in the county. All the prominent evils complained of are attributable mainly to excess of moisture. It seems, therefore, strongly indicated by recent examinations, that efforts be made to remove this prominent evil.

The Oat is much esteemed by the farmers of Madison. It appears by the census of 1845, that the quantity reported was 517,789 bushels, and by the recent census of 1850, the product is 553,435 bushels, thus showing a greater bulk and average of oats than of any other grain. The average yield per acre is estimated at forty bushels. The term estimate is here used because no certain data has been obtained by the United States officers to determine the ratable product per acre of any grain; an oversight or negligence much to be regretted.

The crops which have obtained the county premiums, varied from 61, 86, 98 to 106 bushels per acre. Yet no calculation of average product can fairly be made from premium crops. The varieties cultivated are the "white barley," "common black," and the "black cluster." This last variety is gaining in estimation, as ripening more uniformly, producing a rich fodder from the straw, and being very prolific.

A valuable though fluctuating crop is the Hop. Its introduction was at an early day, and became the source of profit to many. The quantity produced in 1850, was 639,915 pounds, and the average value may be estimated at twenty cents per pound. The value ranges from eight to thirty cents per pound, as the season may be more or less productive.

Teasles have been cultivated successfully and profitably in this county: by no one probably to greater advantage than by Mr. Hosea B. Clarke of Clarkville, in the town of Brookfield. This crop requires much manure and labor, therefore attended with much cost. The harvesting is also laborious, as the plants bloom irregularly and the teasles mature at different times on the same stalk; it is necessary to traverse the field sometimes three or even four

times to secure the crop. The crop yields about 100,000 teasles per acre, yet it is often injured by the freezing and thawing of winter, a frequent disheartening casualty. The value also is very unsteady. In 1835, teasles of inferior growth were sold in Boston at $3 per thousand, and good American teasles at $5, while German and French teasles commanded $8 per thousand; during the succeeding ten years the average price was $1. At this day the best teasles are not worth more than 75 cts. per thousand. Here is an instance of fluctuation and ultimate decline in value, presenting an instructive lesson to the cultivator. The efforts to introduce manufactures led to the cultivation of a weed previously useless and troublesome; fine clothes could not be finished without them: the importation price was so high as to excite an inordinate home supply, which in time threw upon the market a greater quantity than could be consumed, consequently the value fell from $8, to 75 cts. per thousand. The cultivation of teasles in the county of Madison is now limited to Brookfield and Hamilton.

Rye has ceased to be a remunerating crop; it was formerly cultivated extensively, but has yielded to the more profitable production of barley.

Buckwheat gives an average yield of twenty bushels per acre; an instance has been known where an acre produced sixty bushels of seed. It is an uncertain crop, frequently suffering from heat or from early frosts.

Flax has almost disappeared from the farms of Madison.

Beans are deemed to be a remunerating crop; a crop equal to 200 bushels from four acres, was raised by Mr. Sholes of Hamilton; the beans were planted in rows two and a half feet asunder, and each hill twelve inches apart. The small white bean is the variety preferred at present, and are readily saleable at $1 per bushel. These facts seem to call for more attention to this article of food.

Peas as a farm crop yields an average of twenty bushels per acre, and when well secured are profitable. The uncertainty of the crop from casualties causes its neglect.

Potatoes. This important article of food has suffered in Madison as in other parts of the world. The crop in 1845, was reported at 393,989 bushels, and in 1850, at 270,989 bushels. The cause of deficiency and the proper remedy are alike unknown. In years past an average crop of potatoes was 250 bushels. At this day few crops exceed one hundred bushels per acre.

Carrots and Beets are not extensively cultivated. Mr. Cameron, near Peterboro', has successfully cultivated the carrot. These roots are receiving more attention as food for cattle.

Grass lands and Grasses.

When the profits of cultivating grain ceased to afford sustenance to the proprietors of this region, their attention and care were transferred to the business of feeding and fattening of cattle, and raising flocks of sheep; yet strange to say, meadows and pastures have rarely obtained a devoted attention as a special or important department of the farm. It may not be too strong to say that no lands in the county have been so much neglected as the fields called pasture lots, and meadows. Few farmers appear to appreciate the necessity for cultivating grass with as much care as grain, or that the appetite and health of animals need the most nutritive grasses, as much as man needs the most nutritive grains. The consequence seems to be, far and wide, fields devoted to cattle covered with poor grasses, many noxious weeds, much moss, and varieties of aquatic grasses.

The products of grass can scarcely be estimated at one and a half tons per acre, while with more attention and proper cultivation, with previous draining, nearly every farm would boast of the sweetest and most nutritious hay, luxuriant herbage for dairy cattle, and when submitted to the scythe, yielding from two to three tons of hay per acre. Among those who endeavor to secure pas

ture and meadows, the following grasses are cultivated: Timothy, medium-sized red clover, red top, and white clover. The prac tice of some is, to sow equal parts of timothy and clover on meadows, adding a larger proportion of clover for pastures. The seed is generally applied in the spring, at the time of sowing the spring grains; at the second harrowing, the first rains cover the seeds.

In connexion with the meadows of the county, allusion must be made to the unsettled practice of cultivators in their systems of hay-making. Stacks of rusty color have been seen, from which locks of hay have been drawn for examination; every spear was wiry and brittle, the heads of timothy dry and without a seed, and but here and there a blade of the plants; this condition proved clearly that the grass was not mowed until it was far too ripe; the straw had parted with its juices to feed and mature the seed, and the seed had fallen to the ground, leaving but little more than woody fiber wherewith to fodder animals. Upon a closer scrutiny, no red top was found, nor any of the many cultivated grasses of Europe, which there, are carefully added to meadows and pastures, to give a thick bottom and full proportion of grass blades, for tempting the dairy herd, as well as to give substance and value to the hay-mow.

Due attention to the exactly proper period for cutting grass, seems to be needed as much as the selection of varieties and their careful cultivation. There are some farmers who cut their timothy grass before the blossom has entirely passed off, and hay made from such grass, is found generally when taken from the mow to exhibit a pleasant green color and sweet odor. So also with clover when they have cut it while yet in full bloom, has come out in the winter from the mow, sweet and green, most grateful to all stock, and far more nutritious than overripe, woody straws and stems.

Rotation.

The eagerness for acquisition with the absence of information as to the principles of agriculture, have too recently lost their hold [Ag. Trans., 1852.]

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on the farmers of New-York, to have permitted the adoption of any general system of rotation; this assertion may be deemed too sweeping by the farmers of particular districts where accidental occurrences may have perfected a system within a comparatively narrow limit; but it seems to hold good in relation to the State at large, and only proves that the agricultural malpractices of 1750 to 1800, remain as one of the blights upon our land, not yet sufficiently checked or removed.

The facts which have been recorded in the preceding pages seem to point with unerring truth to some wrong arrangement of crops in times past, and it is happily and equally true that inquiry is leading the farmers of Madison county to investigation and ultimate light. The inquiry has already in a measure convinced them that a continuance of certain kinds of crops deteriorates and exhausts their soils; that others arrest the growth of weeds, cleansing the soil, and yet others, return to the soil by combined action more than is exhausted by their growth.

It is therefore the due arrangement of crops, by which the soil shall not be deteriorated, that requires at this time careful study and cautious application. But it is not enough, that deterioration shall be simply arrested, it must be carried farther; the arrangement may be so modified as to cause a positive accession of fertility; a clear and decided profit from the system. Though it does not belong to a county survey to point out proper systems, or to give instruction to the proprietors of the soil, it may be allowed to refer the agriculturist to the fourth volume of the State Agricultural Society's Transactions, at pages 105 and 118, for practical observations on the system; also to the seventh volume, at page 395, for other useful remarks.

Manures.

Probably three fourths of the farmers of this county, would reply incorrectly to the question-what is manure? Most men confine their view or belief in regard to it, as being only animal excrements. Such however is not the fact, and the want of a true meaning for the word has led to error, and to the delay of needed and important improvements.