112 BOAKD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



pal factor has been the opening up of the fertile sections of 

 the far west, which, with the rapidly increasing facilities 

 for cheap transportation and improved appliances for pro- 

 ducing and securing everything grown, has afforded com- 

 petition so sharp that grain growing and stock raising have 

 no longer any attraction for the New York farmer. 



In the mean time, no such depreciation has taken place in 

 the value of well-located farm lands of the west. It is true 

 that they have suffered amid stagnation that has attached 

 itself to the value of real estate everywhere, but prices have 

 been well maintained, if not enhanced, and indebtedness in- 

 curred in their development has been largely liquidated, 

 showing that the requirements for existence of the human 

 family can be grown and placed upon the markets of the 

 world at prices affording a profit in one section that would 

 be only loss and ruin in another. How far this condition 

 may apply to the situation in New England, I leave for you 

 to determine ; but it is suggestive, and to my mind, where 

 the possibility exists, a more diversified system of agricult- 

 ure should prevail, and the growing wants of the rapidly 

 increasing population of our cities and manufacturing centres 

 more thoroughly studied and better understood, with the 

 view of growing and supplying such products as can be 

 grown cheaper and more profitably than in those remote 

 sections, better adapted to other purposes. It is in this 

 line, in my opinion, that we must look for future success in 

 our agricultural work. The rules and principles that are 

 applicable in my own State, to a certain extent I believe 

 will be found to hold good in New England. Hence I stand 

 as an advocate for more extended work for fruit growing 

 upon such soils and in such locations as experience has 

 shown are adapted to it. 



The question of to-day is, has the profession of fruit 

 growing yet been elevated to the position to which it is 

 entitled in considering its relations to the agriculture of your 

 region? Are there not thousands of acres of fields that 

 might profitably be planted to some of the many fruits re- 

 quired to meet the wants of the consumer, that are now 

 produced in some remote region and transported at an ex- 

 pense that of itself would afford a fair profit at home ? This 



