' GTPSUJi, SALT, Lc, 29 



article for that purpose, for the table, and for pre- 

 serving fish and meats, is immense. Gypsum 

 rises every year in public estimation, and I am 

 told that during the late war, the farmers of Sara- 

 toga and Dutchess counties would go to the gyp- 

 sum beds of Madison and Onondaga counties for 

 a supply, a distance of 150 or 200 miles. To 

 shut out the foreign suppl}^ of gypsum and salt, 

 would be a great saving to the public in every 

 sense of the word : and this will be most effectu- 

 ally accomplished. 



A horse can easily draw 25 tons on a canaL 

 This would take at least 20 teams for land trans 

 portation. The conveyance of commodities by 

 water will supersede the use of an animal for 

 draught, which is the most voracious and waste- 

 ful of the graminivorous class of brutes. Two 

 beneficial consequences will result, and in a most 

 extensive manner. 1st. The diminished demand 

 of horses for domestic accommodation, will enable 

 a greater exportation to foreign markets : and 2d. 

 Their place will be supplied by neat cattle, sheep, 

 swine, and poultry, which will be increased in 

 proportion to the augmented stores of grain and 

 grass for their benefit. It has long been anxious- 

 ly desired by good agriculturists to substitute the 

 ox for the hoi'se in farming, and though this has 



partially succeeded in the eastern states, yet the 



C 



