^0. 112.] 457 



quite extensively. I think there is a decided tendency among 

 our farmers to rely less upon wheat (as the weevil is making 

 their appearance in some parts of the county) and more upon 

 other crops for their income than they did five years ago. 



Agricultural periodicals are exerting a salutary influence by 

 inducing our farmers to practice rotation in crops and to avail 

 themselves of the great natural laws of good husbandry. They 

 are beginning to think farming a science, and they trust more to 

 system and skill than " luck :" deep plowing and thorough 

 culture are producing their work here. They are becoming more 

 particular also to get the best breeds of stock and the best kinds 

 of fruit. Fruit culture is exciting a good deal of interest in this 

 vicinity; Lake Ontario on the north, with its deep waters, so 

 modifies our climate as to favor this department of farm pro- 

 ducts. In the spring its chilled waters keep back the buds and 

 bloom some ten days later than in the inland towns, thus prevent- 

 ing the blight of late frosts, while in the fall the great caldron 

 radiates heat and keeps up the temperature, averting the early 

 frosts that would often otherwise prevent maturity. This local 

 influence is perhaps more felt and appreciated in regard to Indi- 

 an corn than any thing else. The lake bordering on Niagara 

 county is forty miles wide and about six hundred feet deep. The 

 price of farming lands has risen in value from ten to fifteen dol- 

 lars per acre since 1850. 



The annual fair for the year 1852 was held in the village of 

 Wilson, on the south bank (;f Lake Ontario, on the 6th and 7th 

 days of October, and is universally acknowledged to have out- 

 done any of its predecessors in the convenience of its arrange- 

 ments, in the interest mauil'ested, in the number of entries made, 

 and in the amount of premiums awarded, which results are 

 mainly to be attributed to the fact that the place of holding the 

 fair is annually changed, the trammel of j)ermanency br(>k<ii off, 

 by means of which comjx'tition is engendered, expenses dimin- 

 ished and the premium list enlarged. 



The exhibition of stock was upon the land of Capt. Luther 

 Wilson, and the balance of the show was held in the yard and 



