280 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
^jjrinrltarist* 
New-York, Wednesday, July 12, 1854, 
Expiring Subscriptions. —As we have before 
announced, the Agriculturist is sent no longer 
than ordered and paid for; so that any one re¬ 
ceiving the paper need not expect to receive a 
bill for it afterwards. With the last number of 
any subscription we send a notice that the time 
is up, or what is equivalent, we generally send a 
bill for another year. The bill is made out at 
the full price $2 a year. Those belonging to 
clubs will of course remit only the club price. 
—--♦ » a- 
THE GREAT RAILROAD SWINDLE. 
A LESSON TO CERTAIN FARMERS. 
Not twenty-five miles from New-York, two 
farmers are living side by side, whose history 
is quite instructive. To avoid wounding their 
feelings, we will substitute M- and P- 
for their real names. Mr. M. owns and culti¬ 
vates 130 acres, and Mr. P. 124 acres. When 
first occupied, these farms were both very fer¬ 
tile, and soon enabled the owners to pay for 
them, and afterwards, by economy, to have a 
surplus at the end of each year. Neither of 
these men were very penurious, but both wish¬ 
ed to lay by something for a “ rainy day,” and 
they planned their expenses so as to make a de- 
posite every year. Mr. M. annually invested a 
considerable sum in various stocks and bonds, so 
that two years since he had over $3000 in these. 
Being a little fearful as to the value of some of 
the securities, and wishing to concentrate mat¬ 
ters as much as possible, he determined to seek 
out what he tlirought the best and most prom¬ 
ising stock in the country, and invest the whole 
in a lump. He accordingly sold all his mining 
and railroad stock, and purchased 30 shares in 
the New-York and New-Haven Railroad, pay¬ 
ing therefor $105 per share, besides the stock 
brokers’ commissions, &c. His certificates he 
deposited in his chest, and felt really comforta¬ 
ble over the prospect of large semi-annual divi¬ 
dends, and the prospective increase in the value 
of so promising a road. Scarcely three months 
elapsed before the Norwalk tradegy cut off all 
hope of immediate dividends, but he held on to 
his stock, flattering himself that it would all 
come right by-and-by. Most of our readers 
have probably learned by this time, that the 
recently discovered fraud upon this railroad of 
some two millions of dollars, has reduced the 
worth of the shares to less than half their ori¬ 
ginal value, so that now farmer M.’s $3150 is 
probably not worth $1500. 
Let us now see how farmer P. stands. In¬ 
stead of trusting his hard earnings to specula¬ 
tors, he determined to invest them where he 
could keep an eye upon them. To this end, he 
set about a series of farm improvements. An 
old wet bog meadow, of nine or ten acres, he 
cleared up and drained at an expense of $150. 
For several years this has yielded him fifty per 
cent, dividend in increased value of the crops 
produced. Another year he expended several 
hundred dollars in stocking his farm with im¬ 
proved animals. These have since paid at least 
25 per cent, profit annually. The following 
yeai’S he expended all his surplus profits in 
draining, cleaning his land of stones, carting on 
muck, marl, and lime, plowing in clover and 
other green crops, buying improved implements, 
&c., and last year the nett profits of his farm 
were $530, while Mr. M.’s farm scarcely yielded 
$100 over expense of cultivation. While Mr. 
P. has a farm in first-rate order for yielding an¬ 
nually large crops, Mr. M.’s farm is in so low a 
condition that his whole railroad stocks will not 
half suffice to put it in as profitable a state 
as that of his more prudent neighbor. 
Our readers know how earnestly we have 
from year to year counseled these home in¬ 
vestments. Here is one out of many proofs 
of the correctness of the views we have ad¬ 
vanced. We may be allowed to add, that Mr. 
P. has been a constant reader of the American 
Agriculturist for eleven years, and in a recent 
conversation he stated that although he followed 
no man as a leader, and did not believe half he 
saw in agricultural papers, yet what he had 
read had been the means of suggesting many 
new ideas, and that he really believed that these 
suggestions, which had cost him less than 
twenty dollars, had indirectly been worth hun¬ 
dreds to him. 
-• * *- 
[EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE.] 
FARM SCENERY BETWEEN NEW-YORK AND 
LAKE ERIE. 
I.oder House, Dunkirk, N. Y., June 30, 1854. 
The train on which we arrived here before 
11 P. M., leaves New-York at 7 A. M. We can 
hardly recommend to our friends a more attract¬ 
ive route, for the same distance and time occu¬ 
pied in passing over it. Almost every variety 
of scenery is embraced in this one day’s travel, 
and all of it interesting and attractive. Passing 
over the Pontine marshes that beleaguer the 
Passaic and Hackensack, we rapidly whirl by 
Paterson, and soon enter the rural valley of the 
Ramapo. From this we emerge to the highlands 
of Chester, Goshen, and Middletown. From 
the latter, an unsurpassed view is opened to 
the east and south as far as the eye can reach. 
We noticed an addition to the suburbs since we 
last passed here, which indicates that some of 
our citizens have began to appreciate the beau¬ 
ties of this locality, and are seeking for health, 
pure air, and delightful scenery at a point more 
convenient and accessible, than others go much 
farther for and get less of either. 
Leaving Middletown, we soon reach the crest 
of the Shawangunk mountains, and descend 
rapidly to the precipitous and generally uncul- 
tivateable valley of the Delaware, along whose 
bold and jagged sides we scramble from Port 
Jervis to Deposite, a distance of nearly 90 miles. 
We then pass over at a high grade, a distance 
of 16 miles, the dividing ridge that separates us 
from the valley of the Susquehanna, which 
we first encounter at Lanesboro. Nothing is 
more bold and beautiful than the views we get 
of both these valleys as we descend towards 
them, stretching far northwardly, through re¬ 
ceding mountains on either side, covered to 
their summits with the lofty primeval forests. 
In this one respect do they resemble each other, 
for while the mountains descend for a consider¬ 
able part of the distance to the very edge of the 
former stream, the generally luxuriant valley of 
the Susquehanna expands—-always on one side 
and frequently on both, so as to leave ample 
margins for the cultivation of all the crops inci¬ 
dent to their soil and climate. A few miles 
brings us to a hamlet of recent buildings, which 
mark the junction of the railroad from Scranton, 
one of the new outlets of the Lackawana and 
Pittston coal fields, that now find a rapidly 
augmenting market in central and western New- 
York, through the Chenango and Chemung 
canals and their connections, and the Ithica, El¬ 
mira, and other roads. A little distance farther 
brings us to Binghampton, a beautiful place of 
10,000 inhabitants, at the junction of the Che¬ 
nango and Susquehanna. A little further on is 
Owego, a beauty-spot on the face of nature. 
Soon after passing Owego we leave the latter 
stream, but immediately strike its western tri¬ 
butary, and thence follow the Chemung, through 
scenery not unlike what we have just left, to 
Elmira, another town larger we should judge 
than Binghampton. 
The valley of the Canisteo comes next, and 
tributary to the Chemung which accompanies 
us to near Ilornersville and a slightly elevated 
ridge, skirting one of the head branches of the 
Genesee, thence over to Olian creek and its re¬ 
cipient the Allegany; thence leaping another 
barrier, the Cattaraugus gallants us on our way 
till we catch a glimpse of Lake Erie, and soon 
after we fall into the rim of her basin at this 
western terminus of the New-York and Erie 
railroad. 
Truly a grand and even national worlc it 
might properly enough be called, connecting as 
it does the vast inland seas of the West with 
the ocean on the East, through a distance of 
about 460 miles over mountain and through val¬ 
ley, at a cost of $40,000,000. We believe this 
is the longest continuous railroad yet finished, 
belonging to a single corporation, to be found 
in the world. The running time is excellent, 
the express trains accomplishing it in less than 
18 hours; and some little of the distance we 
ran eight miles in nine minutes. The equip¬ 
ments are faultless, the management excellent, 
and arrivals and departures prompt and up to 
programme. We were pleased to learn that 
the receipts of the road had largely increased 
within the year, which must however be seri¬ 
ously lessened by the grossly censurable con¬ 
duct of the engineers in their late rebellion. 
We cannot too much applaud the firm stand 
taken by the officers of the company on this oc¬ 
casion, for the safety of passengers against their 
present pecuniary interest; and we trust that 
a discriminating public will not fail to appreciate 
and reward by their patronage, a conduct so 
meritorious. 
Most of the entire region over which we have 
so rapidly passed, is grazing or meadow land. 
Corn, oats, and potatoes can every where be 
raised; but except in a limited portion of it, 
neither they nor wheat and barley can be raised 
with much profit. Grass every where looked 
well; corn and potatoes, though backward, had 
a healthy aspect, and with the recent rains and 
warm weather which have lately favored this 
region, their prospect is eminently encouraging. 
Some magnificent fields of wheat we noticed on 
the heavy loams of the Chemung and Conisteo 
valleys, and we have nowhere in the neighbor¬ 
hood of New-York or New-Jersey seen finer or 
more luxuriant corn, pole beans, &c., than in 
the gardens of Binghampton. 
Throughout most of this region, the finest 
fruits incident to the latitude are to be found; 
