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many dollars' worth of farm products; Illinois, with ten times -the 

 farm acreage, producing eight times as many dollars' worth of farm 

 products; Iowa, with eleven times the farm acreage, producing nine 

 times as many dollars' worth of farm products; Kansas, with thirteen 

 times the farm acreage, producing four and one-half times as many 

 dollars' worth of farm products; and Texas, with forty times the farm 

 acreage, producing five times as many dollars' worth of farm products. 



Further, from the estimates of the United States Department of 

 Agriculture for 1908 these striking figures are obtained: the average 

 production per acre of Indian corn for the United States was 26.2 

 bushels; for Massachusetts, 40.4 bushels; of oats for the United States, 

 25 bushels; for Massachusetts, 33 bushels; of potatoes for the United 

 States, 85.7 bushels; for Massachusetts, 95 bushels. In relative rank 

 of production per acre, Massachusetts stands among the States, for corn 

 fourth, for oats thirteenth, for potatoes twelfth. When compared with 

 the leading States in these products, Massachusetts ranks in production 

 per acre, for corn fourth, for oats first and for potatoes second. 



The crops used for comparison are not the leading agricultural 

 products of Massachusetts, but the figures indicate what the intensive 

 methods of agriculture practiced by her farmers is bringing forth from 

 the soil. While comparative figures for other States of those products 

 which are most valuable to Massachusetts are not available, it is safe to 

 assert, without fear of contradiction, that, whereas the production per 

 acre of such field crops as corn, oats and potatoes is relatively high, the 

 production per acre of fruits and other vegetables which respond so 

 much more readily to intensive treatment is not exceeded by that of 

 any other State of the same or higher latitude. 



^ i 



3. Conclusions. It is believed, in short, that the experience 

 of those who are successfully engaged in farming here, and the 

 economic status and prospects of farming in this Common- 

 wealth, show conclusively that exceptional success awaits the 

 work of the exceptional man or woman in this field of economic 

 activity; and that farming is bound to afford a profitable and 

 satisfactory living for the average boy or girl who enters this 

 field with a thrifty, alert and progressive spirit, and with a 

 proper preliminary education. 



At the beginning of the investigation leading to this report, 

 the question was raised as to whether a system of agricultural 

 schools would be likely to result in increased valuation of 

 taxable property on farms, and thus return directly to the public 

 treasury at least some portion of its cost. One farmer put 

 the gist of the answers of all his fellows into the succinct reply, 



