42 AMERICAN FARMS. 



dairy at fair average prices, and see what a fine aggregate 

 of values they will have as the result, bearing in mind 

 the while, that he who most increases the productiveness 

 of the earth is the greatest benefactor of his race." He 

 followed this by claiming that, although all classes in 

 the State were thriving and prosperous, the remark was 

 especially applicable to the department of agriculture. 



It is important for us to note that agriculture had the 

 lead in this portion of America at that time, and that the 

 first government functionaries thought it destined to 

 experience a still higher measure of success in the future. 

 They saw nothing for the farmers to fear, but a great 

 deal to give them courage. 



The decadence of the agricultural interests of New 

 Hampshire and Vermont is now the object of official in- 

 vestigation. Mr. B. Valentine, Commissioner of Agri- 

 culture for Vermont, finds that good areas of tillable land 

 can be bought in his State at prices approximating those 

 of Western lands. Two-hundred-acre farms, with " fair 

 buildings," good orchards, and plenty of timber, are 

 being sold for less than $i,ooo. In some counties large 

 tracts of land, of fair quality, can be bought for three or 

 four dollars per acre. Town-Clerk Fuller, of Vershire, 

 Vermont, says : '* We have many abandoned farms in 

 different parts of our towns, with good buildings on them, 

 that could be bought for five dollars or less per acre. 

 All this land was once occupied by thrifty and prosperous 

 farmers." 



In 45 agricultural towns in Connecticut the decrease 

 of wealth in the eleven years 1865-76 amounted to 

 $1,893, 172 ; between 1876 and 1886 the decrease ran up 

 to $2,741,520. Out of 603 farmers interviewed, 378 

 show a yearly loss. As we travel away from New Eng- 



