INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 



According to the latest census reports the Connecticut river towns in 

 Massachusetts produce about a million and a half dollars worth of tobacco 

 annually. As the last definite enumeration was the Federal Census of 

 1910, which reported the 1909 crop, these figures are now six years old. 

 The increase since that year has been steady, and it is safe to say that 

 the annual value of the crop in this State at present is not far from 

 $2,000,000. 



The tobacco towns of Massachusetts are entirely in Franklin, Hamp- 

 shire and Hampden counties. By the latest available figures Hatfield is 

 the banner tobacco town of the State, with a production valued at $301,- 

 204; Hadley, second, $192,258; and then come Agawam, Whately, Deer- 

 field, Southwick, Westfield and Sunderland in the order named. Hatfield 

 alone has 17 tobacco storehouses, and 425 freight cars are needed to ship 

 the tobacco crop from this one town. 



