244 AUTOBIOGRAPHY 



the Empire State has the best system of agricul- 

 tural education in the world. It should not be long 

 before that could be truthfully said of a State so 

 bountifully supplied with noble streams and 

 forests, arable soils and salubrious climate; and 

 with a population of intelligent people possessing 

 unbounded means for carrying on commerce, 

 manufacture and trade, and for producing the 

 great abundance of commodities which make them 

 possible. 



Dean L. H. Bailey has said that practically half 

 of New York State is still in woods, swamps and 

 waste a conservative estimate. Add to this the 

 possibility of doubling the yield per acre and we 

 have a possible output from rural endeavor only a 

 little short of $1,000,000,000 annually. And 

 this too, figured on the prices received and the 

 quantities of products produced as long ago as 

 1899. This work lies at the very door of the 

 agricultural college, the academies and the other 

 agencies mentioned by Professor Pearson. One 

 of the pioneers in agriculture has predicted, I be- 

 lieve, that it will not take more than fifty years to 

 reach the billion-dollar mark. In fifty years of 

 my life I have seen as great change and advance- 

 ment in the means of communication and transpor- 

 tation, and in the comforts and luxuries of the 



