1835.] 



FARMERS* REGISTER. 



209 



prehend the wages, on each side of the Atlantic, 

 are again nearly upon an equality; I suspect too, 

 that, in the climate of America, there will be fewer 

 broken days in the year, or days entirely lost, 

 than in England, where storms and long contin- 

 ued wet weather, either prevent labor, or render 

 what is performed of little value. This refers 

 only to agricultural labor; mechanical labor bears 

 every where a much higher price; but with that I 

 have nothing here to do. 



The result of this inquiry is very different from 

 what I expected, and from the generally received 

 opinion; but, as it is a subject of so much conse- 

 quence, I paid every attention to it; and it is the 

 result of so many minutes, that 1 have little 

 doubt of the accuracy of it: wherever any inibr- 

 mation was of a dubious nature, it was not at all 

 noticed in this account. These wages are by no 

 means of that unreasonable nature, that they 

 should affect the prices of American produce, be- 

 yond what wages affect similar articles elsewhere; 

 and it confirms also what I have generally heard, 

 that in all the old settled country, there is no want 

 of hands to perlbrm the necessary demands of ag- 

 riculture, particularly in a climate, in which wet 

 or damps rarely occur, at a season when they I 

 would be injurious; or should they unseasonably j 

 occur, in which a brilliant sun would not soon ' 

 take away theix effects: this precludes the neces- 

 sity of employing numerous hands; or of that 

 expedition to which, in less favorable and more 

 precarious climates, it necessarily is had re- 

 course. 



"To what circumstance is it owing, that eight 

 bushels of wheat, raised by dear labor, are a pro- i 

 fitable crop in the central states? the fact is cu- J 

 rious." 



With the answer to this question, the rotation 

 and average of crops, the quantity of seed sown, 

 and quality of the grain, are naturally connected. 

 From the reply to the last query, it will be clear 

 that agricultural labor is not dear, or at least, not 

 so dear as to have any material effect upon the 

 price of the produce, beyond what labor will have 

 in this country; nor perhaps ought it to have as 

 much, since so little labor is bestowed upon it. As 

 I have hitherto done, I shall divide the country in- 

 to districts, according to the different descriptions 

 and circumstances of it, and shall begin with 



NEW ENGLAND. 



This is a grazing country, and applicable to the 

 rearing and feeding of cattle and sheep, producing 

 herbage in abundance, and of excellent quality: 

 no grain is ever exported from this district, and 

 very little is raised in it except maize, on which, 

 and on wheat imported from their neighbors at 

 New York, the inhabitants chiefly depend. The 

 plough is little resorted to, and consequently this 

 district can afford no material information on the 

 subject proposed; for that, we must look to 



NEW YORK. 



This state is undoubtedly the granary of Ame- 

 rica; and if America be, or is hereafter to be the 

 franary of Europe, that must supply by her re- 

 undancy the wants of the latter, this must be the 

 part that must do it. 

 The usual course of crops in this state, is as 

 Vol. Ill— 27 



follows: first year, maize; second, rye or wheat* 

 succeeded immediately by buckwheat, which 

 stands for seed; third, flax or oats, or a mixed 

 crop; then a repetition of the same, as long as the 

 land will bear any thing; after which it is laid by 

 without seed for old-field: or, burn the woods; 

 first, wheat; second, rye; then maize for four or 

 five years, or as long as it will grow; then lay it by, 

 and begin on fresh woodland: or, burn the woods; 

 wheat four or five years; then one or two maize, 

 or as long as it will grow; then laid by for four or 

 five years for old-field, without seed. A Dutch- 

 man's course on the Mohawk: first year, wheat; 

 second, peas; third, wheat; fourth, oats or flax; 

 fifth, maize: in his father's time, the produce of 

 wheat used to be twenty bushels per acre; but he 

 complained much, now that his land only pro- 

 duced ten bushels. The best rotation I met with, 

 was in Dutchess county, where it much prevails: 

 first, wheat; second and third, pasture without 

 seed; fourth, maize, or flax, or oats, or mixed 

 crop: in a good season this produced about fifteen 

 bushels, more commonly twelve. 



The land in tins county has great inclination to 

 produce grasses, the'pasture being therefore good, 

 and carrying, during the two years, a great stock; 

 the succeeding crops are tolerably good also. 

 Manure is rarely made use of; but what little is 

 collected is given to the maize, which requires 

 every support that can be bestowed upon it. 

 Maize is sown early in the spring, and stands till 

 October or November, growing most of the time 

 with great vigor; in the early part of the growth, 

 the plough is frequently used, going first along the 

 furrows, and then crossing them in the contrary 

 direction; and when it is grown too strong to ad- 

 mit an horse among it, hand hoeing is recurred 

 to. 



By so much" cultivation, the whole strength of 

 the Jand is thrown into this crop, which is one 

 cause of the wheat being so deficient in quantity, 

 and wheat, except in new land, eveiy where fol- 

 lows maize; another is, the slovenly manner in 

 which, in this succession, it must unavoidably be 

 sown; the wheat is sprinkled among the maize 

 immediately before the last hoeing; and as the 

 land is thrown up in hillocks by the horse hoeing, 

 the crop receives much damage from the weather 

 in winter, as well as drought in summer. 



Clover is just beginning to be cultivated, in 

 consequence of which, good pasture and plenty of 

 hay take place of old-field, and by the use of 

 gypsum, astonishing crops are obtained. 



A bushel of wheat or buckwheat per acre, is 

 the usual quantity of seed; rarely either more or 

 less, but as often one as the other. The average 

 produce of wheat in the state of New York, has 

 been stated to me by a very intelligent person, at 

 twelve bushels to the acre; which agrees with the 

 general opinion, and, I believe, is as high as it 

 ought to be stated. The average of Dutchess 

 county, which under proper cultivation would be 

 a most productive, as it is a most beautiful, coun- 

 try, at sixteen bushels: twenty bushels are every 

 where a great crop. The average of maize may 

 be twenty-five bushels: above thirty is a great 

 crop; that of buckwheat, which is very extensive- 

 ly cultivated, fifteen bushels. With a mode of 

 agriculture, as before stated, it is not to be won- 

 dered at, that the produce should be so small; and 



