1850, 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
363 
ces the killing of noxious plants and in other instances 
the convenience of doing the work at a season when 
the farmer has more leisure, and his team is, per¬ 
haps, in a better condition to labor, and may be kept 
at less expense than in spring. 
As to the destruction of insects, such accurate ex¬ 
periments have not, so far as we know, been made, 
as would show the advantages of fall plowing in this 
respect. It may be remarked, however, that worms 
prepare themselves for winter by descending into 
the earth, more or less,- and if, after they have fixed 
themselves in their position, they are turned up to 
the air, while the weather is so cold us to prevent 
their motion, it is reasonable to suppose that before 
spring many of them would be killed. It is thought 
that this has been favorable to the destruction of 
wire-worms, which are generally most prevalent on 
deep soils, and those of a mucky character, though 
they sometimes do much injury on clays. 
Witch grass, a couch grass, ( Triticum repens ,) 
may be to some extent destroyed by plowing just at 
the setting in of winter. Those who have had ex¬ 
perience with this pernicious grass, know how 
great a nuisance it is, and how difficult to eradicate. 
To destroy it by frost, the ground should be plowed 
deeply in ridges. The plow should run, if practica¬ 
ble, to the bottom of the roots, that they may all be, 
as much as possible, exposed to the air and frost. 
The rains will wash out much of the earth, espe¬ 
cially in sandy soils, leaving the roots bare, and the 
alternate freezing and thawing in this situation, 
will deprive many of them of vitality. 
Notes of a Tour in Central New-York. 
Analytical Laboratory, Yale College, 1 
New-Haven , Conn., October 8th , 1850. ) 
Messrs. Editors —-Having been both interested 
and instructed, by a recent visit to some of the een- 
tral districts of your State, I propose to give you in 
this, and perhaps one or two succeeding letters, 
some of my impressions relative to the present agri¬ 
cultural condition, and the capabilities, of that re¬ 
gion; together with such suggestions on points 
where improvements seemed desirable, as may pro¬ 
perly be made in your columns. 
The occasion of my visit, was a series of invita¬ 
tions to address the agricultural societies of the 
counties of Wayne, Seneca and Ontario, at then- 
annual fairs, upon some subjects connected with 
scientific agriculture. These fairs coming near 
together, in point of time, I was able to accomplish 
the whole in less than two weeks. 
Commencing regularly at the beginning of my 
tour, my first visit was to Wayne county. This 
county has within two years, adopted the plan of 
dividing its fairs. The county is long and narrow, 
and a single fair at one end is not attended largely 
by people from the other end; even from both ends 
to the middle, it is something of a journey in the 
absence of railways and steamboats. Owing to 
these circumstances the effect of the new system 
has been excellent. The same officers have the di¬ 
rection of affairs at both places, and theirs is the 
only extra duty connected with this improvement, 
for such it has been found to be. Now that the 
fair is brought into their immediate neighborhood, 
people begin to take an interest who never thought 
of such a thin g b efore; and moreover the rivalry 
which has sprung up between the different ends of 
the county has stimulated each section to a great in¬ 
crease of exertion. I was assured that either fair 
is now better than the central fair used to be, and 
that more money is raised at each one now than was 
formerly obtained from the whole county. Such 
facts are encouraging, and point out the wisdom of 
bringing these exhibitions near to the doors of the 
farmers in order to draw them out; when once en¬ 
gaged, they are commonly very ready to keep on. 
I was present at both fairs in this county, the 
first being held at Clyde. Here and at the other 
places which were visited, I was under great obli¬ 
gations to the officers and members of the societies, 
who drove me about the county in various direc¬ 
tions to a great extent, and who also aided in every 
way the obtaining of information. 
From Clyde I made a day’s circuit of nearly 40 
miles, in company with Mr. Joseph Watson, the 
excellent president of the Wayne county society. 
Our journey was through a section of the county 
which is for the most part new; where in many 
places the stumps show that the hand of man has 
but recently let in the light of day to a virgin soil. 
Here as in most other parts of this central region, 
plank roads are stretching in every direction, and 
are affording very great facilities in access to 
markets and in the ease of transportation; thus in¬ 
volving a consequent saving of expense, to all who 
have occasion to use them. This must be particu¬ 
larly apparent in winter and spring, whenever the 
roads are bad. 
The geological features of Wayne county are 
various, it including no less than four of the impor¬ 
tant groups into which geologists have divided the 
State. We have the Onondaga salt group, the 
Niagara group, the Clinton group, and finally on 
the shores of lake.Ontario, the Medina sandstone 
These groups include a great variety of rocks, 
limestone, sandstone, and shales or slates ; but from 
what I saw of the surface, it did not seem to me 
that there was so great a variety in the character 
of the soil as might have been expected. This I 
conceive, is to be explained by the fact, that the 
surface is almost every where composed of drift or 
or transported materials, usually finely divided, but 
often in the form of coarse gravel; occasionally 
there is a sprinkling of boulders. I saw no land 
that we should consider unpleasantly stony in New 
England. These soils then, seem mostly to be de¬ 
posits of a current which has at some long past 
period of the world’s history, swept from the north¬ 
ward, and mingled the ruins of the various strata 
over which it has passed. 
These strata fortunately for the farmers of Wayne 
county, were of varied character as above, and in 
their variety, afforded when mixed the material for 
a fertile soil. Had the granite rocks which lie to 
the north of Connecticut and Massachusetts, over¬ 
whelmed this region with a flood of quartz, feldspar, 
and micaceous boulders, such as reward the toils of 
the farmers in many parts of those States, Wayne 
would be in a condition very far different from that 
which she at present enjoys. Her farmers fairly 
shudder at the sight of fields, which would be 
thought in Litchfield or Berkshire counties, to have 
only about enough stones on them to keep the land 
comfortable and warm. 
The eastern end of Wayne county being com¬ 
paratively much newer than the western, its ap¬ 
pearance is consequently less finished; the fields 
are not as a general thing so much cleared, and the 
farm buildings are less comfortable and extensive. 
There are most laudable and encouraging excep¬ 
tions to this remark, on many farms that I noticed. 
The land in this section, is generally of a rather 
Cctfrro from 13rof. ^Norton— No. 11. 
