258 



GENESEE FARMER. 



Nov. 



Agriculture of New York. 



Dr. Lee — Dear Sir: I have been lately look- 

 ing over and examining Vol. I. of Prof. Em- 

 mon's Agricultural Report, being Part V of the 

 Natural History of the Stale. The eyes of many 

 who have been waiting for this part of Prof Em- 

 MON'slabors, expect from his erudition, his careful 

 observation, and his well known skill in analytic 

 chemistry, a valuable acquisition to the agricul- 

 tural literature of the day ; and we have not 

 been disappointed. Tlie volume presented is 

 every way worthy of his fame and an honor to 

 the State, which authorized the work and pub- 

 lished it. It ought, in some form, to be in the 

 hands of every practical agriculturist of the State. 

 it is a source of regret, that being published as 

 it is, in uniformity with the other volumes of 

 Natural History, and especially, distributed as it 

 will be, so very h\\ copies will reach that class 

 of our fellow citizens the most to be benefitted 

 by its information. 



It is not my intention to go into a careful nor 

 extended review of the whole work. This is 

 not my province ; I leave that to the able edi- 

 tors of agricultural journals. I shall content 

 myself with looking over the table of contents, 

 and bringing the work before the numerous 

 readers of your valuable paper. 



Our author, after giving a sketch of the to- 

 pography of the State, divides it into six agricul- 

 tural districts; and this division is not arbitrary 

 nor fanciful, but has its origin in nature. These 

 divisions are — 



1st. The Highland Districts, one and by far 

 the largest, lying in the north east part of the 

 State ; extending from I^ittle Falls to the north 

 eastward as far as Lake Champlain. Some parts 

 of this district are so elevated that water freezes 

 in small pools every night in the year. Its ag- 

 ricultural resources, as one might suppose, are 

 very limited. Oats, peas, barley, rye, and 

 wheat may be raised in the valleys. The two 

 first are constant crops. The other highland 

 district lies partly in the counties of Rockland, 

 Putnam, and Westchester. It is of not much 

 importance. 



2d. The Eastern Agricultural District extends 

 north and south along the borders of Vermont, 

 Massachusetts, and Connecticut, to the Hudson 

 River Valley. Corn grown in this district the 

 Professor thinks the best in the State — owing, 

 he also thinks, to the magnesia of the soil. 



3d. The Third District comprises the Valleys 

 of the Hudson and Mohawk, Here are rich 

 alluvial bottoms, and the hills are fine grazing 

 lands. 



4th. The Western District. Beginning near 

 the Little Falls, it extends West to Lake Erie ; 

 and from Lake Ontario southward to about the 

 middle of Cayuga and Seneca Lakes. This is 

 emphatically the Wheat District. 



5th. The Southern District. It embraces the 

 southern counties from Lake Erie to and inclu- 

 ding the Kaatskill range, and the counties of 

 Delaware, Greene, and Otsego. This is a gra- 

 zing district. 



6th. The Atlantic District. This compre- 

 hends Long Island with its sands and light soil, 

 the latest gift of Ocean. 



Whoever has traveled much through the State, 

 will acknowledge the correctness of these in the 

 general outlines. It is perhaps as good as could 

 be made. Founded as it is upon Geological sub- 

 stratum, would not our future committees on 

 farms, in the State Agricultural Society, do well 

 to recognize it, in offering their premiums ? It 

 is quite apparent that a farm located on the rich 

 gypseous shales of the Onondaga Salt Group, of 

 the 4th District, would in a report overtop the 

 farm located on the primitive formations of the 

 1st or Highland District. The suggestion is 

 thrown out for what it is worth. 



Chap. Ill is occupied with the climate and 

 temperature of the State. It is worthy of con- 

 sultation by all or any who d^esire to change 

 farms from one part of the State to another. — 

 From it we learn that, in Western New York 

 we have as enviable a temperature as is to be 

 found in the State. Our seasons are longer 

 than in any other portion, save the Atlantic Dis- 

 trict. 



Chap. IV is devoted to Agricultural Geology. 

 Chap. V to the Taconic system. Nearly fifty 

 pages are occupied with this. The vexed ques- 

 tion as to the relative position and age of the 

 rocks grouped in this system, the Professor learn- 

 edly discusses, and we might reasonably con- 

 clude too much room has been occupied by it. 

 It is a matter of more interest to the grouper of 

 rocks, than the herder of cattle or grower of 

 wheat. 



Chap. VI the Professor devotes to the New 

 York system. Here he succinctly gives us the 

 combined labors of his able coadjutors. From it 

 much valuable information may be obtained by 

 all practical men. 



His concluding chapter (VII) he devotes to 

 the soils, their origin and distribution ; their ele- 

 ments, classification, and temperature, he ably 

 discusses ; their composition and analysis he 

 dwells largely upon, though not so largely as 

 we could desire; yet from the material furnish- 

 ed full as much as could be demanded. One is 

 led to wonder that so few persons forwarded to 

 him samples of soil, iri answer to a circular sent 

 to the farmers of the State. Indeed, he tells us 

 that not one answered it, and he was compelled 

 to visit different sections of the State for this 

 purpose. 



In his preface he candidly confesses that he 

 was among those who doubted the utility of anal- 

 yzing soils ; but experiment and observation 

 have wrought a change in his views. The im^ 



