10 MR. stone's address. 



food, 48,503 tons hay, and dairy, orchard, nursery, and garden 

 products to the vahie of $289,457.* These statistics give 

 you a bird's eye view of the extent of the agricultural operations 

 of our country, though its resources are not a twentieth part 

 developed, — and justify the exalted position I have claimed 

 for rural pursuits. 



It will be impossible, on an occasion like the present, to con- 

 sider all the topics connected with the great subject of agricul- 

 ture, and in which every enlightened farmer is presumed to be 

 interested. From the mass, I shall select only a few, and these 

 I must necessarily treat with brevity. I begin with Manure. 

 This is a vital element of good farming. Our soils in these 

 Northern regions, are too sterile to return a fair remuneration 

 for labor without it ; and yet it is too costly, to warrant, un- 

 der ordinary circumstances, extensive purchase. The farmer's 

 policy, then, is, to manufacture it. This may be done in two 

 ways — by the aid of stock, and by the compost heap. One er- 

 ror of many farmers in this county is, that they do not keep 

 stock enough, and unwilling or unable to buy manure, they 

 sell more matter off their farms than they bring on — a process 

 that in a few years impoverishes the land, and diminishes the 

 crops. Another is, that they neglect, very extensively, 

 (though there has been of late years a decided improvement in 

 this regard) to use the materials easily accessible, to increase 

 their store. I venture to affirm, that with properly construct- 

 ed barns, such as may be found on many excellent farms in 

 this county, a just proportion of stock, and due care to keep 

 the barn-yard and piggery well supplied with materials, that 

 the sink, out-houses, bog-meadow, forest, sea shore, clay bank, 

 corners of the field, and the roadside afford, every farmer may 

 double the quantity of his manure without materially increas- 

 ing the cash expenses of his farm. Where it is practicable, the 

 wash of the road shoidd be turned into the field, to enrich the 

 soil. I have been shown a piece of mowing, laid down fifty 



*The census of 1840 gives the follpwing returns:— 3,281 bush, wheal; 28,044 bailey; 

 19,309 rye; 3,268 buckwheat; 166,861 corn; 437,790 potatoes; 61,882 oats; 48,503 

 tons hay; 12 tons Hax and hemp; 17,726 lbs. wool; 12 lbs. silk; Dairy products 

 $193,808; orchards ^63,642; market gardens $10,216; nurseries 5:21,791 



