3S2 [Senate 



of domestic manufactures, agricultural implements, and the various 

 other articles usually exhibited on such occasions. The crowds of 

 visitors attracted by the exhibition, from this and the adjoining coun- 

 ties, sufficiently attested the deep interest of the farmer, and all class- 

 es of our community in the success and continued prosperity of the 

 institution. 



The reports of the various viewing committees, submitted to the 

 Society at the fair, contained a great amount of interesting and va- 

 luable information, and two of them are here annexed. 



REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON FARMS. 



The committee would respectfully report, that the number of farms 

 entered for examination was six. 



Your committee commenced the performance of the duty assigned 

 them on the tenth day of July, by calling on Mr. Abraham Knicker- 

 backer of Schaghticoke, whose farm is situated in the valley known 

 as old Schaghticoke, about one mile from the Hudson river, contain- 

 ing 330 acres of land, about 100 acres of which is bottom land, which 

 has been cultivated more than a century and a half; and its present, 

 productiveness being evidence of its fertility under a good system of 

 culture. Mr. Knickerbacker particularly called our attention to a 

 field of wheat from which he took the last season two crops of clover 

 hay of great burthen — the one in July, the other in September. Im- 

 mediately after taking off the last crop, he plowed and sowed the 

 same with wheat at the rate of nearly two bushels to the acre, the 

 growth of which was very large and heavy, promising an extra crop, 

 but we regret to learn since that it was much injured by rust. Mr. 

 Knickerbacker's mode of farming is well systematized and praisewor- 

 thy; the remaining 230 acres being upland, about one half under 

 cultivation and the rest covered with wood. The manner of culti- 

 vating his farm is such as is generally practiced by good farmers in 

 that section of the county, being a rotation of crops, with clover every 

 fourth year, and an annual top dressing with plaster, at the rate of 

 about Ih bushels per acre. 



The out-buildings of the farm are numerous, large, and well ar- 

 ranged; also the dwelling-house, being the old family residence, un- 

 der the modern improvements made upon it by its present proprietor, 

 makes a very beautiful and venerable appearance. Mr. Knicker- 

 backer informed your committee that it was his practice, on the first 

 of April of each year, when he commenced his farming operations, 

 to appraise his stock, farming utensils, and every kind of produce 

 on hand, and by keeping debt and credit, at the close of the year 

 he not only has the amount of the productions of his farm, but he is 

 better able to review and improve his future operations — a course of 

 proceeding which your committee would most highly commend. 



By the within statement made to your committee of the produc- 

 tions of the farm of Mr. Knickerbacker, it is gratifying to learn that 

 the amount of the productions of his farm, over and above all ex- 



