186 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



STATISTICS OP MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



Allusion is made elsewhere in this Report to the very carefully 

 prepared Census of Massachusetts for 1875, prepared under the 

 direction of Col. Carroll D. Wright. The immense mass of material 

 it contains, and the admirable system under which it is arranged, 

 gives us at a glance the actual condition of Massachusetts agri- 

 culture of to-day. Col. Wright, in a the introduction to the volume 

 on agricultural products and property, says : — 



" Great care has been taken in the presentation ©f the purely agricult- 

 ural products to correct all inherent errors, especially in the relation of 

 values to quantity, and to this end much research and investigation have 

 been undertaken, and with the best of results. Occasionally it may be 

 found that the quantity of grain, potatoes, or other product is out of pro- 

 portion to the value ; but this, if it occurs at all, is either explainable by 

 peculiar local influences, or by some extra quality, or else it is error. For 

 instance, the value of apples in some towns in the State, as given, bears 

 no relation to the values given in other towns ; but the value given by 

 the producer was that realized, and that depends not only upon the time 

 of year he disposed of his apples, but their kind and quality. Two dol- 

 lars per bushel for some kinds of apples might seem high, and yet the 

 report be true. A town may raise principally apples of some extra grade, 

 while the apple crop of another town might be in cider apples of little 

 value. Again, in the examination of the milk yield: in a few towns the 

 price will be found to be as low as six or eight cents per gallon, a figure 

 much too low, and which calls for special reasons, and they are found in 

 the fact that the milk crop as reported includes skimmed milk sold by the 

 producer at low rates for special purposes ; this, of course, in a few 

 instances operates to bring down the average for such localities, and 

 affects, to a slight degree, the general average for the State. So in all 

 other products, variations will be found in comparing one town with 

 another." 



The following table gives the agricultural products for 1845, 1855, 

 1865, and 1875. The returns in 1865 included "other esculent 

 vegetables " with beets, and in 1845 and 1855 they included " poul- 

 try" with eggs and "eggs" with poultry; in 1865, also, "tomato 

 plants " were included with tomatoes ;— ■ 



