No. 112. 1 S67 



try. Our, farmers have found out that there are €ertain rules re- 

 iating to the cultivation of the soil, without the observance of 

 which, mucli of their labor is thrown away. The promise of 

 ^' seed time and harvest" is not, of itself, sufficient to insure good 

 •crops. Something depends upon the way and manner in wliich 

 the work of the husbandman is performed — upon the seed he uses, 

 and the time upon w^hich it is planted; the manures he ap-plies, 

 the condicioR of the soil, and the method of cultivating and secur- 

 ing his crops. A blind adherence, for instance, to the lOlli day 

 of May, as the old rule for corn-planting, would, in most cases, 

 be fatal to the crop. So, too, the application of hot and dry ma- 

 nures to our light sandy soils, would be of very little use. Some 

 soils require one kind of manure and one system of tillage, and 

 some another. An intelligent, well-informed farmer, would un- 

 derstand all these things, and manage his farm accordingly. It 

 requires no practical experiment to prove that a succession of a 

 certain kind of crops would soon exhaust the soil, nor that with- 

 out manuring, any lands in this section of the country will stand 

 constant croping for any considerable length of time. An equi- 

 valent to what is taken off must be returned. 



The farmers of the county of Saratoga are not behind any 

 others in the knowledge of cultivating and fertilizing their lands, 

 nor in the growth of products of the fields, nor the quality of the 

 stock which they rjise. They can exhibit as good cattle as any 

 other county can produce. This county has the reputation of 

 being one of the best pork-growing counties in the State. In 

 horses, too, we are not inferior to any of the rural districts. 

 Their local pride is arou ed, ;he Sj-iiit of imi>rovement is abroad, 

 and this county may be put down as one of the best agricultural 

 portions of the State in all the branches of that useful, healthful 

 and dignified ( mpl«>yment. 



Our county society is doing much to stimulate and encourage 

 our agricultural jtopulation. Its animal tairs call toj^ether large 

 numbers who become at once interested in the exhibitions and go 

 home with a fixed determination to enter the list of comj>etitorg 

 for the next year's premiums. They see new invention?, new and 

 desirable productions, hear new suggestions, get new ideas, and 



