8 



of Massachusetts was worth $2.75 a bushel, or $44 to 

 the acre, the wheat of Ohio was worth $2.40 per bushel, 

 or $27 to $30 to the acre ; and of Texas, 90 cents a 

 bushel, or $17 to $18 to the acre. Do you wish to raise 

 oats ? Then the average yield of Massachusetts was 28 

 bushels to the acre; of Ohio, 30; of Texas, 28. The 

 oats of Massachusetts average 75 cents a Ijushel, year in 

 and year out, while in Texas and Ohio they are 40 cents 

 a bushel. Is it tobacco ? The yield of Massachusetts is 

 1100 pounds to the acre ; of Ohio, 700, and Virginia, 

 700 pounds to the acre ; and the cash value of an acre 

 of tobacco in Massachusetts is quite treble in value that 

 of an acre in the great tobacco State of Virginia ? Is it 

 hay ? Then we averaged one ton of hay in Massachu- 

 setts to one ton and a half in Ohio and a ton and two- 

 thirds in Texas. But for years, when harvested, the hay 

 of Massachusetts w^as worth $25 a ton ; the hay of Ohio 

 from ^12 to $15 ; and of Texas from $16 to $18. In 

 no State in the Union are the productions of the soil, 

 acre for acre, as tilled, taking the different kinds, so 

 great in quantit}^ as in Massachusetts, and no State where 

 the product of the soil, when harvested, is so valuable- 

 California and Minnesota exceed us in wheat, acre per 

 acre, but fall behind us in other products. The state- 

 ments I have made are so accurate that they are literally 

 borne out by statistics to be procured at any time from 

 the Bureau of Agriculture at Washington. 



It may be answered, "All that you say is very true, 

 but it costs so much to till an acre of ground in Massa- 

 chusetts, in comparison with what 3^ou get out of it, that 

 our brother-farmers of the West have the great advan- 

 tage of us." Let us meet that argument, and compare 



