272 ADDRESS. 



that under proper management, they may again be re- 

 stored to then* original fertility. 



In a late tour which I made through parts of New York 

 and New Jersey, I found many evidences of recent im- 

 prov^ement, and I doubt not similar ones abound in my 

 native State. In a part of Dutchess County, which 1 

 visited, the best farms have been sold, within my recol- 

 lection, with improvements and buildings, at from seven 

 to seventeen dollars an acre. They cannot now be 

 bought for one hundred dollars an acre ; and one was 

 sold last year at auction, without buildings, at one hun- 

 dred and thirty dollars an acre. Fifteen years ago, a 

 farm in western New York, of 400 acres, exhausted by 

 bad husbandry, was bought by a Scotch farmer for 

 $4000. This farm has been so improved by good hus- 

 bandry, that the owner was last year offered for it 

 $40,000. He refused the offer, upon the ground, that 

 it actually netted him the interest of §60,000, or $10 50 

 the acre. A farm was pointed out to me in New Jer- 

 sey, which was recently sold for seven dollars the acre, 

 and that was all it was said to have been worth in its then 

 condition. By a liberal outlay in draining, it being level 

 and wet ground, and in liming, manuring, &c., it is now 

 considered worth one hundred and twenty-five dollars an 

 acre. I went over another farm which a few years ago 

 was bought at the same price, and which now, on account 

 of the improvements which have been made upon it, is 

 considered worth one hundred dollars per acre. 1 am 

 informed on the best authority, that similar cases of the 

 rapid increase in the products and value of farn:^, conse- 

 quent upon an improved system of management, are to 

 be found in Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland. 

 Although these cases are isolated ones, they nevertheless 

 serve to show the practicability of vastly increasing the 

 value and products of our exhausted lands. 



Among the causes which have essentially contributed 

 to the deterioration of our lands, and the consequent 

 depression of our Agriculture, I consider the following as 

 prominent : 



Ignorance of the principles of Agriculture ; 



