Annual Report of the Commissioner of Agriculture. 213 



State. In those localities where the method has been put in 

 practice land values have been multiplied, while in sections 

 where farming is conducted on old-fashioned lines there has 

 been a steady decrease in the selling price of farms. 



Fruit culture is a prominent and remunerative feature of 

 modern farming. Products of the orchard, the vineyard and the 

 berry patch find a ready market, and fruit growers, as well as 

 producers of garden vegetables, are protected against loss in 

 case of overproduction by the demand of canning factories for 

 the surplus of their crops. There are many such factories in 

 this division, some of which send their products to all parts of 

 the world. They exercise a powerful influence in sustaining the 

 prices of fruits and vegetables. 



Great benefit results from the efforts of this Department and 

 the agricultural societies of the State to educate farmers in 

 everything which pertains to their calling. The State and local 

 fairs and the farmers' institutes are agencies of the highest 

 value for the dissemination of practical knowledge, and the 

 liberality of the Legislature in making appropriations for these 

 purposes is appreciated by the rural population. The agricul- 



i 



tural press also is doing valuable work in giving information 

 of every development of scientific and economic farming, and is 

 entitled to the cordial support of all who are interested in the 

 progress of agriculture. This year the farmers of this State 

 have been especially favored in the holding of the Pan-American 

 Exposition at Buffalo, where the exhibits of this Department 

 and of the National Department of Agriculture have been of 

 great educational value. 



One of the most striking results of the adoption of new 

 methods in agriculture has been the production of a scarcity of 

 farm labor never before known in this State. In spite of the 

 high wages offered it is impossible to obtain an adequate supply 

 of help, and this appears to be true in other States as well as 

 in New York. The labor problem is the most serious one which 

 now confronts the farmer. At the same time we read con- 

 stantly of the " army of unemployed " in the cities and of the 



