Report of Boaet) of General Managers. 55 



empire containing seignories of wild beasts, or coverts for banditta and a 

 refuge for criminals." Or still more sweeping in its flight and penetrating 

 in its vision was the oratory which discerned in the Great Western canal 

 a stronger tie than that of a national compact, and which hailed it as 

 destined to secure and consolidate forever the union of these States. 

 " Thus," in the words of William Bayard, of New York, " our republican 

 institutions will be preserved, the example of a representative government 

 founded on the people's will, be maintained in its pristine purity, and the 

 once fond wish of the patriot be realized, in the unsullied perpetuity of 

 our Constitution." 



When the Erie canal was constructed, the agriculture of New York 

 was flourishing, and her western counties were still but partially redeemed 

 from the virgin forest. The canal rendered possible and profitable the 

 settlement of the valley of the Ohio, and the process of Western com.- 

 petition, which was then begun, has ended by making it unprofitable to 

 pursue the course of crops and husbandry on which New Yorkers throve 

 sixty years ago. Nevertheless, we shall be able to demonstrate to the 

 world at this Columbian Exposition that our agricultural products are 

 greater in quantity and more varied in kind than those of any other State in 

 the Union. New York is preparing a display of cereals whose quality will 

 challenge comparison with any ; it has over a hundred varieties of grasses 

 to place on exhibition, and its hops, tobacco, hemp and flax will make to 

 every intelligent observer a most impressive show. It will contribute its 

 full share to the live stock exhibit, and its dairy products will be presented 

 on a scale commensurate with their magnitude and excellence ; the sugars, 

 the syrups, the honey, contributed by the State, will not lack adequate 

 representation. The exposition will be plentifully embellished by the 

 most beautiful specimens of its gardeners' art, and the enormous pro- 

 portions and value of its fruit culture will be made plain to the dullest 

 apprehension. It is not generally known that, leaving out the fruits of 

 Florida and California, the orchards of the State produce more than those 

 of all the other States combined, and that in money value to the grower 

 the grape crop of California must yield to that of New York. Even the 

 nutritious and fortifying bean, from whose consumption a neighboring 

 Commonwealth is supposed to derive so much of its characteristic mental 

 and physical activity, is peculiarly a New York product, two or three 

 counties of our State growing as much of it as all the rest of the country 

 together. 



I venture to hope that the striking exhibit that will be made of our 

 diversified agriculture will not be lost on those New York farmers who 

 have not learned how easy it is to escape the ruinous competition of the 



