66 



8tate than old Hampshire, possessed of men, fi-ont and foremost of 

 fanners, and of an institution, front and foremost of agricultural 

 colleges. 



Therefore I would urge as the first essential improvement, (not in 

 this county alone, but throughout the State,) the adoption of a 

 iQore far-sighted poHcy in the cultivation of our farms. The capital 

 and labor demanded for the permanent improvements upon our rough 

 New England fields will not pay in one year or three, and we ai-e 

 :aearly all too selfish to cheerfully sow that others may reap. So 

 our farmer with the Yankee's love of change or trade, — always ready 

 to " sell out," does not set oi;t an orchard for some one else to picV 

 the fruit. 



That meadow paradise of frogs, reeds. Hags, and three-cornered 

 grasses remains iinimproved ; for who shall reap the result. For 

 the same reason year by year he hoes and mows around those un- 

 sightly, profanity-tempting rocks. Finally, ten chances to one, old 

 age and death finds him on the same skeleton of a farm, graceless 

 smd rugged as of yore, and his sons long since disgusted with farm- 

 ing, as they saw and understood it, having turned to other pursuits, 

 the blow of the auctioneer's hammer consigns the old homestead to 

 strange hands, perchance to some thrifty son of Erin. 



This is not a fancy sketch, you will find its prototype multipUed 

 in every country town of Massachusetts. During the last decade 

 our farming population has decreased in numbers, and our acres of 

 waste land devoted to scrub oaks and alders increased. By com- 

 paring the ofiicial returns for 1865, with those for 1850 we find the 

 unimproved lands of Hampshire county increased by 28,121 acres. 



We find $10,000 gain in fruits, and 10,000 bushels increase in 

 corn. "We find a decrease of over 80,000 bushels of oats and rye, a 

 less quantity of hay, and a large falling oft* in butter and cheese. 

 Swine are reduced one half, and with the exception of horses, farm 

 stock is reduced in value. In total value, including improvements 

 and buildings, we have gained $3,479,344, which we must largely 

 My to the credit of tobacco, which at our first date yielded about 

 $11,000, at our later date $751,654- Here we see afalHngoft' in 

 those productions tending to sustain the natural fertility of the 

 soil. Supposing that for the next twenty years the farmers of this 

 county would throw aside all migratory intentions,'manage their 

 farms not to acquire the largest amount of cash in hand for each 

 current year, but for permanent improvements and maximum 



