b ANNUAL BEPORT OF NEW- YORK 



searches of science to the practical pursuits of our country. We 

 shall be greatly disappointed if this should not prove the most 

 valuable portion of their labors. 



Knowledge, to be useful in an extended sense, must be set to 

 work — and the scientific man can extend his usefulness by bring- 

 ing himself in contact with the practical men of our country — 

 and thus contribute to the elevation of a large majority of our 

 people who are now excluded from the benefits which science 

 might give them. Science has nothing to lose but everything to 

 gain by adopting this cause. We feel assured that this will be 

 done. America will yet work out successfully the problem, and 

 educated labor will stand pre-eminent among the advances secured 

 by our tree institutions. Instead of Elihu Burritt and Hugh 

 Miller being the representatives of this great class, men will be 

 found in every State, in every county, who will do honor to 

 science and to mankind; and then will our country demonstrate 

 to the world the great advantages which our institutions secure 

 over those of most other countries. Every friend to progress, 

 every well-wisher to the elevation of our countrymen in the walks 

 of education and science, will surely unite in this great work and 

 secure its complete triumph. 



In all the ordinary pursuits of our farmers, they have been 

 successful during the past year, and while some of their products 

 have diminished in value, others have risen; and the people at 

 large have occasion to rejoice at the prosperit}^ which reigns 

 throughout our State. 



The great competing fields of the Western States now open- 

 ing up the rich prairie to the farmer, will render it necessary 

 for our farmers to vary their system of operations; but they are 

 in time forewarned of this new^ competition, and will, it is be- 

 lieved, be prepared to meet it, without diminishing their returns 

 from the bountiful soil they cultivate. 



A somewhat extended examination of the Agricultural districts 

 of the State, has satisfied us that the improvements which are now 

 making in the farmer's dwellings, in the management of his 

 grounds, in the careful disposition of the farm itself in all its de- 

 tails, is much more extensive than at any former period. We 

 could point to instances, and those not a few, in every county 

 which we have visited, where neatness and order prevail, that can 



