly 31 per cent of 

 the total value of our agricultural products. 



The facts to which attention has been called make it per- 

 fectly evident that the grass crop is one deserving careful 

 consideration. It occupies an exceedingly largo pro[)()i"tion 

 of our total area, and anything which can be done to in- 

 crease the product will do much to increase the prosperity 

 of our farmers. Great as is the importance of the grass 

 crop at the present time, its relative prominence shows a 



