2f!S Gypsum. 
GYPSUM, OR PLASTER OF PARIS. 
To Chancellor Livingston is owing the introduction into New 
York, and the common use of gypsum or plaster of Paris, as a 
manure. About the year 1789, he began to make experiments 
on his own farm, and succeeding, he communicated his results to 
the farmers of the State. And in a few years he had the satisfac- 
tion of seeing it generally used. It is this chiefly which has 
given New York its present primary station among the United 
States. The lands upon our Hudson river were fast deteriorating, 
having been worn out by constant tillage. On this account, the 
inhabitants of this district of country were fast removing into the 
more unsettled parts of this State, or more generally into some of 
the new States. But the seasonable introduction and use of plas- 
ter of Paris renewed our worn out lands, and brought them back 
to more than their original fertility. The depopulation of our 
State was prevented. Emigrations from other States were 
made into it; and New York, which in the year 1790 was only 
the fourth in population, and in 1800, only the third, at the last 
census in 1810, was the largest population of any in the Union. 
But it not only made our inhabitants numerous, it made them in- 
dustrious, prosperous and rich. The gypsum was the true philo- 
sopher's stone, which had been so long sought for. It turned 
every thing it touched into gold. 
To Chancellor Livingston this State is further indebted for the 
introduction of the Merino breed of sheep, and for the general 
emulation excited among our farmers to rear and improve these 
valuable animals. The introduction of these was a consequence 
of the Chancellor's mission to France, and must be of the greatest 
and most decisive advantage to the United States. Already its 
effects upon our manufactures have been seen. The most affluent 
among us now feel proud to wear and to exhibit the fruit of our 
infant manufactures. The American farmer feels a conscious 
greatness and independence, when he can appear clad in the vest- 
ments wrought by the hands of his sisters, or wife, or daughters. 
But above all, the real patriot sees and rejoices that our future 
dependence on foreign manufactures can be no longer asserted; 
and that our national wants can be supplied from our own inter- 
nal resources, whenever the true policy of the government may 
require the measure. These are the consequences of the introduc- 
tion of the Merino sheep. For ever honored by his county be the 
man, who obtained the golden fleece, and returned with it to our 
shores; who has declared a second independence for our country. 
— Eulogium by T. Clowes. 
