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     good dressing of it secures fertility in a striking manner to 
     
     the poorest soils; clover grows after it quite luxuriously and 
     
     as it were indigenously; by its aid heavy crops of turnips and 
     
     potatoes are raised; and, indeed, it may be regarded as a 
     
     manure of great value, and applicable to any kind of crop. 
     
     Nor is it soon exhausted, for the shells in it decay, year by 
     
     year throwing off a film of fertilizing matter.” In the light 
     
     of recent agricultural investigation, the great “fertility" pro— 
     
     duced by the application of mussel mud or lime, is attributed 
     
     not to the lime itself but to its action on other food constitu- 
     
     ents, making them available for the use of the crops. The 
     
     worn-out condition of many of our farms is due, to some extent 
     
     at least, to a misunderstanding of this fact. The stimulating 
     
     effect has been carried on until the land fails to respond. 
     
     The dissemination of this information among our farmers is 
     
     resulting in a limited and more judicious use of this agent. 
     
    
   
   
    
     AcreageiOf the total area of 1,397,991 acres, 85.44 per 
     
     cent, or 1,194,508 acres, are occupied, of which 726,285 are 
     
     improved, or under cultivation. The unimproved land con- 
     
     sists of 350,366 acres in forest, and 117,857 acres in various 
     
     conditions, such as swamp, marsh or waste land, and land in 
     
     rough or natural pasture. The occupied land is divided 
     
     between 13, 199- farms of five acres and over ; and 865 lots less 
     
     than five acres in area, of which the average size is 1.56 
     
     acres, 30 per cent are less than an acre each and 70 per cent 
     
     are an acre or more. The average size of farms is 90.74 
     
     acres, of which 55.14 acres are improved and 35.60 unim- 
     
     proved; and of the total number of farms, 3 per cent (389) 
     
     are from five to ten acres in extent, 28.6 per cent (3,769) 
     
     are from eleven to fifty acres, 41 per cent (5,380) are 
     
     fifty-one to one hundred acres, 23 per cent (3,030) are 101 
     
     to 200 acres, and 4.4 per cent (501) are 201 acres or more. 
     
     The land owned is 97.23 per cent (1,160,118 acres), and the 
     
     land leased or rented 2.77 per cent (33,040 acres) of the 
     
     whole area occupied as farms; while of the small area