AGRICULTURE IN THE STATE OF NEW-YORK. 



553 



AGRICULTURE IN THE STATE OF NEW-YORK. 



Mr. KiNNE, from the Com7nitlee on Agricul- 

 ture in the New-York Assembly, has made a 

 Report to the Legislature on so much of the 

 Governor's Message as relates to the Farming 

 interest The Report strongly recommends the 

 State Agricultural Society to the favorable no- 

 tice of the Legislature — believing, as the Com- 

 mittee do, that through the instrumentality of the 

 Society a great improvement has taken place in 

 the practice of husbandry generally, in the 

 breeding of cattle, and in the production of but- 

 ter and cheese. The Report speaks well of the 

 annual Fairs — of the favorable results of the 

 sales of improved stock — of the Farmers' Clubs, 

 and of the annual volume of the published 

 Transactions of the State Society ; but they are 

 opposed to the State founding an Agi'icultural 

 College or purchasing and sustaimng an Exper- 

 imental Farm. The following remarks we 

 deem applicable to other States as well as New- 

 York : 



An abundance of statistical facts might be ad- 

 duced, showing conclusively that, while the 

 farmer of New York has been growing rich, the 

 fertility of her soil has been gradually but cer- 

 tainly diminishing. The fertility of a soil is 

 usually measured hy its capacity for growing 

 wheat. Taking this as a test, it is but too evi- 

 dent that we have not overrated the fact that the 

 fertility of New- York is diminishing. Wheat is 

 rarely raised in the older Counties of the State, 

 and in the fertile west the annual average per 

 acre is diminishing. Many of the Counties of 

 llie State, formerly wheat growing Counties, 

 have of late years found that barley was a more 

 certain and profitable crop, and they are, conse- 

 quently, gradually abandoning the culture of 

 wheat. 



It is becoming known to the more enlightened 

 aLrriculturists that the former ruinous practices 

 of husbandry have conlnbuled to the constant 

 and annual removal from the soil of those pecu- 

 liar elements which are necessary to secure the 

 erowth of ■wheat. To the great mass of our 

 fanners, the doctrines of a well-founded Agri- 

 cultural Chemistry are neither known nor ap- 

 preciated. The enlightened statesman, there- 

 fore, who is anxiously looking after those causes 

 which affect the prosperity of the common- 

 ^vealth. must see, in this view of the subject, the 

 ab.solute necessity of adopting a policy which is 

 prejudicial to no one, and which may be bene- 

 ficial to all. 



There are many practices in use by our farm- 

 ers that should be improved, if the case is with- 

 in the reach of jiossibility. To select one out of 

 many, we will mention that of ".summer fallow- 

 ing '' for wheat. Can this practice be aban- 

 doned ? If it can. the importance of correcting 

 this habit will be evident to every one ; for, by 

 abandoning this questionable practice, one en- 

 (1141) 



tire crop of grain will be saved to the farmer 

 and the communitj', and, while the farmer's 

 profits are thus increased, the price of bread 

 will be cheapened to the jjoor laborer. 



The community will never come to a right or 

 a sound conclusion upon this subject until the 

 teasibility of this plan is tested by so many con- 

 tributors to the transactions of your Agricultural 

 Societies, that there will be no reason to doubt 

 the accuracy and the truth of their conclusion.% 

 nor until the full knowledge of all the details of 

 the various expei-iments shall have been had in 

 every liamlet and neighborhood of your entire 

 State. 



We might multiply instances that tend to 

 prove that both the art of farming and the farmer 

 will be alike improved by the course pointed 

 out, but we forbear. 



The prosperity of the farming community of 

 the Slate of New- York will ever be an object of 

 the deepest interest to her legislators. There 

 are cau.ses now at work which will sharply af- 

 fect that prosperity for weal or woe. Should" any 

 cause materially depress the price of wool, and 

 thus compel the farmers over a large portion of 

 the State to seek in some other kind of hu.sband- 

 ry a remuneration for their labor and capital 

 employed, then will our agricultural interests 

 be depres.sed below a point which they have not 

 reached in the worst of times. That the wool- 

 grower will have to contend, ere long, with ad- 

 verse circumstances, is more than probable. — 

 The ea.se and facility with which wool can be 

 raised on the pampas of Brazil, and upon the 

 prairies of the Western States, will, sooner or 

 later,_ seriously affect that interest. Should this 

 prediction be verified, adversity will compel 

 the wool-grower of New-York to pay close at- 

 tention to the breeding of animals which will 

 clip the largest fleeces of the finest wool, and 

 those that can be raised and sustained in the 

 cheapest possible manner. 



The Agricultural Society have not been blind 

 to this stale of things, and the course thev have 

 pur.sued has contributed most materially to the 

 introduction of valuable breeds of sheep into 

 this State. The Committee hope the Society 

 will continue to encourage, by their wi.se poli- 

 cy, the exhibition of sheep from other States at 

 their annual Fairs ; for it is only by comparing 

 carefully these animals, when "placed side by 

 side, that perfectly correct conclusions can be 

 arrived at. The State of New-York has a deep 

 interest in the thorough investigation of this 

 subject. 



A large portion of our State is yet in its native 

 forest, nor can we reasonably hop* that these 

 waste lands will soon come under cultivation 

 unless they are required for grazing. The but- 

 ter and cheese dairies of the State are at pre.scnt 

 receiving fair encouraffement. It is not proba- 

 ble that their prosperity will be soon or seri- 

 ously atiected. Should they receive from any 

 cause, either foreign or domestic, a farther stim- 

 ulus, its tendency will be to bring more of the 

 wilderness of New-York into succes.sful cultiva- 

 tion — a result most heartily to be desired. We 



