No. 112.] 871 



Barns and sheds are now generally constructed, in reference 

 to this object. I feel it just and proper to state, that I ex- 

 amined in North Elba, some of the best arranged barns and sheds 

 in the county. Tliey are capacious and conv^enient, carefully 

 battened and lined, and admirably adjusted in the interior, to 

 secure the comfort and safety of the animals. I saw stables in 

 that town, in which I was assured manure had not frozen, during 

 the intense severity of the preceding winter. 

 « 



IMPLEMENTS. 



This county has not sustained an equal progress in the in- 

 troduction and use of labor saving and improved implements, 

 as in many other branches of its agricultural improvement. 

 The cultivator, corn-planter, and subsoil plow, are in the 

 hands of individuals, but do not occupy that prominent position 

 in the husbandry of the county, demanded by their vast utility 

 and economy. Wherever they have been tried, I find the strong- 

 est attestation to their great value and efficiency.* The exhibi- 

 tion of these, and analogous utensils at the county fairf, have 

 made tliem familiar to the agricultural community, and they are 

 gradually extending through the county. 



PLOWING. 



I have fully, though incidentally, discussed this subject 

 in several appropriate divisions of this report. A general 

 but far from universal absence of deep and thorough plowing, may 

 be regarded as one of the prominent defective characteristics of 

 former husbandry, still lingering in the agriculture of Essex coun- 

 ty. Late fall i)l(jwing, of green swaid, is deemed advisable in 



• An incilent ilUisfrates forcibly this fact: Passing the farm of Mr. Bean, of Crown Point, 

 at a time when vegetation was excessively parched and withered, I waa struck by the great 

 contrast prfrented by the luxuriance and verdure of his field of com, to the gcncrul n|)i>car- 

 ancc of tlie crop in the vicinity. Observing near his barn, a large coinpo«t heap, I conjectured 

 that I had dctectcil the secret of his success. It was not, however, until I found liira sub- 

 loiling another lot for a wheat crop, that I discovered tlie entire solution of the mystery. Mr. 

 Bean assured me that ** while the leaves of the corn about him were generally rolled together 

 like a scroll," his crop had exhibited no effect of the drought, except slightly on tho extremi- 

 ties of the Ian !, IIo regarded this circurastanco a« affording the strdngest eridonco of the 

 utility uf the system, as io those parts of the field, tho work of sub-soiliog bad been less ef- 

 fectually performed, owing to the natural balking of the team. Although s^mc of Mr. Bcan'f 

 neighbors objected tn his propensity to lxK)k farming, all accorded to him pr* eminent saooeM 

 n procuring superior crops from a soil of ao original iofeiiur quality. 



