Ill 



accommodations. This is a day for the adoption of farm 

 machinery, yet few are found who are preparing their 

 land to work it advantageously. There seems to be ;i 

 o-eneral waitins; for inventive 2:enius to turn out some- 

 thing that can of itself overcome all obstacles in our 

 small, rough, and many-sided fields. The number of ap- 

 ple trees reported, 294,184 may have surprised you; in- 

 deed, you hear farmers say apple culture has been car- 

 ried to an excess in this County, and does not pay, but 

 you find few orchards that could possibly take the Soci- 

 ety's premium. A large portion of the trees are along 

 the road side, by division walls, scattered here and there 

 about the fields, exposed to the full blast of every wiiKl, 

 in the way of mower, rake, tedder and plough ; while 

 many are past maturity or in premature decline from 

 neglect or bad culture. Such as they are, there are not 

 two trees to an inhabitant, and if the population increas- 

 es, and trees decline at present rates, we shall soon im- 

 port largely of winter apples, even in fruitful seasons. 

 You may talk about the markets, and the fact that a 

 large portion of our citizens would be obliged to migrate 

 or starve if limited to the present products of the Coun- 

 ty, excites no surprise, nor does it appear to create any 

 enthusiasm for raising more to sell. You notice many 

 farms for sale, and only now and then a purchaser, and 

 you seldom meet a young man Avho has an earnest de- 

 sire to become a farmer. Land, where there is no ex- 

 pectation of selling for houselots, independent of the in- 

 creased cost of buildings, does not sell for much more 

 than it was worth forty years ago. Perhaps no one 

 thing awakens more surprise, as you approach a large 

 city or town, than the amount of waste and poorly culti- 

 vated land in its immediate vicinity. Enter those cities 



