GENESEE WHEAT. 57 



with bread for ten days, and purchasing 7,518,000 bushels. 

 Massachusetts, though having a larger area than Connecticut, 

 raised only 34,000 bushels, which, ground to powder, was suf 

 ficient to give the inhabitants of the State bread enough for 

 breakfast and dinner, but not enough for supper. 



The people of this commonwealth purchase 20,300,000 bush 

 els of wheat. Rhode Island raised 733 bushels of wheat in 

 1869, and purchased about 3,000,000 per annum. The six New 

 England States together purchase in round numbers, from 40,- 

 000,000 to 50,000,000 bushels of wheat, and quite as much of 

 the other grains, or in round numbers 100,000,000 bushels of 

 grain. 



The early farming of the Hudson and Mohawk valleys owed 

 much to the Dutch element which preponderated in the popu 

 lation. Neat stone walls, clean fields, well built houses for 

 families, and substantial barns for stock, were common before 

 the Revolution. Wheat and all the cereal crops gave abundant 

 returns; orchards throve, and flocks and herds multiplied, while 

 the climate permitted the culture of more delicate fruits than 

 that of New England. As cultivation progressed in a westerly 

 direction, the growth of wheat became more and more profit 

 able; this again received an immense stimulus from the opening 

 of cheap water communication between the great lakes and the 

 Atlantic. Genesee wheat and the flour of the Rochester mills, 

 became a synonym for perfection of breadstuffs. The great 

 Genesee valley, and countless less noted spots along the head 

 waters of the Delaware and Susquehanna, poured a flood of 

 plenty toward the sea-board. 



Manufactures flourished, as also inland commerce; while the 

 system of internal improvements consumed the labors of a 

 vast army of foreign emigrants. The forests disappeared be 

 fore the greedy locomotives, or were wasted by accidental fires. 

 The averages of cereal crops perceptibly diminished. The 

 weevil appeared, at first in isolated and limited districts, but 

 ere long it became impossible to grow wheat with profit be 

 tween Lake Ontario and the southern line. The southern 

 counties resorted to dairying and stock farming; those nearest 

 the metropolis, to market gardening to a considerable extent; 

 until gradually all the benefits of a diversified industry were fully 

 manifested. Cattle breeding has received a large share of at 

 tention. The memorable cattle sale at which the eighth 



