AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
344 
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- LiAjiBwawiBam. - 
CAYUGA LAKE AND ITS ENVIRONS. 
Aurora, Cayuga Co., N. Y., Feb. 1, 1855. 
Editorial Correspondence. 
There are few more attractive farm loca¬ 
tions in the United States, than are to be' 
found in central New York, upon the borders 
of those beautiful lakes—the Cayuga, the 
Seneca, the Canandaigua, the Crooked, the 
Skaneateles, and the Owasco. These vary 
in length from eleven to forty miles, and 
from nearly four to less than half a mile in 
width. On both banks the land rises in a 
gentle slope for several miles, the ascent 
being generally about one hundred feet to 
the mile. It is upon these slopes that we 
find the farms referred to. The natural fer¬ 
tility of the soil has enriched the proprietors, 
and enabled them to beautify their home¬ 
steads and add to their attractiveness by 
neat and tasteful dwellings and out-houses, 
and by surrounding them with appropriate 
gardens, shade-trees and shrubbery. 
We are now looking out from the window 
of one of these rural mansions—that of Mr. 
Thos. Gould—situated near the village of 
Aurora, and back from the lake just one 
mile. Within our present view, perhaps fif¬ 
ty of these farmer’s homesteads lie spread 
out upon the opposite bank of the lake. We 
have looked upon this scene at midsummer, 
when the fields of waving grain, the green 
herbage of the pastures, and the foliage of 
the clumps of forest-trees which intersperse 
the landscape presented, perhaps, a more 
grateful aspect; yet the thick mantle of spot¬ 
less snow that now covers all the eye can 
behold, is a bright and beautiful sight. The 
view at this season calls to mind the real 
comforts only known to the farmer. With 
his barns, granaries and cellars well filled, 
his wood-shed stored with well corded piles 
of prepared fuel, his stock well housed, he 
spends his days and nights in comparative 
leisure, free from the anxieties and cares 
that trouble and harrass his city brethren— 
his days occupied with attendance upon his 
horses, cattle, sheep, poultry, &c., and his 
evenings in reading, visiting, going to lec¬ 
tures and meetings, or around the fireside 
with his family in social conversation, or 
discussing the merits of a basket of Green¬ 
ings, Spitzenbergs, Baldwins or Swaars. If 
he does not enjoy life, who does ? 
Last evening we met, by invitation, a com¬ 
pany of just such farmers, at Spririgport, six 
miles north of this, and occupied an hour in 
throwing out various hints upon the best 
means of improving upon the present meth¬ 
ods of cultivating the soil, and preserving 
and using manures. To-night we are to do 
the same in this village. We find the farm¬ 
ers here waking up to the importance of be¬ 
coming better informed in regard to their 
occupation. Agricultural books and peri¬ 
odicals are rapidly increasing in the extent 
of their circulation. Improved implements 
are coming into more general use. The 
better breeds of animals are supplanting the 
less profitable natives and mongrel herds. 
On our way to this village from the Rail¬ 
road depot at Cayuga, we entered into a lit¬ 
tle conversation with the driver of the stage, 
who appeared to be somewhat intelligent, 
though perhaps not fully up with the most 
advanced themes of “ book-farming.” Pass¬ 
ing by the residence of a farmer, (Mr. W. R. 
Grinnell,) he remarked that “ that man had 
made no money at farming, because he ex¬ 
pended all the proceeds of his farm in drain¬ 
ing, manures, &c. He did not believe he 
had a dollar more on hand than when he first 
came upon the farm.” 
But we soon found out, from our inform¬ 
ant himself, that this same farmer had actu¬ 
ally made several thousands of dollars. By 
a judicious system of improvements, he had 
so improved much of his land, that with the 
same labor and expense in cultivation, he 
now obtains double the amount of crops 
formerly produced, so that for all practical 
purposes his land has doubled in value, and 
indeed its market price is now about double 
what it cost the present owner, and nearly 
double what it would have been had he not 
made these improvements. This is but one 
of a multitude of instances which go to prove 
that the best investment for the surplus pro¬ 
ducts of a farm, is in the farm itself; and 
further, that the amount of money laid up 
by the farmer is not always a true indica¬ 
tion of the profitableness of his labor. Eve¬ 
ry dollar added to the value of the land, is to 
be set down to the profit of the labor ex¬ 
pended upon it. 
Among others in this vicinity, we may 
mention Mr. Thomas Gould, who, though 
but a young farmer, is making considerable 
effort to advance the cause of agricultural 
improvement in his neighborhood, through 
the instrumentality of farmers’ associations, 
lectures, improved stock, &c. He has quite 
a number of valuable animals, which we have 
just examined with no little pleasure. One 
of these is a fine three-year-old Black Hawk 
stallion. Mr. G. says he has refused two 
thousand dollars for him, finding it more 
profitable to keep him for home use, espe¬ 
cially so, as the farmers in this vicinity are 
making no little effort to introduce a better 
class of roadsters. He has a three-year-old 
Durham bull, which took the first premium 
in his class at the last New-York State Show. 
He has nine Devons, including a two-year- 
old bull, bred by Mr. Lewis G. Morris ; five 
young breeding cows, and three autumn 
calves. The pedigrees of the six older ani¬ 
mals are given in the second volume of Da¬ 
vy’s Devon Herd Book. One of the breed¬ 
ing cows—a three-year-old—is a very supe¬ 
rior animal. Mr. Gould is also breeding 
Leicester sheep, Suffolk swine (from Mr. 
Morris’s importations), several varieties of 
poultry, Madagascar rabbits, English ferrets, 
Guinea pigs, &c. 
The coldness of the weather and the depth 
of the show, prevents our making many ob¬ 
servations upon the farms in this vicinity, 
but we hope to visit this section of the coun¬ 
try again, at a season when we can better 
make observations upon the soil, produc¬ 
tions, and methods of farming. The drouth 
of the last season diminished the crops here 
as elsewhere, but the prices now obtained 
more than counterbalance the loss from this 
source. Wheat delivered at the villages 
along the Cayuga lake now brings $2 to $2 
12i per bushel. We saw several loads of 
oats sold to-day for half a dollar per bushel, 
of 32 lbs. As the lower part of the lake is 
frozen, these and other grains must lie upon 
the hands of the purchaser until the opening 
of lake and canal navigation in the spring. 
A short outlet from the lake into the Erie 
canal enables boats to load at any point on 
this lake, and go direct to New-York with¬ 
out transhipment. 
ITALIAN RYE GRASS-20 TONS TO THE ACRE 
Mr. Moore, President of the Monongahela 
Valley Agricultural and Horticultural Soci¬ 
ety, referring to the account we copied from 
an English paper, page 131 of our present 
volume, of the story of 20 tons of rye grass 
having been grown to the acre, asks if it 
would be half as productive here. We will 
answer that we do not believe it would be, 
or even one-quarter so productive in our dry 
climate. 
When we copied the article alluded to, we 
prefaced it with cautionary and explanatory 
remarks, and left our readers to infer, that 
we had no faith in this great story. Since 
this, the account has been carefully sifted 
in England, and it turns out that the grass 
ivas not cured into hay , but that it was weighed 
green and wet, and the amount of dry hay it 
would make guessed at! Mr. Caird, who 
gave an account of this great yield, before a 
large assembly of highly respectable farmers 
at Mr. Mechi’s annual agricultural gathering 
last summer, has been much censured for 
it, and we think very deservedly. -It is time 
such stories of incredible yields of grass, 
grain, &c., were put an end to in the agri¬ 
cultural community, and that accurate, well- 
attested weights and measures alone be given 
hereafter. All know that if grass be cut 
during a wet day and lies a short time, ab¬ 
sorbing the falling rain, that it may weigh 
twice or thrice as much as if cut on a dry 
day. Now who knows whether those 20 
tons guessed at, were cut on a dry or wet 
day 1 
With respect to rye grass in this country, 
it is no better than good common American 
rye for pasture, and not so good as wheat. 
We have tried them all effectually, side by 
side. 
Ray grass is sometimes confounded with 
rye grass among us, but they are entirely 
different. The latter is a perennial, and 
yields a good annual crop, though not equal 
to American orchard grass. The former 
grows up rank and tall, like rye, but bears 
cutting better. Some kinds are annual, oth¬ 
ers are biennial. 
