STATISTICS. 113 



AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS OF MASSACHUSETTS FOR 1865. 



It will be recollected that in my Report for 1855 I included the 

 returns of the Statistics of Industry so far as they related to the agri- 

 culture of the Commonwealth. The Table was found extremely con- 

 venient for reference, and though containing many and very palpable 

 imperfections and inaccuracies, arising from the mipardonably loose 

 and careless manner in which the statistics, in many instances, were 

 gathered, it was the only official retiirn that was available to the public 

 for the succeeding five years. 



The Retiu-ns of 1865 are open to very serious critfcism in many of 

 their details, and it would not be difficult to show that they are far from 

 what they should be. StiU, they are the best we shall have for the 

 present, probably, and as such they are given in the following pages. 



15 



