COMPARISON OF SOILS. 
323 
VIII. A COMPARISON OF THE SOILS OF THE AGRICULTURAL DISTRICTS, 
UPON THE BASIS OF PRODUCTIVENESS, AND THE QUALITY OF THE 
CROPS. 
The comparative view which we design now to present to the public, rests, as will be 
perceived, upon a basis which will furnish data whereby we shall be enabled to judge of 
the relative value of the different districts for the kinds of husbandry commonly pursued 
in the latitude of New-York. This basis we may regard as entirely independent of the 
results of analysis. It ought, however, to bring us to the same result. The two methods 
should agree, and no doubt will do so, provided our data are sufficient. It is not supposed 
that a few isolated comparisons will be sufficient for our purpose : the data must be 
derived from entire districts. It is like those calculations which regard the duration of 
life, the proportions of the sexes, etc., where communities or nations are concerned. It is 
true, that in an extent of country no larger than the State of New-York, local causes may 
give one place a preponderance for certain productions over some other part of the State, 
which by nature is better adapted to their growth. Thus, in the vicinity of the city of New- 
York, some of the necessaries of life may be cultivated with profit, though the actual 
expense there may be greater than at the distance of one hundred miles. We are to bear 
in mind, therefore, that the great cities, or, in other words, the markets, must control to a 
certain extent many kinds of husbandry. But after all the deductions proper from consi¬ 
derations of this nature, it will be found that staple productions are not controlled by any 
one market: the general wants of the species control their cultivation and growth. 
It will be necessary to ascertain the average production of the different crops for the 
whole State, and then the average of the same crops for the different districts. In con¬ 
nexion with this comparison, it will be interesting to state the premium crops, by which 
we shall know the present capabilities of lands in the different parts of the State ; and 
could we ascertain the amount of the crops raised from the early settlement of the country, 
down to the present time, we should be able to calculate the loss which the soil has sus¬ 
tained under cultivation, as well as the progress which the husbandry of the State has 
made, since its first settlement. 
The first product which we propose to consider, is wheat, a product which must ever 
constitute one of the greatest and most important necessaries of life. The whole quantity 
of wheat raised in New-York, in 1844-5, was 13,391,770 bushels. This amount was 
harvested from 958,233 acres ; the average product, therefore, for the whole State, was 
nearly 14 bushels per acre. We may now compare the product of the districts. In this 
comparison we propose to leave out the Highland district, or rather to merge it in the 
Taconic or Eastern district. 
Commencing then with the lowest geological system, which is geographically the most 
eastern, we find that the several counties taken separately yielded as follows : Westchester 
an average of 9 bushels per acre, Dutchess 5, Columbia 6, Rensselaer 8, and Washington 
41* 
