THE GENESEE FARMER. 



337 



FARMING ON" LONG-ISLAND. 



Lot AX SiMiTiT, Esq., writes to tbe Journal of the 

 JVew York Stale Agricultural Society as follows: 



"I thought that perhaps a little sketch of Long- 

 Island, its farms, prospect of crops, &c., would be some- 

 what interesting. 1 therefore embrace the present 

 opportunity to give you some detached account ol' 

 this island, part of which I have learned from my 

 own personal observation, and partly from informa- 

 tion from persons living here. It would be in vain 

 to attempt to give any thing like a full account in a 

 single communication: therefore I shall only speak of 

 a few things, in a detached manner. 



" Long-Island has long been considered, by people 

 living in this State, as one of the most beautiful as 

 well as productive places in this 8tate. It has long 

 been celebrated for its thrifty farmers as well as their 

 hospitality. These remarks I believe will hold good 

 at the present day, so far as my experience goes, 

 which, by the way, is not very great. I have not 

 visited the whole island, but have seen farmers living 

 in nearly every part of it where agriculture is carried 

 CD, and, so far as a mar. can judge from appearance 

 and information, I conclude there is no great differ- 

 ence in practice, except in the different locations, as 

 to the kinds of produce raised. Those living conven- 

 ient to the cities and large towns follow gardening, 

 while otliers living remote, depend mostly on raising 

 the cereals. There need not be a surprise that there 

 is so much land on this island uncultivated, when we 

 take into consideration the fact that a large portion 

 of the young men engage in sea-faring business. 

 This class seldom come bade on the farm, unless they 

 amass a fortune in their business, which is frequently 

 the case, and then many of them settle down on farms. 

 Quite a large number have settled down on farms in 

 difi'erent parts of the island within a i'ew years. 



"The whaling business has long been carried on 

 from the different sea-ports around the island, with 

 good success. Cold Spring, Greenportand Sag-Har- 

 bor, are the principal. The latter is far the most ex- 

 tensive. In speaking of farms and agriculture now, 

 I shall mostly confine myself to the east end of the 

 island, where I have the most of my information from; 

 also where I have had the best chance for personal 

 observation. 



" I shall commence my remarks on farming with 

 Southold, a pleasant village situated about 90 miles 

 east from New-York, and five miles west from Green- 

 port — the Long-Island railroad connecting these two 

 places. This raih-oad runs a few rods north from the 

 village, with a depot called Southold near it. This 

 ■village consists, mostly, of farmers — dwelling some- 

 what detached — extending nearly half a mile in 

 length. There is a post office, and -store, foundery, 

 and a few other mechanic's shops; three churches, an 

 academy, a district school and one select school. The 

 dwellings are mo.stly of modern dimensions, quite uni- 

 form in appearance, only a stoiy and a half high, sid- 

 ed with shingles ; there are, however, a few excep- 

 tions. There are two lawyers living in and near the 

 place; one of them is a practical farmer. This village 

 is situated about one and a half miles south from 

 Long-Island Sound, and about half a mile north of 

 Peconic Bay. 



"The land here is nearly level: the farms arc, 

 mostly, quite small — many of them contuimng onlj 

 from 20 to 2.5 acres of improved land; and small as 

 the farms are, I am told most of those farmers not 

 only support their families in the best manner, but 

 many are laying up money besides. Every thing 

 about them shows thrift and wealth. The soil ia 

 mostly sandy and light, and is only kept up by con- 

 stant manuiing, most of wjiich that is used, except 

 that made in the barn yard, is inade from collecting 

 sea-weed that drifts along the shores of the bay, 

 which is quite extensive. This weed is collected and 

 carted home and put in the hog-pens, and there man- 

 ufuctured into the richest mamire, by that useful ani- 

 mal. Very great dependence is made on the manu- < 

 facture of this kind of manure. Beside barn-yard 

 and hog-pen manure, large quantitifs of fish are 

 caught, called mossbonkers, which are said to be very 

 fertilizing to lands. Formerly they were thrown in- 

 to pits that were dug and slightly covered with earth, 

 till they rotted, and then applied 1o the corn in the 

 hills, or if for wheat, it was scattered broadcast over 

 land, before sowing, and then plowed or harrowed in. 

 I am told that, latterly, they scatter the fish over the 

 field, for corn, after it is up, and work these in by 

 the plow and hoe while attending the corn. 



" In addition to the above named manures, some 

 are using guano. Samuel Vail, PiSq., who has had 

 many years experience with Long-Island farming, in- 

 forms me that the land produces far better crops now 

 thai^ it did 30 or 40 years ago. Formerly their wheat 

 crops did not average above fifteen bushels per acre, 

 while at the present time the yield is from twenty to 

 thirty bushels, and corn in about the same ratio. He 

 told me that in 18.52-3 he raised over thirty-six bush- 

 els per acre of wheat. With both these crops he 

 used guano — about 400 lbs. per acre — sown broad- 

 cast and plowed in: thinks he never raised quite as 

 heavy crops from any other manure: thinks 300 lb& 

 of guano, per acre, sufficient for a crop. The present 

 season the wheat crop will fall considerably below the 

 average of the last two years. The straw was struck 

 with rust and shrunk, which injured the crop very 

 materially: as to the amount the crop has diminish- 

 ed I have heard no estimate made. The corn crops 

 look remarkably fine, and promise the husbandman 

 an abundant yield; the weather is quite dry, but the 

 crop does not suffer by it," 



FINGER AND TOE IN ROOT CROPS. 



We give below part of an article contributed by 

 Prof. BucKMAN to the Journal of the Royal Agri- 

 cultural Society of England. His observations arc 

 based upon experiments with Wild Roots — Pastina- 

 ca saliva (pu'snip) and Dancuscarota. (carrot), which 

 were continued through three crops. After speak- 

 ing of the process of culture he says: 



Still the pi-ogress with the carrot as well as the 

 parsnip was quite sufiicient to show that it is within 

 any one's power to renew both of these plants in a 

 cultivated form from wild specimens by acting in con- 

 formity with the physiology of their growth; in short, 

 as will presently be'.-hown, not by growing them in 

 soil suitable for them as wild plants, hut by co7istant- 



