No. 63.] 387 



neighbor of Mr. Akins submitted to our view a newly invented hay 

 press, and operating upon the lever principle, the utility of which had 

 not as yet been fairly tested. If it should meet the expectation of 

 the inventor, it must, from its simplicity, do away with the screw 

 power. In the neighborhood of Mr. Akins we could not help but 

 notice the good effect of example, like rays radiating from a center. 

 We could here see an impetus given to improvement, showing con- 

 clusively that it is not alone our own advantage, but also the good 

 that we do around us, which ought to stimulate our exertions in the 

 improvement of our farms, and the advancement of our calling. 

 Here follows a statement of the production of Mr. Akins' iarm. In 

 meadow, 115 acres, at two tons per acre, 230 tons; in spring wheat, 

 10 acres, from 20 to 25 bushels per acre; in corn, 5 acres, from 40 

 to 60 bushels per acre; in potatoes, 1 acre, fine growth; in buckwheat, 

 8 acres, fine growth; from 150 to 200 barrels of winter apples. 

 Cost of cultivation about $400. 



Your committee have seen with much regret, the alarming and ra- 

 pid spreading of the Canada thistle through the county, and we 

 would most earnestly request all farmers to unite in a war of exter- 

 mination against that noxious and disagreeable intruder upon our 

 farms. If we cannot at once destroy, we can at least check its ra- 

 pid growth. Plowing once in four weeks, or cutting them frequent- 

 ly, so as to prevent them from getting a top during one season, will 

 destroy them; and if that cannot always be done, they should at least 

 be cut in season to prevent the seed from ripening. 



Your committee feel constrained to acknowledge that in awarding 

 the premiums, where the claims of competitors are so nearly equal, 

 they feel the task to be one of some delicacy, but would beg leave to 

 say that they have not, as a matter of course, awarded to those who 

 cultivate the richest natural soil and pioduce the largest crops, but 

 have been influenced by the mode of cultivation pursued to improve 

 the soil, the general arrangement of the buildings and fences for 

 farming operations, and the reclaiming of waste lands — not only caus- 

 ing two spears of grass to grow where but one grew before, but caus- 

 ing luxuriant crops of grass and grain to grow where marshy and 

 waste swamps occupied the places before. 



Your committee award the first premium on farms to Isaac Akins 

 of Greenbush; the second to John D. Vanderheyden of Brunswick; 

 and the third to Daniel Fish of Pittstown. 



And we would recommend that in addition to the premiums now 

 awarded on farms, there be a preuuum given hereafter for the best 

 cultivated farm in each town in the county, provided the town has 

 fifty paying members to the Society; and if the funds of the Society 

 would not permit the addition, that some of the minor premiums be 

 hereafter abolished, because an overgrown pumpkin, a mammoth 

 squash, or a large cabbage head, can excite but little interest com- 

 pared with the interest we think would be awakened among practical 

 farmers by the above additional premiums. 



And w'e would also recommend to the members of the Society who 

 are not taking any of the agricultural papers of the day, to patronize 



