No. 63.J 193 



breed has been introduced and crossed with the common hog. Mr. 

 Edward Bement, on the north side of the island, has some superior 

 Berkshires from the stock of his brother at Three Hills Farm, near 

 Albany. The writer has some fine animals from the stock of Mr. 

 Brentnall, formerly of English Neighborhood, in New-Jersey. These 

 have been crossed with other swine, and he has some good hogs of 

 the half breeii, three-quarters and full blood Berkshires. But he has 

 found that the inhabitants generally do not appreciate the breed, or 

 the speculation in them is over, as they will not pay more for Berk- 

 shires than common hogs. He has this autum (October, 1S42,) sold 

 half breed and full blood Berkshires, three and four months old, for 

 one dollar fifty cents and two dollars a piece, and six weeks old for 

 seventy-five cents. 



OTHER ARTICLES. 



There are two other articles raised on the island not noted in the 

 census, and these are cabbages and willow. 



CABBAGE. 



Cabbage might have been enumerated in the produce of market 

 gardens, but as it is an article of field culture, it is presumed not to 

 be ranked among horticultural productions. One farmer near Prince's 

 Bay^ on the south side, annually raises cabbages to the value of five 

 or six thousand dollars, and even found it profitable in 1S40 and 

 1S41, when they were sold in New-York at two dollars and fifty cents 

 the hundred. They are cultivated in large quantities by others, and 

 form a considerable item of export from the island for city consump- 

 tion in New- York. To raise them in perfection they require to be 

 strongly manured. Barn-yard manure, street dirt, and sometimes 

 fish, are liberally supplied to the soil in which they are transplanted, 

 from the bed where they are sown in the margin of the field After 

 the cabbage crop is taken off, the land is in a good condition for wheat 

 or rye; and we are informed by a cabbage grower, that land heavily 

 manured, will not only give good crops, but will resist frost, and 

 withstand the drouth better than land that is poor, or poorly ma- 

 nured. 



WILLOW. 



Swamp willow is both native and imported. It is cultivated in 

 wet and swampy grounds, of which there are many acres on this isl- 

 and unreclaimed and useless, which might be profitably occupied in 

 the culture of willow, where nothing else could be advantageously 

 grown. Mr. John Reed has a plantation of willows i;i Southfield, 

 and another in Westficld, where the native and foreign swamp wil- 

 lows flourish and grow most luxuriantly. Their grow tii in one season 

 is from four to eight feet in length, straight and slim. They are cut 

 down annually in March, tietl into bundles, and then set in the water 

 until the buds begin to open, which indicates that the sap is flowing. 

 When in this condition the bark is easily stripped off, and the twigs 

 again tied into bundles, and prepared for use or sale. 



This material is extensively employed in the manufacture of willow 



[Senate No. 63. J Z 



