FARMERS' REGISTER— AGRICULTURE IN NEW-YORK, &c. 



309 



THE ENCOUKAGE3IEXT OF AGRICULTURE IN 



JVEW*YORK. 



Circular« 



To the General Corresponding Committee of the 

 NeiD' York State jigricultural Society, in the se- 

 veral Counties of this State : 



Gentlemen — In February, 1832, an associa- 

 tion was formed, to improve the condition of our 

 agriculture. It was incorporated by an act of the 

 Legislature, the succeeding April, under the name 

 of the " New-York State Agricultural Society." 



The title, I trust, sufficiently explains its object; 

 and as tlie field of its labors is to be co-extensive 

 with the bounds of the State, it cannot fail to find 

 in every section of it, persons who will lend their 

 aid in advancing the interests of Agriculture, a bu- 

 siness in which seven-tenths of our citizens are di- 

 rectly engaged, and to which all owe their prospe- 

 rity. To make the labors of the association more 

 effective, they selected and appointed gentlemen in 

 the different counties as a general corresponding 

 committee, who were expected not only to commu- 

 nicate freely, with the parent society, upon sub- 

 jects connected with agriculture, but to aid in the 

 ibrmation of county societies, which would mate- 

 rially assist the State Society in the attainment of 

 its objects. The State Society do not presume to 

 act the part of instructers ; their great object is to 

 collect and embody the practice, observation and 

 experience of our most intelligent farmers, upon 

 subjects connected with the improvement of hus- 

 bandry, that they, through the press, may again 

 diffuse the information thus gathered for the bene- 

 fit of us all. The gentlemen who have been ap- 

 pointed as the corresponding committee in the se- 

 veral counties in this State, we trust have been no- 

 tified of their respective appointments, and we feel 

 confident they will discharge the duties to which 

 they have been called. 



Arguments, surely, cannot now be required to 

 prove the usefulness of Agricultural Societies. — 

 Simply to show what concentration of effort will 

 do to advance important interests, we will point to 

 what liible. Missionary, and Temperance Socie- 

 ties have already done in aid of the objects they 

 were intended to accomplish. Whilst they are ex 

 tending their labors to teach and enlighten the mo- 

 ral and religious community, and urge all classes 

 of society to the performance of imperative duties, 

 we farmers, who cherish and sustain all, may at 

 least take this lesson from them to advance the in- 

 terests of our peculiar vocation. That our culti- 

 vated land may, by improvement in husbandry, be 

 made to double, and in many cases to triple its pro- 

 duce, no intelligent man at this day will deny. — 

 This result, so desirable, cannot fail to be essenti- 

 ally aided by the labors of the institution we pro- 

 pose ; and as direct evidence of their utility, we 

 will quote a portion of a letter of the first Presi- 

 dent of the State Agricultural Society, who is now 

 in France, to its Corresponding Secretary, and 

 which may be found in its printed proceedings in 

 February last. He says: "The advantages of 

 these institutions are demonstrated beyond the 

 smallest doubt, by the considerable difference which 

 exists between those parts of the country where 

 they have none, and others where some of the best 

 organized societies have exercised their influence. 

 I could quote some of the finest parts of France, 



\yhere the establishment of a good Agricultural 

 Society has, within a very few years, doubled the 

 produce of the soil." 



In many of the counties in this State, societies 

 are now^ in successful operation. The coming fall 

 will witness in them the exhibition of domestic 

 products in all of its variety — which, while it will 

 excite to laudable emulation, cannot fail to o-ive an 

 impulse to Agriculture, w Inch must materially im- 

 prove it. It is hoped that those counties in which 

 societies have not been formed will follow these 

 good examples; and as they successively organize, 

 that they will favor the Corresponding Secretary 

 of tiie State Society with a copy of their consti- 

 tution. 



J. p. BEEKMAIV, 



Cor. Sec. N. Y. State ^g. Society. 

 Kinderhook, (Col. Co.) INIay 30, 1833. 



P. S. The Corresponding Secretary will be hap- 

 py to receive comnmnications on the subject of 

 Agriculture, and a copy of the constitution of those 

 county societies that are organized — if not already 

 sent. 



The foregoing circular letter, though addressed to the 

 farmers of New- York, is equally apphcable to those of 

 Virginia — and it is possible, (though certainly not proba- 

 ble,) that the example of tlie Legislature of our sister 

 State, may not be entirely lost on our own. The mea- 

 sures here announced are but a small part of what have 

 been favorably received as propositions at the last ses- 

 sion of the Legislature of New- York, and will proba- 

 bly be adopted, more or less modified, at the next. The 

 legislative committees, to whom were referred petitions 

 for aid to Agriculture, recommended the institution of 

 an agricultural seminary, and an appropriation of $100,- 

 000 for its endowment — and a general system of agri- 

 cultural societies, to be maintained at an annual expense 

 to the State of $25,000. When will the Legislature of 

 Virginia adopt any measure of this kind ? — or (it may 

 be more proper, first to ask) when will any member 

 dare to hazard the loss of his popularity, by making 

 such propositions ? We do not wish to be considered 

 as the advocates of these particular schemes, (of which 

 indeed we know very little,) or of any which require 

 such large and immediate expenditures. But we cannot 

 too higlily applaud the public spirit which prompts these 

 measures, for possessing which. New- York is more to 

 be envied, than for the wealth which enables that spirit 

 to operate. It is not to be expected that the first appro- 

 priations for such objects will be expended in the most 

 judicious or effectual manner ; but time and experience 

 will serve to correct early errors and mistakes, and point 

 out the best mode of promoting the great object, the im- 

 provement of scientific and practical agricultm-e. 



KAKAWIIA MARBLE. 



" There has been shown us a beautiful specimen 

 of native marble, obtained on the Elk river in this 

 county. It is of a light cream color, interspersed 

 with veins of pure w hite. Some parts of the piece 

 shown us were transparent, while others were 

 opaque. — It is susceptible of a fine polish. We 

 learn, that it is to be obtained in considerable quan- 

 tities, the extent not known." — [Charlestown 

 Banner. 



