No. 63.] 139 



As has already been stated to the Society, the undersigned has ad- 

 dressed communications to sources supposed to be the proper ones, in 

 South America and the West India Islands in relation to the cultiva- 

 tion and acclimation of certain plants, the successful culture of which 

 would be a great desideratum to this and other States. His inquiries 

 have not reached their destination, or have failed, except in a solitary 

 instance, to secure the attention of those to whom they were directed; 

 as, with the exception stated, no replies have been received to them. 



Respectfully submitted. 



HENRY S. RANDALL, 

 Cor. Sec'y of the JV. F. S. Ag. Society. 



AGRICULTURE OF CAYUGA COUNTY. 



BY A. HOLLISTER, CATO FOUR CORNERS. 



In answer to your first interrogatory, the condition of agriculture 

 in Cayuga county, I would say, that it is improving in the northern 

 section of the county, by a more careful system of plowing and fitting 

 the ground for crops, also by laying under drains and otherwise re- 

 claiming the low swails. Wheat is our staple crop, although much 

 corn, oats and potatoes are raised. In fallowing our ground, three 

 plowings are had, with dragging between plowings. We market our 

 produce on the canal at Jordan and Weedsport. Our horses and 

 cattle are not much improved. We have some good Devonshire bulls. 

 This breed have proved good, as their stock is hardy, though rather 

 small. We have lately got a bull Irom the Patroon's stock, bred by 

 Mr. Prentice of Albany; and his calves are very good. How they 

 will hold out is yet to be determined. We use the Cayuga county 

 plow, improved by David Rockwell, which I think the best one in use. 

 I have tried nearly all the plows in use between Albany and Rochester. 

 I use a harrow made in Rochester by a Mr. Huntly, which is a very good 

 article. It is a double drag rather than a harrow. The drags generally 

 are the double square ones, which are very common every where. 

 Land is worth from $30 to f50 per acre in this county. Our timber 

 is beech, maple, bass-wood, white-wood, elm, and such other limber 

 as usually grows up with these. To make our agriculture profitable, 

 a smaller number of acres ought to be occupied by each farmer, and 

 better manured, plowed deeper, and a great deal more draining done. 

 The soil is a loam, based generally on a clayey bottom and hardpan; 

 the soil about 12 inches alDove the sub-soil, and the clay or hardpan 

 about 3 or 4 feet below the surface. It is a fine soil for either wheat, 

 corn, grass, oats, or any of the ordinary crops raised in this part of 

 the country. 



I cannot say which is the best breed of cattle, nor what is the best 



