la MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 450^ 



any farm in the vicinity of good areas of unused land needs additional tracts, 

 these are often available, provi< ed ownership can be settled. Many of these 

 areas are now being utilized b}- farmers on the basis of some arrangement for 

 pasture and hay. This condition is not always satisfactory as it ordinarily leaves. 

 the land as it is without allowing for any major improvement. WTierever a 

 farmer can rehabilitate such land to his advantage and obtain the title, it will 

 become an active factor in the improvement of land utilization. 



In the northwestern part of the town there are several tracts which might 

 offer such offportunities. One tract of approximately 80 acres is covered with a 

 heavy mixed forest growth. If this land were cleared and otherwise improved, 

 farmers in the adjoining areas would greatly benefit. Two farms in the im- 

 mediate vicinity have only 10 acres of pasture, while others have only a slightly 

 larger acreage of pasture. Another detached tract in the same area contains 

 about 200 acres. With certain major improvements, and especially with the 

 removal of some boulders, this could be used not only as a source of land for 

 existing farms, but also for the development of one or two new farms. The 

 factor to be taken into consideration is the strong demand for land in this vicinity 

 for part-time farming which can compete with commercial farming in the matter 

 of land values. 



Other undeveloped tracts, ranging from 80 acres upward, are found in this 

 area and in the west central part of the town. 



In the southwestern section of the town there are also several compact sizable 

 tracts of land with very little agricultural utilization. The present occupants 

 are either residential or part-time farmers. Potentially there is a place for 

 several full-sized farms, but present land utilization is determined by the charac- 

 ter of the ownership. Some land in a sizable tract is also present in the south- 

 eastern part of the town. 



On the whole, good opportunities for increased land utilization in Uxbridge 

 will be found in the existing farms and the adjoining land. For relocation or 

 other new developments, not more than 10 farms could be conveniently de- 

 veloped. Under these conditions the potential increase in new commercial 

 farming units would be around 10 percent of the existing farms, which is very 

 similar to the situation found in the town of Southwick. 



The Town of Hubbardston 



PUBLIC OWNERSHIP FACTOR 



The town of Hubbardston is an example of a community which possesses con- 

 siderable land areas of suitable nature for prevailing agricultural developments, 

 but which has met reverses in its land utilization and total amount of agricul- 

 ture. Traditionally, the main farming enterprise has been dairying, but the 

 dislocation of markets and new areas of supply placed Hubbardston, in the 

 recent past, at a disadvantage in disposing of its milk. Especially during the 

 depression of 1930, Hubbardston had to curtail considerably its sale of milk to 

 its important markets in Gardner, Fitchburg, and Worcester. 



Tracing further back, the total land area in farms declined from 17,305 in 

 1875 to 9,551 acres in 1940. The main decline, however, occurred after 1925 

 when acreage in farms still amounted to 16,029 acres. One of the main factors 

 has been the purchase of land by the Metropolitan Water Commission for the 

 protection of water supplies, which, by 1944, had resulted in this agency's hold- 

 ing the title to 6,200 acres, a large part of which was formerly in farming. In 

 ad dition, the Conservation Department holds title to 1,027 acres in State Forests. 



