32 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



THE ADVANTAGES OF NEW ENGLAND AS A FRUIT- 

 GROWING CENTEU. 



BY G. A. DREW, GREENWICH, CONN. 



N"ot SO very many years ago it was the general opinion that 

 agriculture held out little inducement as a profession any- 

 where in New England. If a young man sigiiiiied his inten- 

 tion of going farming, he was looked on as an object of pity 

 or held up to derision. Even in our own agricultural col- 

 leges, where agriculture should have had its stoutest cham- 

 pions, the impression sometimes prevailed that those in au- 

 thority often felt obliged to apologize or explain their con- 

 nection with it. 



Now all this is changed or fast changing. Farming is no 

 longer looked on as a discredited occupation ; the young man 

 sees a future where his father saw only a nienger existence of 

 drudgery, and our agricultural colleges iire 710 loriger ashamed 

 of having agriculture spelled with a capital " A." Many 

 causes have combined to bring about this result, such as the 

 congestion in our cities, the high price of foodstuffs, improved 

 conditions of country life; but more than all else ])eo])le have 

 come to a realization that after all there is no ])laee like Xew 

 England to live in, no ])lace that combines so nuiny advan- 

 tages and where agricultural opportunities have so long lain 

 dormant. 



The chea]i land of the west is a thing of the ])ast ; the free 

 homesteads there are all taken uj); eni])s can no longer be 

 profitably grown without certain ex])euditure or intelligent 

 care; in fact, the western country has a])proa('hed or is rapidly 

 approaching the same agricultural conditions that confronted 

 New England years ago. 



