HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE 71 



forded by the State to the English manorial and 

 social system. 



The Colonial assembly of 1683 established twelve 

 counties: IVew York, Richmond, Kings, Queens, 

 Suffolk, Westchester, Dutchess, Orange, Ulster and 

 Albany, and these included the present area of Rock- 

 land, Putnam and part of Columbia, and at the west 

 of Albany all the Mohawk Valley country as far as 

 any jurisdiction was claimed. 



Tryon County was set off from Albany in 1784 and 

 embraced all central and western Xew York and out 

 of its territory more than a score of counties were 

 created directly and many others ultimately. Its last 

 remnant became Montgomery County. Herkimer 

 County, named after General Herkimer, the first 

 chairman of the home defense committee of Tryon 

 County, was set off from the latter, and from it 

 Onondaga and other counties were formed in 1788. 

 This region was largely comprised within the ]\Iassa- 

 chusetts Military tract of 600,000 acres lying be- 

 tween the Oswego and Chenango rivers, acquired 

 from the Indians by the treaty of Fort Stanwix in 

 1768. From it the counties of Onondaga (1817), 

 Cayuga (1817), Seneca (1816), Cortland (1808) and 

 parts of Tompkins (1817) and Oswego were carved. 

 Madison was created in 1806 and Oneida in 1816; 

 Broome County was formed from Tioga in 1806. 

 In 1779 all western New York beyond Seneca Lake 

 was included in the one county of Ontario, and at 

 that time had a total recorded population of only 

 1084 persons. 



