i 3 a THE NEW AGRICULTURE. 



funds under the guise of encouraging public improvements 

 is another matter. We merely observe that the granting of 

 government subsidies for the construction of railroads in this 

 country is now a past practice, which will probably never 

 be revived. The railroad was one of several stages in the 

 evolution of the transportation problem. To-day we are at 

 the beginning of a new advance. 



The whole people are waking to the incalculable value of 

 the highway and the canal, too long lost sight of in the won- 

 der of the iron road and the iron horse. While New York 

 holds an advanced position as regards her highways, she is 

 far in the lead as regards her canals. Her Legislature has 

 passed the necessary measure and her citizens have ratified 

 it by a majority of a quarter of a million votes to practically 

 rebuild the Erie, Oswego and Champlain Canals so as to 

 enable them to accommodate barges of 1,000 tons capacity, 

 while the locks are to be made of sufficient size to take care 

 of two of these craft coupled tandem at one lockage. 



Long before the Erie Canal was built the pioneers had se- 

 lected for themselves a water route of rivers, lakes and streams 

 by which they could almost cross the Commonwealth. It 

 is true that an immense amount of labor was involved in 

 getting their freight around falls and rapids, in transferring 

 from river to river and in heading fierce currents, but the 

 route served a most useful purpose and was largely used. 

 When the canal was built it failed to follow the pioneer's 

 course because of the difficulty of constructing dams and 

 locks along it, and particularly because of the impracticability 

 of edging it with a towpath, which at that time was an es- 

 sential part of every canal. 



The new canal will follow the old only in sections. For 



