62 



THE NEW AGRICULTURE. 



in our State. Two of them, to wit : Messrs. Truman and Hyde being 

 physicians, while Messrs, Wilcox, "Windus and Norton are among the 

 most successful of Allegany farmers, the latter at this time President 

 of the county club. Hon. B. F. Langworthy, widely known in Alle- 

 gany and adjoining counties as a gentleman of rare enterprise 

 and intelligence, one of the most substantial and successful of Alle- 

 gany farmers, came about the same time, and making careful ex- 

 amination, pronounced the new agriculture the way to success. It 

 was the year before, that Mr. J. F. Langworthy came, and about 

 the same time also Mr. D. C. Hopkins, of the Almond Fruit 

 Farm, both of whom formed favorable conclusions touching the in- 

 fluence of subsurface irrigation on fruit trees, as shown by the sin- 

 gle apple tree left standing on our grounds at the time trenching 

 was begun. 



On the first of July, 1885, the "Home on the Hillside " was visited 

 by Dr. J. P. Roberts^ now of Ithaca, N. Y., who has in charge the 

 University Farm, at Cornell, N. Y., an agriculturist having a na- 

 tional reputation. Layman, as we are, though having faith amount- 

 ing to sight in our system, we felt nevertheless, a trifle anxious 

 lest this most eminent of farm doctors might discover defects in 

 our system as to the conformation of soils, methods of fertilizing, 

 or in other particulars of a serious nature, hence we were especi- 

 ally gratified, when he uttered his opinion as follows : 



" Yes, Mr. Cole, you do all you claim to accomplish ; you gather 

 the waters into your reservoirs and pass them through the soil 

 rather than leaving them to run riot along the surface; you trans- 

 form this hitherto shunned and dreaded hardpan into soft, porous, 

 productive and best of soils to the depth of your trenches, thereby 

 enabling the roots of vegetation to descend deeply into the earth. 

 You remove the stone operating as obstructions and diseasing the 

 roots of plants, and put them where they will do most good; you pro- 



