3 67 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
1851. 
ficient strength of team to plow deep; now they plow 
much deeper than formerly, and obtain from twenty-five 
to thirty bushels per acre. In Livingston county, thir¬ 
ty-five bushels per acre, were obtained on some farms. 
His own wheat crops have sometimes been forty bushels 
per acre—has raised thirty bushels per acre, on sixty 
acres, 
Mr, Lawrence, of Tates county, said the wheat crops 
in his neighborhood had been increased in yield by good 
cultivation. On his own farm, the yield, when he came 
into possession of it, was from twelve to fifteen bushels 
.per acre. He had brought it up to thirty bushels per 
acre—raised forty-four bushels per acre on sixteen acres, 
in 1846. The crops in Yates county were generally 
good. 
Mr. Co wees, of Onondaga county, said the oak and 
chestnut timbered land was general^ considered best for 
wheat. Thirty years ago this kind of land was deemed 
good for nothing. It was formerly plowed about four 
inches deep, and did not produce well; now it is plowed 
from seven to ten inches deep, and the crops are good, 
and the land is growing better. 
The same subject was alluded to at one of the agricul¬ 
tural discussions here during the past winter, and the 
fact that the average yield of wheat in this state was 
yearly increasing, was abundantly supported by the tes¬ 
timony of Hon. Mr, Geddes of Onondaga county, Judge 
Miller of Rochester, Mr. Pardee and Mr. Stacy, of 
Ontario county, and others. One of the speakers allud¬ 
ed to the fact, that according to the returns of wheat and 
flour received at Buffalo, Oswego, and tidewater on the 
Hudson, in 1850, there must have been an increase of 
production in this state, over 1849, equivalent to 150,- 
000 barrels of flour, and 1,900,000 bushels of wheat ; and 
it was conceded by all, that after making reasonable al¬ 
lowance for the better season of 1850, over that of 1849, 
for the wheat crop, there would still remain a very great 
amount for 1850, over any previous year. 
Another example in reference to the increase of the 
wheat crop, may be given in the county of Seneca, and 
this might, probably, be taken as an index to other wheat 
growing counties in the state, though the increase may 
not, in all cases, have been as great. According to the 
statistical returns of the state for 1845, the average yield 
of wheat in the county of Seneca, was fifteen bushels 
per acre.* In 1850, an agricultural survey of the coun¬ 
ty was made by John Delafield, Esq., now president 
ofthe Kew-York State Agricultural Society. In his report 
of that survey, to be published in the Transactions , the 
average yield of grain is set down as follows: wheat 20, 
barley 21, oats 38, rye 12, buckwheat 17, and Indian 
corn 32 bushels per acre.. 
Here we have an average gain in the wheat crop, of 
five bushels per acre, since 1845; and that this is not ex¬ 
aggerated, is evident from Mr. Delafield’s remarks— 
u It is well known that the usual crops of a careful cul¬ 
tivator, are usually over 25 bushels of wheat per acre, 
32 of barley, 45 of oats, 20 of rye, 20 of buckwheat, 
and 60 of Indian corn.” 
In view of this testimony, we think there cannot be a 
reasonable doubt that the yield of the wheat crop ofthe 
* The average for the state, by the returns of 1315, was fourteen 
oushelsper acre. 
state of New-York is increasing, and that this increase 
is caused by the introduction of better modes of culture. 
By this result, also, we are encouraged to persevere in 
thorough and systematic husbandry, confidently antici¬ 
pating still greater rewards for well-directed labor. 
4 ‘Architecture of Country Houses.” 
An elaborate and able review of Mr. Downing’s late 
work on the “ Architecture of Country Houses,” &c., 
from the pen of N. H. Eggleston, appears in the New- 
Englander. After a general consideration of the subject 
of “ Domestic Architecture,” the writer proceeds to no¬ 
tice the work referred to in the following terms: 
11 This leads us to the consideration of a volume, the 
title of which is at the head of this article, and which; 
with its kindred volumes from the same author, has 
marked an era in the bibliographic history of our coun¬ 
try. What further remarks we have to make in regard 
to the general subject, we shall throw into the form of 
a notice of this book. Mr. Downing has here given us a 
work which would much more appropriately appear as 
a volume of the 1 Smithsonian Contributions to Know¬ 
ledge’ than that thin quarto of Robert Dale Owen, the 
chief value of which appears to be in its showing what 
book-makers can do with clean cut type and fine paper, 
and in giving, by means of its engravings, to those who 
are not likely to visit the city of Washington, some idea 
of a structure which has arisen there as a monument to 
the generous liberality of a foreigner. In the volume 
now before us, on the contrary, we have something of a 
different sort, a book not to be laid away upon the shelves 
of public libraries, or to be distributed according to the 
judgment or caprice of a publishing or executive com¬ 
mittee, but to be had and studied by all, from Maine to 
Oregon, who are willing to pay a reasonable price for it. 
It is not either, as many perhaps would judge from its 
title, a book designed for the comparatively few who are 
about to engage in the work of building, but it is a book 
for the many, for all indeed, whether in city or country, 
who have a house to live in. It is an at tempt to set forth 
the architectural principles, and, to no small extent, the 
laws of taste which are applicable to domestic life. 
Aside from its mere designs, which constitute by no 
means its chief value, its principles and suggestions are 
alike adapted to domestic life everywhere. The book 
is eminently a c contribution to knowledge,’ a contribu¬ 
tion of just such knowledge as is wanted, and the gene¬ 
ral communication of which to the minds of our wide 
spread population would accomplish an inestimable ser¬ 
vice. We thank the author for this, his most recent 
work, and accept it gratefully as another gift to his 
countrymen from one whom they have reason to account 
a public benefactor. If he had lived in old Rome and 
done as important a service as he has done for us, the 
Senate would have honored him with a vote, “ that he 
had deserved well of the Republic.” 
Mr. Downing has sent forth his book bearing the very 
modest title, 11 Country Houses,” arid those who have 
not made themselves acquainted with the volume will be 
likely to gather from its name that it has to do chiefly, 
if not exclusively, with the abodes of our mere farmers, 
and is occupied with suggestions in regard to the con¬ 
struction of farm-houses and barns, dairy-rooms and cat¬ 
tle stalls. This is far from being the case. Mr. Down¬ 
ing is one of those who accept the saying, “ God made 
the country and made the town,” and who consequently 
regards the open fields, in distinction from the narrow 
closes of the city, as the place for true living, and where 
Domestic Architecture is to have the theater of her labors 
and the full realization of her blessed accomplishments. 
Accordingly, when our author treats of Country Hou¬ 
ses, he treats of all dwellings which have their location 
without the range of the inspectors of streets and sew¬ 
ers. From the humblest home of the cottager upon 
some scarcely known hill-side, to the baronial mansion 
that flanks the majestic Hudson, nor suffers by any want 
of keeping there, the book now under consideration has 
