15 



were personal interviews with Massachusetts farmers on their 

 own premises, farmers who are regarded by their communities 

 as thoroughly reliable, and who are dependent on their farming 

 for a living. In all sections of the State the prevailing opinion 

 is that no State offers a better opportunity for profitable agri- 

 culture and a satisfactory home life on the farm than does 

 Massachusetts. This was shown by statements such as the 

 following : 



" We have good land." " We have the best markets in the world." 

 " We have good roads and short hauls." " We have excellent shipping 

 facilities, and the cost of shipment is light when compared with the 

 cost of shipping produce from distant points." " We can generally get 

 enough good help." " I increase my market garden production a little 

 every year; the more I produce, the more I can sell." 



" The cities are growing so much faster than the rate of increase of 

 production from the land, that excessive competition is not to be feared, 

 and prices for prime farm products are bound to continue good and 

 are likely to become better." " The great variety of soils and products 

 is favorable to satisfactory farming, taking one year with another, in 

 this State." " A keen eye to the markets, and shipment to New York 

 or other out-of-the-State points, when prices rule low here and high 

 there, take care of any temporary surplus or slump in home market 

 prices." " For choice fruit there are almost unbelievable possibilities 

 in the home market, with the port of Boston ready for shipment of 

 practically unlimited quantities, especially of apples, to foreign 

 markets." 



" We have good libraries, public schools and churches." " The Grange 

 in Massachusetts is a splendid organization for getting the farmers 

 together for pleasure and the improvement of their life and work." 



Such are the things said by the farmers themselves of the 

 advantages of farming in this State. 



(3) The small number of abandoned farms shows farming 

 prospects to be improving. Secretary Ellsworth of the State 

 Board of Agriculture now has in press a report of 160 pages, 

 entitled " Massachusetts, her Agricultural Eesources, Advan- 

 tages and Opportunities, with a List of Farms for Sale." The 

 publication of this report at just this moment is singularly op- 

 portune, and makes unnecessary any extended treatment in this 

 chapter of the subject now touched upon. 



In his preface Secretary Ellsworth says that his publication 



