180 [Senate 



grower in Onondaga has to encounterj is freezing out in the spring 

 of the plants; and the only certain remedy for this is found to be a per- 

 fect freedom in the soil at all times from unnecessary moisture. 

 There are many farms, particularly on the Limestone deposits, that 

 have this dryness naturally; on nearly all it may be given by tho- 

 rough draining and subsoil plowing. Much more attention is given 

 to seed wheat and its preparation, than formerly, and on well ma- 

 naged farms smutty wheat is now never seen. 



Barley was formerly, and indeed until within a year or two, one 

 of the principal crops of Onondaga. Perhaps more barley has been 

 grown in the town of Pompey within the last fifteen years, than in 

 any other town in the state; and the county, in the amount of this 

 product, far exceeded any other. The temperance reformation has 

 not been without its influence on the cultivaiion of barley, many 

 farmers being unwilling to raise for sale an article mostly used in 

 distilleries and breweries. Large quantities are still grown for con- 

 sumption on the farm, it being a very certain crop, productive, and 

 excellent for the purposes of feeding. As a spring grain, barley is 

 one of the most valuable cultivated. It requires a soil in strength 

 and other qualities suitable for wheat, but will give a good yield and 

 a fine berry, where owing to a too great retention of moisture, wheat 

 sometimes fails. One of the best barley soils in the state, is found on 

 the Marcellus and Hamilton groups; and on those parts of this soil 

 where wheat w^as at all doubtful, the farmer found, and still finds, an 

 abundant resource in this grain. As in the case of wheat, barley is 

 the better for having the manure applied to a previous crop, it be- 

 ing liable on very rich soils, or when manure is applied directly, to 

 lodge while growing. Another cause has had some effect in check- 

 ing the culture of barley. It was found where the crop had been 

 most perseveringly grown, that the soil was rapidly becoming foul, and 

 required seeding to grass or summer fallowing, to remedy this evil. 

 From fifty to sixty bushels per acre of barley have been raised in this 

 county, and forty bushels per acre are quite common. So far as im- 

 mediate profit is concerned, barley is perhaps as valuable as wheat; 

 but its effect in fouling soils where no intervening cleaning crops are 

 grown, has prejudiced many against its culture. This objection is 

 easily obviated by a skilful course of cropping, and barley will no 

 doubt continue to hold a prominent place in the products of Onondaga. 



Indian corn is cultivated to a great extent in this county. The 

 level sandy lands of the north part of the county, the warm lime- 

 stone soils of the center, and the deep rich valleys which penetrate 

 the county north and south, are found admirably adapted to this crop. 

 In 1838 the writer visited nearly every county in the western district 

 of New-York, for the purpose of investigating the condition of their 

 agriculture, and nowhere did he find heavier and more abundant crops 

 of corn than in this county. The limestone soils, and particularly 

 those where the influence of the Oriskany sandstone was most felt, 

 retained a manifest ascendancy in this grain. The sections most fa- 

 vorable to this crop have been named, but there is no part of the coun- 

 ty where the soil is put in a proper condition by manuring and drain- 



