1889.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 4. 341 



over $1,100,000 worth of apples and $147,000 of pears, we 

 grow over $540,000 worth of cranberries ; of strawberries, 

 over $400,000; other berries, $138,000; and of grapes, 

 $117,000. Of vegetables we show $5,227,194, against 

 $1,824,112 in 1845 ; quite credible, when, beside $2,000,000 

 of potatoes, $270,000 of onions and $500,000 of cabbage, we 

 add $100,000 for asparagus, $154,000 for celery, $240,000 

 for green corn, $109,000 for lettuce, $164,000 for tomatoes, 

 and for dandelions $55,067, — and thousands more for a host 

 of nutritious and delicious esculents, which in earlier days 

 generally graced only the tables of the wealthy, but now in 

 their seasons are considered as necessities for the proletariat. 



It is not only that the farmers live better than their 

 fathers, but their surplus goes to the consumers, and from 

 this come quick returns, by which they are able constantly 

 to provide for themselves necessities and the comforts of 

 modern living. This change of productions is most plainly 

 illustrated in the fact that the value of the cereals now grown 

 by us is less than that of the animal products, the dairy, or 

 of fruits, berries and nuts, or of vegetables. The dairy 

 products have increased from $1,800,000 in 1845 to 

 $13,080,526 in 1885 ; and of this increase nearly $5,000,000 

 are within the past ten years, or since 1875. These figures 

 show that the fanners of Massachusetts are not losing their 

 importance ; and that, while it is not a great farming State, 

 it has its own features of farm industry, which, as displayed 

 by our census, are valuable and encouraging. To a con- 

 siderable extent the advance in agriculture is corroborated 

 by the report of the town assessors, who represent the tax- 

 able real estate as very largely inci-eased ; and of the 

 personal property, that horses have increased in number 

 the past year 5,315 ; milch cows and other neat cattle, 9,686. 

 Sheep, however, are still on the declining plane by 3,733, 

 while their individual value has decreased from $4.38 to 

 $3.83. Explanatory of this, to some extent, is the humili- 

 ating fact that dogs have increased 3,729 in number, and 

 are returned by their owners as worth to them $12.05 each, 

 as against $9 74 in 1875. 



There is a large discrepancy between the assessors' repoit 

 of swine and that of the census. In 1885 the assessors 



