TYPE-OF-FARMING AREAS IN MASS. 261 



Berkshire Hills. 



This area includes the border towns of the Taconic Range as well as the 

 region of the Berkshire Hills. As a whole it is rough and the percentage of 

 plowable land in farms is the lowest in the state. There are many small 

 forest reserves scattered through the area, the town of Washington being 

 almost all in reservation. The percentage of farm woodland is also high. 



Dairying is the chief farming enterprise. Income from this source is 

 supplemented in different sections by wood products, maple sugar, apples, 

 miscellaneous cash crops, and outside employment. Formerly sheep-raising 

 was important. 



West Franklin. 



West Franklin contains most of the connnercial orchards of the western 

 pai-t of Massachusetts. Dairying is even more important than the prt)duction 

 of fruit. There are more dairy cows and more apple trees per hundred acres 

 of plowable land than in any area west of the Nashoba fruit belt. The land 

 surface rises abruptly from the valley of the Deertield River and is very 

 rough. 



Connecticut Valley. 



The Valley is an area with many types of farming. It is a narrow striji 

 of extremely fertile land extending a few miles on either side of tlie river 

 and then gradually rising to the Berkshires on the west and the low hills of 

 Worcester on the east. Tobacco, onions, and market garden crops are grown. 

 Dairying is the chief enterprise on general farms and in four or five towns 

 fruit growing and poultry production are significant. 



A^orth-Central U'pland. 



The North-Central Upland area takes in a large amount of very rough, 

 unproductive land. This is especially true of the southwestern part of this 

 area. The new Boston Water Supply Reservoir will eventually cover most 

 of the region about Enfield, Greenwich, and Prescott. The whole area has a 

 high percentage of farm woodland and pasture. Dairying is the principal 

 source of income. Hay is the cliief rougiiage feed, because the short grow- 

 ing season reduces the yield of corn. 



South Worcester. 



South Worcester is a dairy section. There are a few commercial orchards, 

 but dairying is the chief source of livelihood. Poultry is only a minor enter- 

 prise except in certain towns. There is an abundance of roughage, both hay 

 and silage and fodder corn, as compared with the northern part of the 

 county. The elevation is also less and the topography not as rough, although 

 a land surface of low hills is the rule. 



Northeast Worcester. 



Dairying, apples, and poultry lead in this area. The section lies on the 

 western edge of the Nashoba fruit area and the farming systems are inter- 

 mediate between those of that area and of the hilly section to the west. 

 Poultry and egg production has been increasing. Strawberries are grown in 

 Lunenburg. 



