COMPARISON OF SOILS. ^23 



YIII. A COMPARISON OF THE SOILS OF THE AGRICULTURAL DISTRICTS, 

 UPON THE BASIS OF PRODUCTIVENESS, AND THE QUALITY OF THE 

 CROPS. 



The comparative view which wo design now to piosont to tlie pulihc, rests, as will be 

 perceived, upon a basis whidi will furnish data whereby we shall be enabled lo judge of 

 the relative vahie of the different districts for the kinds of husbandry commonly pursued 

 in the latitude of New-York. This basis we may regard as entirely independent of the 

 results of analysis. It ought, however, to bring us to the same result. The two methods 

 should agree, and no doubt will do so, provided our data are sufficient. It is not supposed 

 that a few isolated comparisons will be sufficient for our purpose : the data must be 

 derived from entire districts. It is like those calculations which regard the duration of 

 life, the proportions of tlie sexes, etc., where communities or nations are concerned. It is 

 true, that in an extent of country no larger than the State of New-York, local causes may 

 give one place a preponderance for certain productions over some other part of the State, 

 which by nature is better adapted to their growth. Tlius, in the vicinity of the city of New- 

 York, some of the necessaries of life may be cultivated with profit, though the actual 

 expense there may be greater than at the distance of one hundred miles. We are lo liear 

 in mind, tiierefore, that the great cities, or, in other words, the markets, must control to a 

 certain extent many kinds of husbandry. But after all the deductions proper from consi- 

 derations of this nature, it will be found that staple productions are not controlled by any 

 one market : the general wants of the species control their cultivation and growth. 



It will be necessary to ascertain the average production of the different crops for the 

 whole State, and then the average of the same crops for the different districts. In con- 

 nexion with this comparison, it will be interesting to state the premium crops, by which 

 we shall know the present capaliilities of lands in the different j^arts of the Stale ; and 

 could we ascertain the amount of the crops raised from the early settlement of the country, 

 down to the present time, we should be able to calculate the loss which the soil has sus- 

 tained under cultivation, as well as the progress which the husbandry of the State has 

 made since its first settlement. 



The first product which we propose to consider, is wheat, a product which must ever 

 constitute one of the greatest and most important necessaries of life. Tlie whole quantity 

 of wheat raised in New-York, in 1S44 - 5, was 13,391,770 bushels. This amount was 

 harvested from 958,233 acres ; the average product, therefore, for the whole State, was 

 nearly 14 bushels per acre. We may now compare the product of the districts. In this 

 comparison we propose to leave out the Highland district, or rather to merge it in the 

 Taconic or Eastern district. 



Commencing then with the lowest geological system, which is geographically the most 

 eastern, we find that the several counties taken separately yielded as follows : Westchester 

 an average of 9 bushels per acre, Dutchess 5, Columbia 6, Rensselaer 8, and Washington 



41* 



