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Dr. Peck, Mr. Bridger and other gentlemen, have supplied me with much 

 valuable information in reference to the practical management of these 

 lands, which seems to be combined in the following conclusions. Rye or 

 buckwheat, in a fair yield, can be relied on upon the new land without 

 manure. Mr. Bridger remarks : "sow with buckwheat, with a dressing 

 of one hundred and twenty-five pounds of Peruvian guano, or twenty 

 bushels of shell lime, or ten to twenty bushels of bone chips ; plow the 

 crop under ; sow again, if practicable, with buckwheat if not with rye ; 

 seed with clover, plow under one good sward of that, and you are all right." 

 " Corn, potatoes, or indeed any crop may be obtained by using three or 

 four hundred pounds of Peruvian Gruano, at three cents per lb., or five 

 hundred pounds fish guano, at one and a half cents, or fifteen thousand 

 fish, at $1 per M. To produce hoed crops successfully, some stimulating 

 manure is necessary. The best I have tried is, first, barn-yard manure ; 

 next, bone dust, lime, salt and ashes mixed together, are good ; gypsum 

 also succeeds, although science may condemn it in a marine atmosphere. 

 Clover, however, will be the great agency in bringing the land into good 

 condition, and that can be produced here equal to any section of the 

 country. 



Gardens and Orchards. — The course of discussion which I have pur- 

 sued has led me to examine the plains in reference chiefly to their capabili- 

 ties for agricultural purposes. A still more desirable and lucrative occu- 

 pation of this land, will be found in its appropriation for gardens, orchards, 

 and the smaller fruits. A warm and quick soil, a genial climate and moist 

 atmosphere, combine to eminently adapt Long Island to these pursuits. 

 The plains are no exception to this remark. Two years ago I visited a 

 peach orchard in the vicinity of North Islip Station, then just planted. 

 In the season of 1858, it yielded an abundant harvest of the choicest fruit, 

 and the orchard now exhibits a healthy and vigorous growth that can no- 

 where be excelled. Numerous other experiments with the peach, pear, 

 cherry, apple and plum, have met with equally successful results. I saw 

 young apple trees on the grounds of Mr. Bridger which bore the second 

 year from the nursery. These, and trees of other fruits, disclosed a heavy 

 growth of twenty inches to three feet, last season. 



The blackberry, raspberry, and other small fruits, flourish on this soil in 

 a vigorous and luxuriant growth. The strawberry is equally prolific and 

 succsssful. The culture of the low or swamp cranberry, is a novel but 

 highly interesting feature in the horticultural industry of the Island. The 

 experiment of Mr. Young and its eminent success, has attracted much 

 attention to this subject, and there is every indication that this culture will 

 be widely extended and become a lucrative pursuit. The ground occupied 

 by Mr. Young for this purpose, is at Lakeland, in the central part of the 

 Bush plains. The cranberries he cultivates, are procured with trifling ex- 

 pense along the margins of the swamps in the vicinity where they grow 

 spontaneously, and in great profusion. He planted in the year 1856, about 

 one-third of an acre of plain land to the cranberry, and in the autumn of 



