404    general    summary of tiie state.

where farming is the principal occupation of the inhabitants
which can equal this district in its resources. For the information
of the New-Hampshire farmers a few comparisons will be given of
other rich farming districts in this country, to show that there are
but few localities where the people earn more money than in the
Connecticut Valley, and if possible to dispel this false idea that
more money can be earned in the West than in New England.

Madison County, in Illinois, which contains the city of Alton, is
considered and is one of the best farming districts in the State.
In 1870 there were 44,131 inhabitants in the county, and 357,000
acres of improved land, annually producing 1,207,181 bushels win-
ter wheat, and 2,127,540 bushels corn, being six times the amount
of wheat and nearly double the number bushels of corn raised in
the whole State of New-Hampshire. The total value of agricul-
tural productions of all varieties was $ 3,727,000, or $ 84.41 to
each person in the county. It annually pays for mechanical labor
$586,591, or $ 13.29 to each inhabitant. The number of people en-
gaged in professional services, trade and transportation is 2,700, and
annually earning $ 1,620,000, or $ 36.82 to each person. The total
amount annually received for labor of all professions and includ-
ing agricultural productions, is $ 5,913,789, or $ 134.52 to every in-
habitant, and being $ 28.27 less for each person in the county than
in the twenty-five towns in the Connecticut Valley. If the people
of Madison county now have a surplus left over their expenditures,
and their receipts were as large as in the New-Hampshire district,
it would annually increase this surplus $ 1,247,583, or enough to
build and equip forty miles of railroad. These statements are no
fiction, but are taken from official statistics and show conclusively
that the great farming districts in Illinois do not compare with
the agricultural district in the Connecticut Valley, in its resources
from labor.

Windsor County, in Vermont, is the largest agricultural county
in the State. It contains a population of 36,063, and has 398,106
acres of improved land, with an annual production of $ 3,479,098,
or $ 96.18 to each person. There is annually paid for mechanical
labor, $ 655,495, or $18.19 to each person. 2,200 are engaged in
professional business, trade and transportation, who annually re-
ceive for their services, $ 1,320,000, or $36.90 to every inhabitant
in the county. The total amount annually received for labor, indu-
ing farm productions, was $ 5,454,593, or $ 151.28 to each person;