Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 13.djvu/184

MASSACHUSETTS. on the southeastern coast or islands. The clays are largely manufactured into brick, the product in 1900 being valued at $2,150,822. Many minerals are found in the State, some of which figure largely in a commercial way. Iron pyrite, used in the manufacture of sulphuric acid, is extensively produced, the output in 1899 being 175,075 long tons, which was 23 per cent. of the entire production in the country. Slate is found, and is put on the market occasionally; tripoli is produced in a small way at Framingham, and small quantities of corundum, iron, manganese, and tin are also met with in various localities.

. The Massachusetts Bay Colony early recognized the fisheries as one of the leading industries, in fact, second only to farming. Special legislation was adopted whereby they were exempted from taxation, and ship carpenters and fishermen from military duty. Boston began to export fish in 1633, and soon fishing villages sprang up all along the coast for the shore fisheries, and Gloucester became, as it still continues to be, the most prominent port in the world in the cod and mackerel fisheries off Newfoundland and Labrador. Whales were first caught off Nantucket in 1690, and New Bedford became famous in the whale fisheries, its whaling vessels frequenting the remotest seas. This industry, however, has been declining steadily for several years. The United States Fish Commission has extensive hatcheries, laboratory, and school at Woods Hole, and the State has hatcheries at Wilkinsonville and Winchester. In the items of investment and value of products the fishing industry of Massachusetts exceeds that of all the other Atlantic coast States. It has over two-thirds of the investment in, more than half of the quantity of, and nearly half of the value of the products of the coast fisheries of New England. The products of the fisheries are derived chiefly from the numerous off-shore fishing banks extending along the coast from Nantucket Shoals, Mass., to the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. Only about 20 per cent.—viz. that taken by boats and small vessels in the shore fisheries—is secured from Massachusetts waters. There were 6962 men engaged in 1898 in vessel fishing, 3365 in the inshore or boat fisheries, and 4032 shoremen. This is a less number of men than are employed in the fisheries of Maine, or in one or two of the Middle Atlantic coast States. The capital in 1898 was estimated at $13,372,000—about the same as for 1889. The value of the product for the same year was $4,463,000, a decrease of over a million since 1889. This was due to the fall in price, as the amount of the catch increased during the same period.

Only a small per cent. of the population of Massachusetts is engaged in agriculture, and but 61.2 per cent. of the land area is included in farms. During the last half of the nineteenth century the total acreage of farms diminished 6.2 percent. For the same period the improved acreage decreased 39.4 per cent., and in 1900 only 41.1 per cent. of the farm land was improved. The average size of farms has decreased from 103 acres in 1870 to 83.4 acres in 1900. There is an unusually small number of rented farms, constituting less than one-tenth of the total number. A considerable portion of the State is not well adapted to agricultural pursuits. The most extensive arable districts are in

the central and northeastern parts of the State. The value of farm property and products, however, has greatly increased. This is the result of a very decided change in the nature of the industry. Under the competition brought about by the development of the more fertile lands of the West and the increase of transportation facilities, the raising of cereals has been rendered unprofitable. At the same time the growth of a large city population has created a market for fruits and garden and dairy products. The production of these has therefore largely taken the place of the crops formerly raised. From 1880 to 1900 the area devoted to cereals diminished from 104,631 to 53,385 acres. Of the latter area 39,131 acres were in corn. The western counties are best suited to cereals, and the decrease has been least in this section. The acreage devoted to hay and forage in 1900 was 610,023, and this crop contributed 39.1 per cent. of the total value of all crops for that year. There were 27,521 acres devoted to the cultivation of Irish potatoes, and a slightly greater amount to miscellaneous vegetables, the two together, including onions, contributing nearly 24 per cent. of the total value of all crops. A much less acreage (8346) was devoted to small fruits, but the greater per acre value of the product ($175) gives them an important position among the crops of the State. Cranberries are the most important of the small fruits, the marshy lands of Barnstable and Plymouth counties being well adapted to the production of this fruit. Of the orchard fruits the apple is the most important, the apple trees in 1900 numbering 1,852,046, or 78.2 per cent. of all fruit trees. From the earliest colonial days, tobacco has been raised in the valley of the Connecticut River. From 1890 to 1900 the acreage of this crop almost doubled, being 3827 in the latter year. But few States equal Massachusetts in the importance of its floricultural interests. In 1900 there were 734 establishments, the products amounting to $1,639,760. The following census figures show in acres the relative importance of the leading crops:

Stock-raising also has suffered from the effects of Western competition. There was a loss in the number of sheep during the last half of the nineteenth century. However, the development of intensive farming has necessitated an increase in the number of horses, and the growth of the dairy industry has naturally resulted in a gain in the number of dairy cows. Nearly 40 per cent. of all farms derive their principal income from the dairy. In 1900 the total value of the dairy products was $12,885,744, of which amount 89 per cent. was realized from sales. The production of milk increased 27.9 per cent, during the decade 1890-1900, and the sales of this product in the latter year amounted to $9,711,380. In the same year the products of the poultry industry amounted to $3,979,022.

The following census figures show the relative importance of the leading varieties of farm stock: