HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE 63 



claim about 1790. Welsh came into lower Oneida 

 County, Scotch and Irish into Otsego and some 

 Scotch into Genesee, French filtered into northern 

 New York and the St. Lawrence Valley from lower 

 Canada. Some Germans settled in western New York 

 from Pennsylvania. The different nationalities came 

 somewhat in successive waves. After the Revolu- 

 tionary War, many German and English soldiers re- 

 mained as settlers, and Yankees from New England 

 took up the confiscated Tory lands, such as those of 

 Sir William Johnson in the Mohawk country. After 

 Sullivan's expedition into western New York in 1779, 

 many of his soldiers returned to that region as set- 

 tlers. After the early stocks came the Irish in the 

 early part of the nineteenth century, many Germans 

 in the middle, and Poles, Hungarians and Italians 

 in the latter part. All these have been distributed 

 widely wherever large public works have been con- 

 structed, and they have remained in those regions to 

 enter more permanent industries, including agricul- 

 ture. The early settlements of different nationali- 

 ties and religions soon became so much intermingled 

 that there is now very little evidence of the persis- 

 tence or domination of the peculiar agricultural cus- 

 toms of any one group. Perhaps the inclination of 

 the Germans to establish small farms is one such 

 custom. (See Fig. 14.) 



On the whole, the various nationalities and the dif- 

 ferent religious sects have blended their customs and 

 have developed a general tolerance quite character- 

 istic of the New World. 



