256 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 2U 



Physical and Economic Background 

 of Massachusetts Agriculture. 



The keynote of all future agriculture in Massadmsetts was struck by that 

 aboriginal inhabitant who christened the region "Massa-chusetts" or "great 

 inountainplace," for if not all tliat tlie name implies, the surface of the state 

 is certainly greatly diversified, Ijeing in the eastern and southeastern parts 

 undulating to level; jn the central section, hilly and broken; and in the 

 western, rugged and nioimtainous. Consequently, as one man lias written, 

 "the state presents about every variety of soil, from the lightest and least 

 productive to the strongest" and most productive. 



The reason for the present surface of New England lies in the fact that 

 the land has been longer above the surface of the sea than most otlier parts 

 of the American continent. This has given more time for the action of suc- 

 cessive glaciers and of wind and water. The upland tops of many of the 

 present hills in central and eastern Massachusetts are all that remain of 

 what was formerly a broad level plain. The less resistant portions of this 

 plain have long since been carried away as the result of erosion. The ac- 

 companying diagram (Figure 2) gives an idea of the greatly dissected land 

 relief which remains to us today. In general the land rises and becomes 

 rouglier as one goes toward the west, except in the level valleys of the 

 Connecticut and Housatonic Rivers. 



Figure 2. Land Elevation in Massachusetts. 







*^f,n^ 



CZZ] 



Aj?oYe 1500 feet 

 1000 - 1500 feet 

 500 - 1000 feet 

 5ca Level to 500 feet 







Markets. 



Figure 3 points out one of the most significant economic factors in present- 

 day Massachusetts agriculture, the concentration of human poi)ulation in 

 large cities. More than four million people live within the Hmits of the 

 Commonwealth. The location of much of this population on the eastern 

 seaboard causes some differences in the agriculture of the eastern and west- 

 ern parts of the state, but an excellent system of hard-surfaced roads makes 

 it possible for vegetable growers in the Connecticut Valley a hundred miles 

 away, for instance, to place fresh produce on the Boston market daily. 

 Massachusetts-grown products of high quality secure excellent prices. Espe- 



