PART VI. 

 AGRICULTURE. 



In describing the topographical features and arrangement of 

 this county, in the preceding pages, I have sufficiently noticed its 

 agricultural capabilities and the soil and climate of its various 

 districls. That review indicates a great diversity and singular 

 combination of soils. They adapt the county to the cultivation 

 of every crop, congenial to its varied climate. 



The same transitions in its agricultural progi-ess have marked 

 every section of this county. The natural fertility of the soil, when 

 first opened to cultivation, yielded abundant harvests ; injudi- 

 cious tillage gradually exhausted its productive elements; the 

 cause which tended to these results ceased ; new interests in the 

 management of the land were excited, and a general improvement 

 in the farms was produced by an ameliorated system of hus- 

 bandry. 



The county still exhibits these various phases of its agriculture. 

 Some farms are just emerging from the primeval wilderness ; 

 some are impoverished and exhausted ; others are commencing (he 

 process of renovation ; while many others have attained a degree 

 of improved culture and fertility, scarcely exceeded by any por- 

 tion of the State. 



The lumber business in every region, appropriate to its pur- 

 suit, captivates the mind of the pioneer, and allures him from 

 other occupations. It has exerted a depressing influence upon 

 the agricultural interests and progress of Essex county. The 

 winter was devoted to this employment. Every product of the 

 farm calculated to return fertilizing elements to sustain and 



