ANNUAL REPORT, 1946-47 5 



tion of the principle of "fair market value" on the grounds that no two properties 

 are ever identical; or contrariwise, that the differences are greater than actually 

 exist for purposes of taxation. Valuation by owners, i.e.,- market value, is largely 

 influenced by subjective considerations. This element, despite supervisory 

 safeguards, affects assessors' valuations. Subjective consideration cannot be 

 entirely removed even if we wished to do so. Nor is its complete elimination 

 necessary for improvements in the valuation process. This can be achieved for 

 land by applying a system of classification based on broad capability uses. The 

 valuation ot cattle would be more equitable if it were reduced to a salvage basis. 

 The difficulties in properly evaluating breeds and grade and mixed herds would 

 be partially overcome if beef values were applied ; these values to be determined 

 by the Commissioner of Corporations and Taxation and announced as of Novem- 

 ber for the succeeding valuation period. 



Improving Land on Massachusetts Farms. (C. R. Creek.) The benefits and 

 economic justification of land improvement activities have been appraised on a 

 number of farms where additional land has been brought into production. Power 

 machines such as bulldozers and gas shovels, plus heavy equipment such as 

 brush-breaker plows and bog harrows, have been used to improve farm lands 

 where hand tools and the usual farm machinery were inadequate. Land improve- 

 ment work in most cases has been limited to a few acres of suitable types of soil 

 on established farms, but in some cases whole farms have been developed on 

 abandoned land. Woodland and brush have been cleared, shrubs and weeds 

 plowed under or harrowed, boulders and stone walls removed from fields, and 

 lowlands drained by dynamited ditches to increase the acreage in orchards, 

 cropland, pasture, and poultry range on farms. 



Land improvement work that formerly was costly in terms of man labor now 

 requires only a few hours with power equipment. High income in recent 3'ears 

 from land brought into production has paid for the use of machinery in addition 

 to the saving of labor in improvement work. Speed and timeliness were most 

 important where land was cleared for cash crops. Pasture and range improve- 

 ment aided in lower costs on dairy and poultry farms. Net profits for one or 

 two years often met the total costs of land improvement for certain crops. In 

 extreme cases of high costs and low returns there was no economic justification 

 for land reclamation. 



The cost ot land improvement work has been amortized for a five-year and a 

 ten-year period to show the annual carrying charge (including interest); and the 

 yields of pasture and crops that would be necessary to pay these annual costs 

 have been calculated on the basis of prewar prices. Normal returns over costs 

 of production would pay the land improvement charges for tobacco in one year, 

 and for potatoes in one to three years for different types of reclamation work. 

 For hay, a longer period was needed to repay costs that were generally lower per 

 acre, because value of the product was less. Generally, five to ten years were 

 required to pay the cost of land improvement. Normal values of pasture would 

 meet improvement costs of $75 to $100 per acre in seven to twelve years. Physical 

 limits on the total yields of crops or pasture and the margin of return over cost 

 of production were determining factors for the cost of land improvement which 

 could be justified on net returns. The indirect effect on the management of the 

 farm by increased size of business and more efficient production was also im- 

 portant in the final decision on this type of work. 



Organization and Management of Poultry Farms. (C. R. Creek.) Summaries 

 of poultry accounts for six years showed that the one-third most profitable farms 

 had higher net returns than the one-third least profitable group because of these 

 factors in the farm business: (a) Larger size of business — 1200 hens per farm 



