70 ANNUAL REPORT OF NEW-YORK 



1835 9,655,426 



1845 _ 11,757,276 



1850 ._ 19,119,084 



1855 26,758,182 



The land in use includes all that belongs to the farm, whether 

 in wood or under cultivation. If the figures of the last census 

 be true, it would appear that there are less than three millions of 

 acres of land in the State yet to be brought into use. 



The land brought into use during the last thirty years has 

 nearly quadrupled, yet it does not appear that any crop or kind 

 of stock has increased in an equal ratio. Thus in 1821 we had 

 1,215,049 head of neat cattle, and in 1855 there w^ere but 

 2,105,464. Of horses, in 1821 there were 262,623, and in 1855, 

 568, 700. A most remarkable change in our stock is in regard 

 to sheep: in 1825 there were 3,496,539, and in 1855, 3,207,024 

 — nearly 300,000 less than thirty years ago. But in 1845 w^e 

 had 6,443,855, there having been a steady gain from 1821 to 

 that date. From that year they have steadily decreased, so that 

 the loss in the last ten years has been 3,236,858, and the decrease 

 in the quantity of wool produced is not far from five millions of 

 pounds. As this great decrease has been in the fine wooled 

 breeds, it is evident that wool growing in this State has ceased 

 to be a profitable branch of general farming. This decrease 

 in sheep is the more remarkable from the fact that the crop 

 of wheat has also very largely decreased — so much so, that 

 our State can no longer be classed among the wheat exporting 

 States. 



In 1840 we produced 12,286,418 bushels of wheat, and in 

 1845 the product was 13,391,770 bushels. From that year it 

 declined till 1855; the product of spring and winter wheat was 

 only 9,092,402 bushels, and the product of the past year proba- 

 bly did not exceed six millions of bushels. In our spring crops 

 there has been no material change, except in corn. This crop, 

 perhaps the most important growth upon the earth, has been 

 rapidly increased during the past fifteen years. In 1840, there 

 were 10,972,286 bushels, and in 1855 there were 19,290,691 

 bushels. 



We find when we turn to the dairy statistics, that the tendency 

 of our farming has been in the right direction. In 1845 we had 



