No. 123.] REPORT OF COMAIISSIONER. 17 



Massachusetts apples will be sent each year to Europe. There 

 is a strong tendency for apples to be grown more skillfully and 

 packed carefully in boxes, thereby replacing on our markets 

 considerable quantities of western apples formerly coming in 

 here. There is no reason why all of the apples sold in our 

 markets should not be grown in New England. It is well 

 known that the quality and flavor of New England apples are 

 far superior to those raised under conditions of irrigation in the 

 orchards of the North and West. The apple-grading law is 

 doing much to give our apples a reputation, not only in our 

 own markets but in those outside. During the last few years 

 Massachusetts apples have sold in considerable quantities as 

 far west as Detroit. 



Legislative Appropriations. 



One of the principal ways in which the Commonw^ealth of 

 Massachusetts can be of assistance to its farmers, and thereby 

 to all of its citizens, is to give greater financial aid to its own 

 State agencies. The State Department of Agriculture and the 

 Massachusetts Agricultural College have created machinery for 

 the assistance of farmers of the Commonw^ealth, and additional 

 appropriations to these agencies will return a rich reward to the 

 •State in the form of an improved and prosperous industry. It 

 should be pointed out, also, that the prosperity of the farmer 

 immediately reflects itself in his purchasing power. The whole- 

 sale and retail establishments of our cities are first to feel the 

 prosperity of the farmer, because of his increased buying power. 

 One of the principal reasons for the business depression which 

 this and all of the other States of the Union have been going 

 through has been the depression of the American farmer because 

 of deflation and his withdrawal in a large measure from the 

 market. Purchasing of materials on the part of the American 

 farmer has been reduced to a minimum during the past year or 

 two. It has been because of this, more than any other single 

 factor, that our factories have been closed, — because of the 

 lack of demand for goods. 



