188 [Assembly 



The per centage of our taxes, I do not now recollect. My own is 

 $56.23, upon seven hundred and forty-three acres of land, capable of 

 producing the return specified in my report. 



Our road tax exceeds all other?, including those for the support of 

 the poor, and for educational purposes. 



Our schools are supported from the State Fund. In this county, 

 we have seventy-four districts ; each receives $160 per annum. The 

 city of Wilmington has a population of 10,000, and by consolidating 

 districts, requires but $250, in addition to the monies received from the 

 8tate, for the support of their schools. 



Letter from Romulus Gildersleeve, of Penn Yan, President of the 

 Yates county Agricultural Society. 



The circular of the American Institute, announcing a National Con- 

 vention of farmers, &c., was duly received. 



The receipt of this circular, being very near our annual fair, I con 

 eluded not to call a special meeting, but present it at that time. 



What our society will think best to do, it is difficult to say. There 

 is but little spirit manifested among the majority of our farmers. The 

 wealthy hold back, and the minority in wealth are anxious to sustain 

 such annual gatherings as your proposed convention, for the diffusion 

 of knowledge calculated to advance the agricultural interests of the 

 country. There is wealtli enough in the county of Yates to make it 

 surpass any other county, as it dees already in the staples, wheat and 

 wool — according to the census of 1840. 



In soliciting me, the Institute calls upon the wrong person to de- 

 scribe accurately the progress of agriculture in its various branches ; 

 tut " what is every body's business is nobody's." I am nought but a 

 hard-fisted farmer, and among the poorest, having little means to carry 

 to perfection what I wish to do. This county, as you are doubtless 

 aware, occupies the northern part of Ontario, of which it formed a 

 part until 1827. Not more than one-half was then considered a wheat 

 growing district, the remainder hardly fit for grazing. The outlet of 

 Crooked Lake furnishes water for inexhaustible hydraulic purposes. 

 This stream is capable of propelling machinery almost every rod for 

 six miles. Besides this, there are several smaller streams, upon which 

 sawing is done four or five months in the year. This county consists 



