TO IMPROVE THE BOIL AND THE MIND. 
New Series. ALBANY. AUGUST, 1851. Yol. VIII.—No. 8. 
AGRICULTURE! OF OHIO—No. 1. 
BY W. G. EDMUNDSON. 
Having made it a considerable portion of our business 
during the past two years, to become familiar with the 
various systems of agriculture practiced in Ohio; and 
having also obtained a pretty thorough acquaintance 
with the agricultural resources of the state, by personal¬ 
ly visiting some fifty - counties: it is with mucfi confi¬ 
dence, we set about the task of preparing a series of 
practical papers for The Cultivator, that will furnish 
to its readers a correct and in every respect reliable ac¬ 
count of the present condition of the agriculture of 
Ohio, as well as a full description of the quality of the 
soil, its value, and of other facts bearing a close rela¬ 
tion to the productive interests of the Buck-Eye State. 
Ohio occupies a proud position among her sister states 
in point of her agricultural resources. She has become 
celebrated for her wheat, corn, pork and beef; and in 
fact her soil and climate are sufficiently varied to adapt 
them for the profitable growth and production of all the 
grains, seeds, fruits and vegetables, that are necessary 
to supply the wants of man or beast. 
In order that we may ho understood, and that the 
practical farmer may derive some pleasure and profit 
whilst perusing the facts and deductions that we shall 
have occasion to glean from the wide-spread book of 
nature and of art we see in our mind’s eye spread be¬ 
fore us, whilst occupying, as nearly as possible, a central 
position in this great and progressive agricultural state, 
we shall for convenience sake, both for the writer and 
reader, divide and subdivide our varied subjects under 
appropriate heads, as may from time to time be thought 
necessary for the full discussion and elucidation of the 
interesting theme selected for illustration. 
The Culture and Management of the Wheat crop. 
—The state of Ohio produced the past year at a low esti¬ 
mate, 35,000,000 bushels of wheat, of which at least 
20,000,000 will he a surplus. This probably is the largest 
yield that has ever been produced in this or any other 
state or country, of the same area, in a single year. The 
wheat lands proper of Ohio are limited somewhat in ex¬ 
tent, but more or less of this crop is cultivated in every 
county of the state. Systems of culture that find favor 
m one region of the country, could with difficulty be 
introduced in others; and hence the necessity of going 
pretty fully into detail, for the purpose of pointing 
jut the various modes of culture practiced, with the 
comparative results both as it regards the crop and the 
effects produced on the soil. The counties most cele¬ 
brated for the production of wheat are Knox, Licking, 
Richland, Ashland. Wayne, Stark, Muskingum, Fairfield 
and Belmont. These counties produced the past season, 
in the aggregate at least 10,000,000, of which Stark 
and Wayne yielded each 1,250,000 bushels. The ave¬ 
rage product per acre throughout those counties maybe 
rated at 20 bushels \ some favorable townships at 25 
bushels, not a few highly cultivated sections or neigh¬ 
borhoods at 30 bushels; and in very many cases indi¬ 
vidual farms averaged each a yield of 40 bushels per 
acre. The wheat counties in the main embrace a region 
of country that is located on the dividing ridge that 
separates the waters flowing into Lake Erie and the 
Ohio river. About one-half of this region may be nomi¬ 
nated hilly, and the balance rich valleys, and table lands. 
But a very small portion is too hilly for the profitable 
cultivation of the cereal grains; and the valleys are 
generally sufficiently dry for the growth of wheat. The 
value of the valley land ranges from $30 to $40 per acre; 
the moderately hilly and undulating at from $20 to $30; 
and the high table lands at from $15 to $20 per acre. In 
favorable seasons, the valleys produce the largest yield 
per acre, and in seasons like the past, from 85 to 40 
bushels per acre was harvested on the rich corn lands, 
with no other cultivation than what was given in the 
management of the corn crop. 
The best and most certain land for wheat is the high 
rolling up-land, covered with a thick growth of oak 
timber. This is the prevailing timber of the most valua¬ 
ble wheat land in Ohio; though such a description of 
soil as abounds in an oak country requires a very differ¬ 
ent system of management from soils that were originally 
covered with a thick growth of sugar maple, elm, black 
walnut, and cherry. The latter, for all other descrip¬ 
tion of crops except wheat, is the most valuable, and 
even for the latter crop, if it were not for the influence 
of rust, would produce a much greater average yield 
than the thinner description of soils, such as prevail 
where oak is the principal timber. Timber of the varie¬ 
ties enumerated is very abundant on the valleys border¬ 
ing the streams, and the quality of the soil, and its value, 
may be pretty accurately ascertained by obtaining a 
knowledge of the timber grown upon it. The original 
rocks of the country as well as its general geological 
formation have of course something to do with the cha¬ 
racter of the soils j hut as a general thing, nnmistakeable 
evidences are afforded of the quality and value of the 
soil by the prevailing timber with which it was originally 
