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of Agriculture ? I will now proceed to present my own conclusions on 

 this subject, in connection with notices of the objections which are urged 

 against the culture of these plains. 



Is the soil adapted to cultivation ? The production, upon the plain 

 lands, every fifteen or twenty years of a heavy burthen of firewood, and 

 which sustains at the same time a massive growth of coarse herbage and 

 under bushes, so thick as in places to be almost as impenetrable as a Mex- 

 ican chapparal, would seem to conclusively attest the presence of a strong, 

 as well as quick soil. Every opening on the plains reveals a vigorous 

 growth of clover and other nutritious grasses, which spring spontaneously. 



The demonstration afforded by practical results furnish the strongest 

 evidence on the subject, and I will present a few instances in the actual 

 cultivation of these lands, from the mass of facts which I have collected 

 to illustrate the capacity of this soil for tillage. The soil of Flatbush and 

 the range of farms upon the south shore, which have been cultivated for 

 two centuries, and during that period have been esteemed the garden of 

 the State, and which are still distinguished for the exuberance and beauty 

 of their crops, exhibit the same elements of soil as the plains, and have the 

 same appearance, modified by culture and the application of manures. If 

 the land in these districts is susceptible of this high culture, and are made 

 equally productive with the choicest land in the State, we are justified in 

 the conclusion that soil in other sections of the Island, possessing the same 

 inherent qualities, may, by similar culture, be made alike valuable for 

 agricultural purposes. If, as I confidently assume the fact to be, the soil 

 of Hempstead and the Woodland plains has the same normal properties as 

 that of the other localities referred to, there can exist no reason why they 

 cannot receive the same productive improvement. 



We are not left, however, to mere conjecture and speculation on this 

 question. Practical results accumulate abundant testimony to the capabili- 

 ties of these lands for high and remunerative culture. The long succession 

 of farms which have been carved from the plains in North Hempstead at a 

 comparatively recent period reveal a high state of improvement. The lands 

 near Hempstead village, which have been absorbed by the process of en- 

 croachment I have mentioned, are now, lam assured, in as great fertility as 

 the portions of the same farms which for generations have been cultivated. 

 Mr. Harold informs me that records exist of harvests of winter wheat on 

 plain lands of thirty-four bushels to the acre, weighing sixty-two pounds 

 to the bushel, and from sixty to eighty bushels of shelled corn to the acre. 

 I saw myself in December, 1859, specimens of spring wheat raised by Mr. 

 Sammis on Hempstead plains, with an interval of only three and a half 

 months between sowing and harvesting, which yielded twenty-three bushels 

 to the acre. Mr. John A. Bedell received a premium from the Queens 

 County Society, and in competition with some of the choicest farms on 

 Long Island, for a crop of oats from one acre, two roods and eighteen rods, 

 measuring seventy-eight and one-fourth bushels and weighing 36 pounds per 

 bushel. This crop was also raised on plain land in the same year. It yielded 



