58 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



profitable mode of disposing of them ? Can the farmer, who 

 for years has fed his corn and liay to animals fattened on his 

 own premises, and who has received in this way a fair remu- 

 neration for his labor, assure yon by figures that he has made 

 the most posbible out of that corn and hay? A farm, iiuless 

 entirely neglected, will always pay something, but justice to the 

 bounteous earth demands that it should be enabled to exert 

 its largest capacity for the benefit of him who tills it. And 

 this it cannot do if the labor bestowed uj)on it is scanty or 

 misdirected. 9 



There are in Essex County nearly three thousand farms, and 

 about one hundred and fifty thousand acres of land improved. 

 Our agricultural population is peculiarly prosperous. We have 

 within our limits five large cities, and many thriving villages, 

 which furnish us with excellent and convenient markets. One 

 section derives a large annual income from its hay croj), another 

 from its root crops, another from its dairy, and many from the 

 garden and the orchard. Our farmers are not behind any 

 portion of the State in their industry and enterprise. And yet 

 it is doubtful whether, on the whole, the agricultural interest 

 of the county is improving. Our pasture lands are deterio- 

 rating. Our woodlands do not increase in value, in profitable 

 ratio. Our hay crop docs not increase as it should. Our old 

 orchards do not renew their youth under kindly care. The 

 wet lands of the county yield their wretched crop of meadow 

 hay. just as they did half a ccntuiy ago, instead of smiling 

 under a burden of sweeter grasses, for the jiroduction of which 

 they have been warmed by dyking and draining. This ought 

 ijot to be. At the present price of land per acre, and at the 

 average price of hay, it is now more profitable to reclaim wet 

 lands than it is to labor in most of the mechanical occupations, 

 or to engage in most of the smaller branches of trade-;-not 

 easier, perhaps, but more surely profitable. Is there any rea- 

 son why our farmers should not emulate each other in improving 

 their pasture lands and meadows, and vie with each other in 

 rendering an accurate account of the expense and profit or loss 

 of each operation ? These pastures and meadows occupy a 

 large portion of the county, and may be made a source of large 

 profit, if carefully and economically improved. Is there any 



