VOL,. XVIW. NO. 35. 



^ND HO R T I C U L 1' [J K A L REGISTER 



ite, be required to make .o this board, as often 

 once in tliree years, returns of all the nianufac- 

 es witliin their respective tffsvns or cities, speci- 



ag, among other things, in particular 



1. The capitil employed ; 

 i. Number of hands employed ; 

 J. Average rate of wages ; 

 |. Ages of the youngest persona employed ; 

 i. Amount of articles manufactured ; 

 ). Articles used in the manufacture, with their 

 )ectivc costs or values ; and 

 '. Specitications of any important or valuable 

 rovemenf^ which may have been or may be 

 le from time to time. 



'our memorialist further suggests, that the asses- 

 of the several towns or cities of the ('ommon- 

 1th be required as often as once in three years, 

 lake to the Board of Industry, returns of the 

 lucts of agriculture in their several towns and 

 is; specifying as folows: 



'he number of domestic animals kept or reared, 

 Jding horses, oxen, cows, sheep, young stock 

 swine ; 



he number of bushels grown in each town, of 

 It, corn, rye, oats, barley, buck-wheat, meslin, 

 !t, and potatoes ; and likewise field pease and 



he nurabor of pounds of butter and cheese 



he number of tons of hay and straw grown ; 



nd likewise the number of acres in each town, 



ifated, mown, in pasture, or in wood. 



lat returns be had lik-ewise, as above, once in 



' three years of 



le number of pounds of maple sugar or sugar 



beets made in each town. 



le number of pounds of wool produced ; 



le number of pounds of raw silk ; 



le number of pounds of hops, flax, hemp, to- 



>, and broom corn brnih ; 



le number of thousands of teasles grown, ra- 



ieven pounds to the thousand ; 



id of other merchantable agricultural products, 



eturns be requested and obtained as far as 



nien*. from every town in the Commonwealth. 



d that with a view to encourage such returns 



;ad to exactness in making them, that there 



owed by tiie Treasurer of each town, in abate- 



of taxes, to every applicant cerlifyi.ig to such 



IS on oath, for every bushel of grain^or pulse 



ced, one half cent ; for every five bushels of 



es grown, one cent; for every twenty pounds 



ter or cheese made, one cent; for every tern 



' produced, two cen's ; for every ten pounds 



pie sugar or sugar from beets, two cents; for 



pound of raw silk produced, two cents; and 



ery ten pounds of .lax, and of hemp, and of 



10, and of broom corn brush produced, there 



5wed onte cent: and for every thousand of 



s, one cent. 



i that these returns be obtained or received 

 ' assessors of the sevirral cities and towns in 

 ate, who shall be required seasonably to re- 

 lem upon oath, according to blank forms 

 should be furnish'd them, to the Board of 

 ry. 



ir memorialist further respectfully suggests,. 

 e as3Pssor.s i f the cities or towns upon tiie 

 are be required to obtain and make returns 

 Board of Inuustry, 



he whole number of tons of shipping belong- 

 thc town or city, as in the subjoined form : 



The number of tons of shipping employed in the 

 I'oreign trade. 



The No. of tons employed in the Co'asting trade, 

 I " " Whale fishery, 



I " " " Other " 



And of the Imports nnd Exports of the State, pro- 

 'Ii'ced by the industry or labor of its inhabitants or 

 citizens ; ns for example. 

 The amount of Oil obtained, 

 " " Cod-fish, 



" . " Mackerel, 



" foreign grains and agricultural 



products imported into the Slate for the consump- 

 tion of Its inhabitants.-which are capable of beintr 

 produced on its own territory. 



That returns also be made of the number of per- 

 sons employed in Agriculture, 

 " Manufactures, 

 " Commerce or Navigation. 

 Vour memorialist has laid these matters before 

 you, not presuming in anv respect to dictate to the 

 superior wisdom of the Legislature; but that he 

 might simply and respectfully express his opinions, 

 and show the practicableness anel importance of 

 obtaining such returns of domestic industry. In 

 the mode suggested, the towns would pay the boun- 

 ties and the expense would not be felt. The ex- 

 penses would be considerably reduced below what 

 the State now pays, or might, under existing stat- 

 utes, be called upon to pay. They would,, in truth, 

 not amount to half the expenses incurred by the 

 t^tate for the encouragement of agriculture durinr, 

 the past year. ° 



Your memorialist, in suggesting forms or modes 

 by which the important objects proposed may be ac- 

 complished, is by no means confident that those 

 which he has named are the most eligible which 

 can be selected. He has been mainly anxious to 

 propose such as would be practicahle, and yet in- 

 volve the State in no new expense. The plans 

 proposed, it will be seen, will not impose any addi- 

 tional burden upon the linances of the State, but- in 

 a large degree reduce these expenses ; and are in 

 no way impracticable. 



Should the government, however, not see lit at 

 this time for any reason to establish a Board of 

 Industry, as suggested, your memorialist wotild ex- 

 press to the Legislature earnestly, but most respect- 

 fully, his desire, that a law might be passed requi- 

 ring, the current year, of the assessors of tiie several 

 towns in the State, such full and exact returns of 

 the agricultural products of the several towns as 

 have been above referred to, to be made seasonably 

 to the Commissioner of Agricultural Survey, that 

 they may form a part of his reports at the conclu- 

 sion of the survey, which is expected to be comple- 

 ted the present year. Though he has done all 

 that he could accomplish, in his individual and offi- 

 cial capacity, to obtain returns, such as are here 

 spoken of, of the agricultural industry of the Com- 

 monwealth, as will be seen particularly in the re- 

 turns from PittsHeld, Cheshire, Bernardston, Marl- 

 boro', and Bane, given in his Second Report of the 

 Agriculture of .Massachusetts ; yet it is impossible 

 for him to procur.; any thing like complete returns 

 of the products of the State without the aid of a 

 special law to this effect. It might be e.xpedient 

 to encourage the making of these returns by such 

 small bounties or allowances on the part of the 

 towns, as have been suggested above; or the towns 

 might be required to make such per diem compen- 

 sation to their assessors for any extra trouble in 



IS informntion us would be reasonable 



I obtaining 

 and just. 



Under a very strong conviction of the value and 

 utility of such infoririation, when obtained in an au- 

 thentic form your memorialist respectfully urges 

 the subject upon the attention of the government. 

 In Scotland, a few years since, returns were obtain- 

 ed by order of the government, from every parish 

 in the kingdom, at the instance and under the eu ■ 

 perinteiidence of that most eminent friend to a-rrf- 

 cultural improvement. Sir John Sinclair. An 

 amouutof information was received, arranged em- 

 bodied, and given to the public by him. the practi- 

 cal value of which cannot be over-estimated ; th- 

 inliuence of which in awakening an ambition for 

 improvement, in diffusing useful knowledge, and in 

 advancing the prosperity of the husbandry of that 

 kingdom, compensated a thousand fold for the ex- 

 pense and trouble of procuring it ; and the elTects 

 of which are felt, even at the present day, in rais- 

 ing the agriculture of Scotland to a degree of Intel- 

 ligence, skill, and productiveness, beyond that of 

 any other nation. In the honest and established 

 conviction of your memorialist, there is no reason 

 whatever in her soil or climate, in the condition,' 

 habits or character of her people, why Massachu- 

 setts should not, but in her intelligence, capital, 

 and industry, and in all her social and economi- 

 cs.: interests, there is every reason why she should, 

 a*, once aspire to an equal rank. 

 ^ "It is ascertained that the flour imported into 

 Boston in one year, amounted to 418,000 barrels, 

 and corn with other bread stuffs to 3,000,000 bush- 

 els. This quantity is the average amount imported 

 into Boston for three years, by an accurate ab- 

 stract from the documents. 'To this quantity must 

 be added one third for the outports, which is a low 

 estimate at the price of $7 75 for flour, andSOcts. 

 perbushel for corn; and it would amount to 

 86,453,3.33 paid by the State in a single vear. This 

 was for the year 18i6. The importat'ions were 

 larger in 1837 ; and at the prices then paid of .$11 

 per barrrel for flour, and one dollar per bushel for 

 corn, with the addition of one third for the outports, 

 the amount would be $8,71)7,338 paid for bread 

 stuffs in that year. The western parts of the State 

 are supplied directly from Albany, and the towns 

 upon Connecticut river by way of Hartford. We 

 may therefore estimate the sum paid by two thirds 

 of the population of the State, in a single year, at 

 nearly nine millions of dollars." 



These facts demand most imperiously the public 

 attention. In the opinion ofyour ii.emorialist, Mas- 

 sachusetts is capable of supplying, to a vastly great- 

 er extent than she has ever yet done it, her own 

 grain and bread. When the fluctuations of trade, 

 and the uncertainties and capriciousness of many 

 other branches of business are considered, and 

 when, further, it is considered that the improved 

 cultivation of any acre of the territory of the State, 

 besides the product immediately obtained, often in- 

 creases its value ten fold, by its enlarged capacity 

 of future returns, your momorialist cannot doubt 

 that the Legislature, in their wisdom and patriotism, 

 will see the importance of giving every liberal and 

 practical encouragement to an Improved agriculture 

 — in Its economical and moral aspects, among the 

 highest of human pursuits. 



Your memorialist has the honor to renew to the 

 Legislature the assurance of his highest respect. 

 HE.XRV COLMAN, 

 Commissioner for Hit J}gricu!tiral Surv;y. 

 Boston, Feb. 17, 1840. 



