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THE GENESEE FARMER. 



23b 





LANDS IN WESTERN N. Y. AND VA. -OOMPARA- 

 TE VALUE OF RICH AND POOH SOILS. 

 i:\ CALEDONIA, 

 Ms. :;•. EciTOKSV- in perusing the GrENBSEE 



iced a communication from a corres- 

 mt of Fairfax Co., Va., in which he Boli 

 New fork to ei 

 d ling West. The principal 



ned, are on the account of its i a: 3 

 s, 1 he low price of land, bli d 

 cultivated. 



n •■ those of these first, magni- 



r; '.'in i: matters very Irttl 



Is are located, that will not 

 tl n tl in the cultivator requires for 

 Hence a good and convenient market 

 it or utility, unless the lands will pro- 

 bej ond wh ilturisl « ishes 



I .; on the other hand a good and con- 

 the reatesl importance to 

 who have productive lands, which not only 

 intrinsic value, but renders them 

 alwat leabl ft does not augment the price of 

 unproductive land, by its being situated adjacent to 

 waters :ultural 



purposes: but those Sands which are easily wrought, 

 and on which good crops of all kinds grow in abun- 

 dance, the facilities to market make very desirable: 

 rly sought for, and will always com- 

 mand good prices. 



There are some men whose means are compara- 

 tively small, who think it injudicious and hazardous 

 ase our best and most preductiue farms and 

 pay a price corresponding to their productions, loca- 

 tion, Sic. They will buy third rate land because it 

 may be purchased for $20 or $30 per acre, and will 

 not involve them in debt but a few hundred dollars; 

 whereas, if they had bought the first quality of land, 

 every foot of which is, or easily may be, under a 

 high state of cultivation, it would make the debt as 

 . thousands. Now from which farm would a 

 judicious farmer extinguish the debt for his land 

 from the low priced or the other? The $20 

 farm in the first place has an inferior soil by nature, 

 and by tillage k lias becorno less productive than at 

 ' . therefore, in consequence of the uncertainty 

 or failure of a crop, the owner fails to pay even the 

 hundred dollar payment which is due — and in the 

 ncy of the erop, arising from the inferiority 

 and .1 ; ctiveness of the soil, it deranges his 

 irs, from which he seldom or ever 

 . rs. The farm which is highly cultivated, 

 can be relied upon; nothing to do but put in the 

 harvest and market them; no expense in 

 ing the land up, or in making repairs; every 

 towards the extinguishment of 

 been where two install- 

 mentf I paid of one thousand dollars each, 



from the productions of our' year, which will extin- 

 guish the. debt of sevei I thousand dollars in a few 

 . and bis farm growing belter. 

 In order to substantiate the above, I will state, 

 thai 1 am acquainted with a farmer in this town who 

 purchased a choice wheat farm some two years 

 The farm contains 96 acres of improved 

 land, and from € to 15 acres of timber. The pur- 

 chase money amounted to $13,100. There was 85 

 acres of wheat on the giound, which he harvested, 

 the sale of which amounted to $2,593 73 — reserving 

 105 bushels tor seed, and some 65 bushels for bread. 



The wheat was sold for 10s. id. per "bushel. The 

 barlej nd the wo< 



amounted to >r77 37; which constituted all the 

 for that year. The w h< ami ante to 



$2,76} 35. \\c kept an accurate account of all 

 exp< uses for the year, 1 3 87; 



this inductee farm labor of all kinds, mechanics' 

 bills, and family 1 • •. hich leavt 1 an 



from the farm of $2,237 18. And in addition to 

 this lie had 7() acres i I growing for the next 



season, and the cosl of putting this m is includ id 

 in the above expenses. The next i a he har- 

 vested 15 acres less of wheat, but obtained a b 

 yield. From the 70 a<-:vs he sold 2,006 bu 

 sowed 11 7| bushels, and kept for bread 67 bushete. 

 The wheat was sold for 9a. id. per bui 

 bushels barley «t 4s. ; 100 bushels corn al 4 .: and 

 332 lbs. wool at 38 cents per pound. The 

 for the second year were $2,634 92, and the ex- 

 penses amounted to $492 83— leating a balance in 

 favor of the farm of $2,1 t2 09. in the item of 

 expensei there is included the putting in of 80 i 

 of wheat which he has harvested the pn 



With this array of facte, which would be the most 

 advisable for a cultivator of the oil. with only a 

 few thousand dollars, to lay k out for a farm in this 

 healthy and productive country, where the markets 

 are convenient and good, or to goto Virginia and 

 purchase those cheap lands which are so impover- 

 ished, the productions of which at present but a little 

 more than pay for cultivation ? Some four or five 

 crops in this country will pay $55 or $65 pi r 

 and pay the expense of growing the sain". I think 

 I am justified in making the assertion that it will 

 require some four or five years to put those worn out 

 lands in Virginia under a tolerable state of cultivation, 

 and at tire same time it is attended with much labor and 

 expense. Caledonia, Liv. Co., A". F., *4vg., 1849. 



WIRE FENCES .-GROWING THORNS FOR HEDGES 



Messrs. Editors: — I see in the August number of 

 the Genesee Farmer a communication of F. K. Mil- 

 ler of Pa., recommending the setting of trees for 

 the support of Wire Fences.. I have hud a similar 

 Idea^^and would suggest, for that purpose, the use of 

 theChesnut, as the wire will not corrode within that 

 tree; and it may be continued through the whole line 

 of the fence, by merely boring a hole of the requi- 

 site size through the trees ively. Whether 

 Chesnut posts will answer the same purpose Iain not 

 certain, as I do not know whether the dry wood has 

 the same preservative effects on iron with the living 

 tree. 



I take the liberty of inquiring, if ft be in your pow- 

 er to inform me. what is tlie contractive effect on wire 

 of the cold of winter over the temperature of a hot 

 sun in summer: that is, how much a piece of wire 

 which is a rod long in the summer heat, will contract 

 in the cold of winter! and whether the inconven- 

 ience al the changes of temperature, may not 

 be obviated by spiral steel-wye springs, at stated dis- 

 tances, and at what cost ? 



11. EL, of Seneca County, in recommending our 

 ■ thorn for hedges, speaks of its ease of propa- 

 gation "by seed." I have planted a great many of 

 the berries or apples, but have never yet had one 

 to spring from them. What is II. R.'s system by 

 which he causes them to vegetate. L. — Tompkins 

 Co., JY. Y., Jlug., 1849. 



