2 
PLAN OF THE WORK. 
The first subject upon which I shall treat is the topography of the State, or those natural 
divisions which bear so strongly upon its agriculture. In this connection, I shall furnish 
all the important facts relating to temperature. These are both important subjects, and 
necessary to be fully understood for pursuing understandingly any system of farming, or 
for determining upon the introduction or the necessity of rejecting a particular crop. Espe¬ 
cially is it essential that all those who lead public opinion in matters of farming and 
production, as the officers and influential members of state and county societies, should 
know the country and its capabilities; and these capabilities can not be properly determined 
without an acquaintance with the surface of the country, with its exposures, its height 
above tide water, and its mean annual temperature. 
In the second place, I propose to treat of the rocks and their position, both geologically 
and geographically. The rocks are the parents of the present soil. It may not be that a 
single rock has produced an extensive soil of a particular character, but a combination of 
them has undoubtedly done so; and their debris will be found spreading widely, and 
giving character to extensive tracts of country. Admitting this view, certain inquiries 
would naturally grow out of it. What is the character of the soil, derived as we say from 
certain parent rocks 7 What are its elements 7 What changes will it undergo by cultiva¬ 
tion 7 To what crops is it adapted ; and when it loses its fertility, will the parent masses 
furnish the means of regenerating it, or of bringing it back to its original fertility 7 Many 
other questions of a similar nature would come up; but these are sufficient to show that a 
knowledge of the rocks, the parents of the soil, is important in agriculture. 
There are still other questions in geology which are full of importance to agriculture, as 
the following: How do the rocks lie in their beds ; are they vertical, inclined or horizon¬ 
tal 7 These are important points in the art of draining ; and in some localities, it is abso¬ 
lutely impossible to drain without this knowledge. In this connection, too, I might speak 
of fractures or dislocations, and of trap dykes ; as a knowledge of their existence is also 
important in the practice of draining. 
After having treated of agricultural geology, as it is termed, I shall proceed to the con¬ 
sideration of vegetable and animal products, their elements and their origin ; and of the 
process of nutrition and assimilation, subjects usually termed physiological. 
Lastly, it is my design to state what is known of the soils of New-York, their composi¬ 
tion, and their adaptation to particular kinds of husbandry. Probably few States possess 
a greater range of soils, or are so well adapted to so great a variety of productions. In 
fact, taken as a whole, it would be difficult to mark out upon the terrestrial globe a spot 
as large as New-York, whose capabilities of production come up to her standard ; whose 
general relations are so important; where there are so many great centres of business ; 
where there are so many and such large channels of wealth, and all flowing to one me¬ 
tropolis ; or, in fine, whose natural resources can come up to the full measure of this 
commonwealth. 
