Vol. XVIII, Second Series. 



ROCHESTER, N. Y., DECEMBER, 1857. 



No. 12. 



have w£ made any progress in agr-jicultltre 

 durijsg the present year? 



It is difficult to answer this question. "That 

 which grows ma.kes no uoise." There are, according 

 to the last census, 118,435,178 acres of "improved," 

 and 184,596,025 acres of '• unimproved" land in the 

 United States. An improved system of culture, 

 that should increase the annual productiveness of 

 our farms one dollar per acre, could not be perceived 

 by the most careful observer, nor even by the farmer 

 himself, except from his account book; and yet, al- 

 lowing eighteen millions of dollars for the cost of 

 such improvement, it would add over one hundred 

 millions of dollars to the wealth of the nation. That 

 great improvement has taken place in individual 

 cases cannot be doubted, but that there has been 

 any general improvement may be questioned. Too 

 many farmers have been speculating in Western 

 lands, instead of cultivating properly their own farms. 

 American agriculture needs more capital, and had 

 all the surplus profits of farmers been invested in 

 judiciously improving their own farms, there can be no 

 doubt that the farmers themselves would have been 

 much more prosperous, and the country generally 

 would have sufifered far less from the commercial ca- 

 lamities which have overtaken us. 



We fear it must be admitted that we have made 

 very little improvement in out system of agriculture 

 during the present year. We do not agree with 

 those who are continually advancing the idea that 

 cmr soils are becoming exhausted by bad tillage. It 

 might easily be shown that such is not the case. The 

 first flush of fertility may have been removed, but 

 good cultivation and manuring will still enable our 

 farms to produce as much food for man and beast 

 as at any previous period. 



The wheat midge (Ceddomyia tritici) has been 

 a great drawback on agricultural profits and pro- 

 gress. This destructive insect is no new thing in 

 agriculture. In the Carse of Gowrie, Scotland, the 

 injury done to the wheat crop by it in 1827 was es- 

 timated at -SlOO.OOO, and in 1828 at $150 000, and 

 in 1829 at $180,000. But the farmers did not give 

 up wheat culture. They did not think that the soil 

 was exhausted. They devised means to mitigate the 

 eyil, and their farms are more productive and profit- 

 able to-day than ever before. We believe such will 

 be the case in this country. We have no fears that 

 wheat culture will have to be abandoned in Western 

 New York. The soil and climate of Western New 

 Yock-and Western Canada are particularly farorable 



lor the growth of wheat, and we greatly over-esti- 

 mate the intelligence, enterprise and practical .skill of 

 our farmers if they do not discover varieties sufficiently- 

 early to mature before the midge can materially in- 

 jure the crop, and also develope processes of culture 

 and manuring that shall tend to the same result. In- 

 agriculture we can adopt no impiovement but what 

 benefits us in more ways than one. In using means 

 to destroy weeds, we not only attain this object, but, 

 by rendering the inert matter available, we increase 

 the fertility of the soil. Underd raining, too, has a 

 plurality of good efl'ects. Its primary object is to 

 relieve the soil from excessive moisiure, but at the 

 same time it increases the temperature of the soil, 

 renders it more porous, and more easily worked; the 

 admission of air decomposes the organic matter, and 

 disintegrates the mineral matter of the soil, while 

 the rain water, as it descends to the drains, leaves its 

 ammonia and nitric and carbonic acids in the soil,, 

 ready to be taken up as wanted by the plants; the 

 cool, porous soil, too, condenses moisture, and with- 

 it ammonia from the air daring a drouth. Thus the 

 single operation of underdraining has a great variety 

 of beneficial actions. And so it is with ail agricul* 

 tural and horticultural improvements. We believe, 

 therefore, that in endeavoring to counteract the de- 

 structive influences of the midge, farmers will be led 

 to adopt systems of culture that will give greatly in- 

 creased crops. On many farms, the present year, 

 the "rust" proved as injurious as the midge, and for- 

 tunately, the means necessary to avoid the one will 

 also do much towards enabling us to avoid the other. 

 The same may be said of winter-kill, heaving, &c. 



If the midge shall cause us to till less land, and 

 cultivate it better, to sow only the best portions of 

 the farm to wheat, and to enrich them more, while 

 we are underdraining and otherwise improving the 

 low, wet and poor portions; if it shall cause us to 

 keep more stock, and make more and better manure^ 

 the midge will prove one of our greatest blessings. 

 To some extent it has already had this effect. Thought 

 the aggregate productiveness of our farms may have 

 fallen off during the present year, yet we are at least^ 

 making some progress in adopting an improved sys- 

 tem of cultivation, which will in the end greatly in- 

 crease the general productiveness of the land and the- 

 wealth and prosperity of the whole country. 



In the erection of neat and commodioua farm- 

 buildings, we a?e undoubtedly making commendable 

 progress.. Mu«h improvement is also manifested in; 

 the rem.oval of old, unsightly fences, and the substir 

 iatloa of those which Q(^ap; muich 1«3S land. Tbf 



