318 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.^ 



marked. A large number of persons, mainly young men of 

 enterprise, embarked for the gold region, in the hope of finding 

 an outlet for their ambitious aspirations. One effect of this 

 movement is still to be seen on every hand, but especially in 

 public assemblies, where four out of every five persons are 

 females. 



Under these circumstances the question forces itself upon our 

 notice, what is to be the future of Nantucket V Is she to go to 

 decay with the decline of her whaling interest, or is there enter- 

 prise enough among the inhabitants, and oj)portunities for its 

 exercise, to render it still a place of thrift and growth ? One 

 or two manufacturing establishments have been in operation 

 for a time, but the wealthy men on the island, of whom there 

 are many, seem to be afraid of investing their capital in any 

 thing that might be supposed to assist in building up and sus- 

 taining an active and thriving people. With the loss of their 

 faith in the success of whaling seems to have departed also their 

 faith in the success of Nantucket, and they seem unwilling to 

 invest money in any enterprise on the island, which they con- 

 demn in advance as promising nothing but failure. As a con- 

 sequence, the capital of Nantucket seeks employment away from 

 home. 



There are to my mind two prominent sources of prosperity 

 open to Nantucket in the future. The first, and perhaps the 

 more important, is that of which mention has just been made, 

 the employment of capital at home rather than abroad. There 

 are very many sources of investment which would operate in 

 bringing money to the island and prosperity to the homes of 

 the people. Of these it is not my object to speak. The other 

 is the encouragement of agriculture. Nantucket is by no 

 means a favored region in an agricultural aspect. A great 

 portion of the island is covered with a loam extremely sandy. 

 Indeed, in other parts of the State it would liardly be called 

 soil at all. This land would not pay for cultivation were it not 

 for the fact that it may be worked with extreme ease, and also 

 that kelp and sea-weed are to be had in unlimited quantities for 

 the bare labor of their manipulation. Through this source of 

 fertilizing materials a large variety of crops may be grown with 

 success and profit, some with better results than others. Cran- 

 berries, above most things, should be tried and encouraged. A 



