CHANGES AND IMPROVEMENTS. 299 



respectively, $6,319,646, $30,753,388, and $37,073,034. In 

 1865 there were, in gold, domestic products, $3,678,087 ; 

 agricultural products, $28,349,734 — total domestic and agri- 

 cultural products, $32,027,821 ; a gain over 1865 of $5,045,- 

 213, or nearly 16 per cent. 



In agricultural products Worcester County leads the State, 

 returning $6,960,777 worth ; Middlesex comes near to 

 Worcester, producing $6,272,089 worth; Hampshire ranks 

 third, $3,066,833; Essex fourth, $2,974,659; Berkshire 

 fifth, $2,794,545; Hampden sixth, $2,774,297; Franklin 

 seventh, $2,593,738; Bristol eighth, $2,411,305; Norfolk 

 ninth, $1,696,338; Plymouth tenth, $1,646,260; Barnstable 

 eleventh, $547,613; Suffolk twelfth, $473,630; Dukes thir- 

 teenth, $135,022; Nantucket fourteenth, $96,639. 



The details of _the statistics show that our agriculture has 

 been changing, a fact that has long been perfectly apparent 

 and which was easy to be accounted for in the rapid increase 

 of the number of manufacturing villages and local markets. 

 The egg and milk products, for example, exhibit wonderful 

 progress, the latter growing from 2,850,412 gallons in 1845 

 to 35,698,159 gallons in 1875. 



But the statistics also show a vast progress in the direction 

 of improved tillage. An examination of the relation of 

 quantities raised to acres tilled convinces one that the farmers 

 of Massachusetts have learned the important lesson of tilling 

 less land and tilling it better, for we find that even in the 

 crops where loss in the aggregate occurs there has been a 

 great improvement in results. In 1855 it took 4, 9711- acres 

 to produce 99,430 bushels of barley ; and in 1865, 7,103§ 

 acres to produce 138,524 bushels; while in 1875 it took but 

 1,828.! acres to produce 46,884 bushels; an increase in the 

 average yield from 20 bushels to 25^ bushels to the acre. 

 The beet crop increased from 193|- to 244| bushels per acre 

 from 1865 to 1875. The product of corn per acre grew from 

 28| bushels in 1865 to 35| bushels in 1875. Onions, an im- 

 portant product, made an increase in quantity per acre, and 

 the average yield of oats per acre increased from 211 bushels 

 in 1855 to 31| bushels in 1875 ; and potatoes from 91 bushels 

 per acre in 1865 to 108 in 1875, and wheat from 15| in 1855 

 to 20 J- in 1875. 



