Sheep, as was before observed, are increasing in all the improved varieties. This is, taken altogether, a good sheep county, and their cultivation pays well.

Fruit.-Apples, pears, plums, cherries, quinces, together with the smaller fruits, flourish well, and are raised in considerable quantity. The peach is occasionally produced of a tolerable quality, but cannot be relied upon. The various diseases to which it has for many years been subject, have discouraged its cultivation. Formerly they produced abundantly, and were fine in quality.

Two extensive and valuable nurseries of fruit and ornamental trees, with shrubs, flowers, exotics, green-house plants, &c. &c., have been many years established in the vicinity of Buffalo, by Messrs. Benjamin Hodge and Abner Bryant; a good demand is kept up for all they can produce, and they are annually adding to the number and variety of their plants.

The vegetable gardens about Buffalo are extensive, and the markets are well and cheaply supplied.

Value of Farms.-Lands are ten to fifty dollars per acre, according to their condition, buildings, convenience to market, &c.

On the whole, the agriculture of Erie county is highly progressive. As an evidence of their present improvement, at the late State Cattle Show at Rochester, eight premiums were awarded to citizens of this 'county for improved cattle, seven of which were to one individual; one upon swine; one upon cheese; ten upon superior fruits and garden products; and several others for specimens of household industry and ingenuity. No horses, sheep, butter or agricultural implements were exhibited from this county; and it is much to be hoped, when the State Society shall have its annual exhibition at Buffalo, as in the due course of events it probably will, this county will show to its more wealthy and older neighbors laudable specimens of its agricultural ad

vancement.

AGRICULTURE OF TOMPKINS COUNTY.

This county was formed in 1817, by uniting parts of Tioga, Seneca and Cayuga: it is situated southwesterly from the centre of the State. Cayuga lake extends southerly nearly to the middle of the county, and Seneca lake forms a portion of its western boundary

It is divided into ten towns, and contains about 580 square miles, or 370,000 acres. The population in 1840, was 37,948; 6,560 of whom were engaged in agriculture; 203 in commerce; 1,731 in manufactures and trades; 102 in the navigation of canals, lakes and rivers; and 136 in the learned professions.

Both in regard to soil and surface, Tompkins is nearly equally divided the southern half comprises the highlands that divide the waters flowing south into the Susquehannah river, from those which empty into the lakes. The soil of this portion, excepting the alluvial flatlands on the streams, is a gravelly loam, resting upon a hardpan subsoil, originally covered by a dense growth of chesnut, oak, maple, beech, and on the colder and more elevated parts, pine and hemlock. The surface of the northern half is undulating, with a gradual descent towards the north, except where broken into ravines on the borders of the lakes; a clayey loam, in the middle and western, becoming almost sandy in the eastern, characterize this portion of the county. Clay forms the sub-soil, and the timber consists chiefly of the different varieties of oak, maple and hickory, with a mixture of pine on the lighter lands.

Winter wheat being the staple on the clayey loams, it is the object of the farmer to procure a repetition of that crop as frequently as is possible, without injury to the soil. Corn manured is probably the best preparation for that purpose; but few wishing to cultivate more than one acre of corn to ten of wheat, the common method is to sow upon summer-fallow, with or without manure. And when it is asserted that throughout the county the average yield of wheat is not more than twelve or fifteen bushels per acre, the inference is unavoidable, that the skinning system is still too much practised. Roots and the coarser grains are raised secondary to wheat, and less for market than for home consumption.

The southern portion of this county is well adapted to grazing, and the production of spring crops; and some successful experiments have been made to ascertain whether summer-fallowing and throwing the earth into narrow lands, with thorough drainage by cross-furrowing, would not prevent the winter killing, which is the only objection to the regular cultivation of wheat in this section: by this method, twentyfive bushels to the acre have been raised. But little spring wheat is now grown in the county, and of this, the Italian is the best variety. The census of 1840, gives the following statistics of the agricultural products:

There are but few horses in Tompkins county which bear evidence of having sprung from any particular breed, although individuals are to be found strongly resembling those of the Duroc blood. Our farmers prefer a horse of good, though not great size, possessing strength

and endurance sufficient for field labor; and also, that action which is requisite for the saddle or carriage. Oxen are used only on new farms, for logging, lumbering and other rough work. The estimates of the comparative economy of oxen and horses, that are found in the various agricultural journals, considering their relative value and the amount of work each are capable of performing in the same time, give the oxen the preference; but a valuation of the driver's labor must also enter into the estimate, as he bestows more time in the performance of the same work with oxen, than will counterbalance their cheapness. It is the opinion of our best practical farmers, that horses are more economical.

The native cattle of Tompkins are generally the native breed, although there are, in several sections, individuals of the short-horns, and the different grades between the short-horns and the natives.

The short-horns stand deservedly high in the estimation of many of our farmers, who are rapidly availing themselves of the opportunity of crossing their best milch cows with bulls of this breed. The first appearance of this valuable stock in our county, was about seven years since, when a bull was brought in from the herd of C. N. Bement, Esq. he then attracted but little notice, and remained a year or two on the farm of the purchaser, during which time a few good cows were sired by him; but his value was not properly appreciated until his progeny came to maturity, and proved themselves, in all respects, superior to their dams: farmers then turned their attention to the breed, and others were introduced from the stock of Messrs. Silas Gaylord, Charles H. Hall and H. S. Randall; which animals soon became general favorites.

I have now in my heid a bull and two cows from the yard of the last named gentleman; they are extremely hardy, and although they consume more than natives of the same age, being much larger, thrive well on food of coarser quality, as straw, with an occasional feed of roots, while the remainder of my stock require hay of the best quality to keep them in store condition.

The southern part of this county, in which I reside, being admirably calculated for grazing, large numbers of young cattle are reared, and annually turned off to eastern drovers at three and four years old. By engrafting the fattening qualities and early maturity of the shorthorns upon our native stock, we shall be enabled to dispose of better animals at two years old than we now do at three, thus saving one year's keeping.

No pure-blooded animals of the other improved breeds have, as yet, been brought into the county.

We have the native or common-wooled sheep, the Saxony and Spanish varieties of the merino, Leicester or Bakewell, and a few SouthDowns. The extensive flocks of Spanish merinos, which, some fifteen or twenty years since, were to be found throughout the county, have been completely annihilated by crosses with the Saxonies, which were represented to be a more profitable sheep, yielding a finer quality of wool, and making better mutton. This is a step now deeply regretted by at least two-thirds, if not three-fourths, of our flock-owners, [Assembly, No. 100.]

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as evinced by their extreme eagerness for the old-fashioned merinos, which are now enquired for, and sought after in every direction. It is strange that men of sound judgment should have been so misled: the very race of sheep which they destroyed by this cross, are now considered to be by far the most profitable; and efforts have been made, with some success, to pick up, here and there, a few, at prices which well compensate their owners for having saved them from the innovations of the Saxon blood.

The Berkshires and their grades have almost entirely superseded the coarser swine of the country, although there is occasionally to be found a larger-boned hog, called the Yorkshire, Leicester, &c. We have also a few of the grass breed, a cross between which and the Berkshire, are preferred by some to the pure Berkshire.

In the cultivation of different kinds of crops, similar systems are pursued to those practiced in other counties having like soils : the land intended for wheat is broken up by the plow in June, and the herbage carefully turned under: two, and more generally three subsequent plowings, prepare the ground for harrowing and sowing.

Corn is extensively raised, and used in a raw state for fattening hogs and other animals, but a more economical method of feeding on boiled or strained roots, apples, &c. is being gradually substituted. Peas, ground and mixed with roots, are also fed to hogs. Farmers are becoming more and more convinced of the necessity of rotation in the cultivation of field crops. Clover now usually precedes wheat.

While on this subject, I cannot refrain from alluding to the mistaken economy which many of our farmers practise when seeding down land. If they dealt out their clover and other grass seeds with a more liberal hand, they would in the end be gainers: but four quarts of timothy, and two of clover, are usually put upon an acre. Where land is intended to be permanently seeded down, experience has fully satisfied me that eight quarts of each for an acre, can be sown with advantage—a large amount of hay or pasturage resulting only from liberal seeding.

Our exports are chiefly wheat, oats, wool, pork, lumber, and the pro. ducts of the dairy. These are marketed on the shores of the lakes, thence being carried through the Erie canal to the eastern cities. Neat cattle are driven every fall to the river counties, and there fattened for the New-York market. Our agricultural implements are similar to those in general use elsewhere. We have the various kinds of ploughs. The Iden Improved ranks first among level-land ploughs; although the Livingston county and Onondaga are used, and have their several admirers. Delano's, or the Livingston county improved, though of late introduction, appears to be a great favorite. The hill-side plough in general use, is the one invented and manufactured by Barnaby & Mooers, of this county. The double-hinged harrow, on land free from stumps, is considered the best pattern, and some still prefer the old triangular drag to all others. Horse rakes, threshing machines and cultivators are no longer a novelty, and the drill barrow and roller are gradually coming in use.

We greatly need good straw cutters and root slicers-the old-fashioned straw or chaff cutter being inconvenient to manage, and per

forming its work imperfectly. The improved kinds, specimens of which were exhibited at the late State Fair at Rochester, are unknown to us; and the economy of chopping food for cattle is not now to be questioned.

It is to be regretted that we are yet ignorant of the amount of labor that can be saved by the use of a root slicer. The writer saw, a year ago, on the farm of Col. H. S. Randall of Cortlandville, one of these improved instruments, with which Cot. R. with great ease cut up four bushels of potatoes in one minute by the watch. It is, however, to be presumed, that, as the cultivation of roots increases, the necessity of these labor-saving machines will be felt, and they will be brought into

use.

The credit of improvements in cultivating the soil which have been introduced during the last few years and are readily perceptible to the casual observer, is due to the extensive circulation of agricultural periodicals, among the most valuable of which is the Albany Cultivator, and to the establishment of county societies: these, by convincing the farmer that greater profit must be expected from additional labor, judiciously bestowed, than from an increase in the quantity of land cultivated, have excited him to emulate his neighbor, not in the extent of his farm, but in his average yield per acre.

The manufacturing interest of this county is worthy of mention. We have six woolen factories in successful operation. One of which, the Ithaca Falls Manufacturing Company, converts 125,000 pounds of wool annually into cloth; another 30,000, and the remaining four about 10,000 pounds each; making in all 195,000 pounds of wool, which produces about 140,000 yards of cloth. The stock in the first named company is owned almost exclusively by farmers, who obtain a ready market for their wool, besides receiving a handsome profit from their investment.

From the known abundance of water power we possess, this branch of business is capable of being increased to an indefinite extent, and will doubtless most favorably affect the interests of the producing classes.

The silk business is beginning to occupy the attention of many of our citizens. Several cocooneries have been erected, and the mulberry in considerable quantities planted in different sections of the county, although I am not apprised of the success which has attended these efforts.