No. 63.] 219 



became cheaper than whiskey; then they abandoned their stills and 

 sent their cider to New-York. The sloops at all the landing places 

 along the Hudson river, were principally loaded with barrels of ci- 

 der. Their freight at that time consisted of butter, pork and cider; 

 but along the Sound or East river, as it is called here, in addition to 

 these articles, potatoes were an important freight. 



About the year 1820, temperance societies begun their operations; 

 the business of making cider began to decline, and at present there 

 is but little made, and that mostly for vinegar. Within twenty years 

 past agriculture has rapidly improved; the land has been cleared of 

 bushes; the stones made into fences; many new and some elegant 

 houses have been built; swamps drained, and the face of the country 

 now wears a pleasant aspect; but the farmers do not pay that atten- 

 tion to enriching their lands which is necessary for good husbandry. 

 The products of the county can be doubled, and with proper manage- 

 ment, quadrupled. The greater part of the land is yet poor; they 

 till it too much and pasture it too close; they are too anxious for 

 the present, and regardless of the future, and they overstock their 

 farms, which is the w^orst thing they can do to them. If the leaves 

 of clover and spires of grass are continually cropped to the ground 

 by pasturing or otherwise, the roots will die and the land become 

 poor. Enriching substances are within the reach of every farmer; 

 the swamps are numerous, but few farms being without them, con- 

 taining plenty of muck, and yet but very little of it is used as a ma- 

 nure. They say ihey cannot spend time in getting it, nor to make 

 a compost heap, nor even to take proper care of their barn-yard ma- 

 nure! They are afraid of an outlay, and seem to think money paid 

 out for getting manure will never be restored. But in that they are 

 mistaken. It would be doubly restored the first crop, and the land, 

 with proper management, would show the effects of it many years. 

 Gypsum has been used ever since my remembrance, but its effects of 

 late appear to me to be imaginary. It has been used so long, it seems 

 to have lost its fertilizing effects. I top-dress most of my grass fields 

 every year, leaving a portion of each field; and not more than one 

 year in ten is there any perceptible benefit arising from it. If the 

 farmers would take as much trouble in collectino- animal and veoeta- 

 ble manures as they do in getting plaster, it would be better for 

 them. Every farmer should make a heap of compost during the 

 year. There are intervals of time, without interfering with other 

 work, when enriching substances can be collected and put into a heap, 

 and in the fall of the year or during the winter, applied to grass lands 

 as a top-dressing. The winter storms wull press it to the surface and 

 cause vegetation to spring up early and rapidly. When land is top- 

 dressed in the spring of the year, the manure lodges upon the old 

 haulm or lies loose upon the ground. The scorching sunlat this time 

 of the year causes much of the enriching substances to evaporate, and 

 but little benefit arises from it. It can be partially mixed with the 

 soil by harrowing, but if a drouth succeeds, its effects are in a mea- 

 sure lost. A farm can be enriched by top-dressing with manure, 

 cheaper and sooner than to apply it in any other way. But if hoed 



