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SOUTHERN BRANCH
iJNIVEHSTf y OF CAtJFORNf,
LIBRARY,
<-OS ANGELES. CALIF.
^^
RURAL STATE AND PROVINCE SERIES
EDITED BY L. H. BAILEY
RURAL NEW YORK
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
NHW YORK • BOSTON ■ CHICAGO • DALLAS
ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO
MACMILLAN & CO., Limited
LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA
MBLBOURNK
THE MACMILLAN CO OF CANADA, Ltd.
TORONTO
RURAL STATE AND PROVINCE SERIES
RURAL NEW YORK
BY
ELMER O. PIPPIN, B.Sc. (Agr.)
Extension Professor of Soil Technology in the
New York State College of Agriculture
at Cornell University
Jl3etD gork
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
19?1 .
All rights reserved ' ' " -» ~» * ■> r, ,
miM^
Copyright, 1921,
By the MACMILLAN COMPANY
Set up and electrotyped. Published March, igai.
« « • « «
• <0
(Q EDITOK'S PEEFACE
Hereby is projected a new line of books to be
known as the Rural State and Province Series.
These books are to present the rural phase of the
development of the commonwealths, with so much
\ Nw of the physical setting and history as will make plain
the reasons for the present state of the agriculture
and country life. The volumes are not guides to ag-
ricultural practice, nor books of advice; they are
•^f plainly descriptive. They are to be books of
\- pleasant reading. At present some half dozen vol-
umes are under contract. Should the public desire
books of this character, it is the intention to include
eventually all the States of the Union and all the
\ Provinces of Canada.
S The sources of information on the agriculture of
^ New York, in its larger aspects, are not extensive in
/C book form. The reader who desires to go farther
than this little volume takes him will of course con-
sult the reports and other publications of State de-
partments and of the institutions, and the proceed-
ings of societies. If he is interested in the history
of the subject, he will profit by the four parts of the
report of the " Society for the Promotion of Agri-
culture, Arts and Manufacturers," 1792-1799; the
vi EDITOR'S PREFACE
throe volumes of the Board of Agriculture, 1821,
1823, 1826; and the reports of the State Agricul-
tural Society 1841 to 1871, with subsequent less reg-
ular reports until 1899 and tlie semi-centennial
volume of 1890, as well as the journal once published
by the society. Historical matter is brought to-
gether in the " Cyclopedia of American Agriculture,"
particularly in Volume IV on education and institu-
tions and very briefly in Volume I on John John-
ston's work in tile-drainage; also in the editor's
"York State Rural Problems," Volumes I and II,
1913, 1915 (J. B. Lyon Co., Albany). The files of
the agricultural journals also afford invaluable
material.
Unfortunately, the personal human documents are
yet largely to be written. The reader will be inter-
ested in Roberts' delightful " Autobiography of a
Farm Boy " (1916), published by the J. B. Lyon Co.
So these books go forth, the children of a long
desire. I am grateful to the skilful authors who
put the faith into the substance of the written word.
L. H. Bailey.
Ithaca, N. Y.
Sept. 1, 1920.
AUTHOE'S PEEFACE
The aim of the author in preparing this volume
is to present a bird's-eye view of the agricultural as-
pects of New York. He has endeavored not only
to describe conditions as they are, but, when possible,
to point out the underlying reasons for particular
lines of development in agricultural production and
rural affairs.
On the descriptive side, the book is the outgrowth
of fifteen years of intensive study of the agricultural
resources and development of the State. The ap-
proach has been made from the side of the soil. In
the making of detailed soil surveys of different coun-
ties, in the continuous supervision of the surveys in
close cooperation with the United States Department
of Agriculture, in the giving of course of instruction
in the New York State College of Agriculture on the
soils and agricultural development of the State, and
finally in almost continuous travel that has reached
into all parts of the State, in by-paths and outlying
regions as well as main paths of travel, these mat-
ters in all their interrelations have been the subject
of continuous observation and study. Finally,
through contact with a large part of the correspon-
dence that has come over the greater part of this
vii
viii AUTHOR'S I'KEFACE
fifteen years toTicliing soils and land improvement,
tlie study and correlation ol' these agricultural re-
sources and ii:stitutions have been ever-present prob-
lems.
Thus it is that this book is the fruit of those
years of travel and study and teaching. Its prepar-
ation was in mind even before the specific opportu-
nity for its pre})aration was offered by the Editor
of this Series. The author welcomed the opportu-
nity to join with the larger enterprise, and he de-
sires to express to the Editor full appreciation for
the many helpful suggestions that have been given
as well as for the larger inspiration the author has
derived from these years of official and personal con-
tact. To many other friends and fellow-workers in
and out of the State who have directly and indirectly
contributed to the making of this book, he also de-
sires to make full acknowledgment.
If this book contributes in some small measure to
a l)etter understanding and appreciation of the agri-
cultural resources and institutions of N"ew York in
the larger sense, and the direction for their best
development, it will have justified its preparation.
E. 0. FiPPiN.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I PAGES
The Physical and Climatic Setting of New
York 1-55
General surface features 4-13
The structural geology • 14- 29
Drainage systems and lines of communication 29- 36
Physiography and industry 37- 41
Climate of New York State 41-55
CHAPTER II
HiSTOBY OF Agriculture in New York
Agriculture of the Indians .
Early settlement by the white men
Early routes and means of travel .
Territorial development ....
Crop development
Development of under-drainage .
The rise of agricultural institutions
J
CHAPTER III
56- 89
57- 60
60- 64
65- 69
69- 75
75- 78
79- 81
81- 89
Soils of New York 90-117
Southern plateau 94- 97
The Great Lakes plain and the Mohawk Valley 97-104
The St. Lawrence and Champlain valleys . . 104-108
The Hudson Valley region 108-110
Adirondack Mountains 110-111
Long Island 111-114
Special soils 114-117
ix
X CONTENTS
CHAPTER IV PAGES
Other Resources of New York State . . 11S-1;?7
Fish and game 128-131
Mines and quarries 131-135
Water supply 135-137
CHAPTER V
aoricultural industries, plants and crops of
New York 138-199
Hay and forage 142-150
Pasture 150-152
Grain crops 152-161
Vegetables 161-172
Fruit 172-192
Nurseries and flowers 192-195
Special crops 195-199
CHAPTER VI
Animal Industries of New York 200-244
Animal husbandry and soil fertility . . . 209-212
Cattle and dairying 212-221
Horses 222-227
Mules 227-228
Sheep 228-235
Goats 235
Swine 236-238
Poultry 238-243
Bees and honey 243-244
CHAPTER VII
Markets and Marketing 245-270
Transportation and markets 248-257
Special marketing agencies 257-270
CHAPTER VIII
Rural Manufactures of New Yotk .... 271-292
CONTENTS xi
CHAPTER IX PAGES
The Administrative and Regulatory Organiza-
tions OF New York 293-313
Political divisions and system of taxation . 294-297
Rural credit facilities 297-299
The Council of Farms and Markets . . . 299-309
The Conservation Commission 309-313
The Weather Service 313
CHAPTER X
The Educational and Research Organization
OF New York 314-354
Experiment stations 335-339
Extension work 339-346
Other educational orgunizations .... 346^354
CHAPTER XI
Outlook 355-369
The approach to constructive policies . . . 359-369
Index
371
ILLUSTRATIONS
FIG. PAGE
1. Geological map of New York showing the distribu-
tion of the different rock formations based on their
chronological relations. (After Tarr) .... 15
2. Geological map of the State showing the distribu-
tion of the different types of rock formations.
(After Von Engeln) 21
3. Geological map of the State showing the general
direction of movement of glacial ice as indicated by
striations and the distribution of certain types of
glacial formations. (After Von Engeln) ... 28
4. Graphs showing by decades the total area im
farms, the improved area in farms and the num-
ber of farms in New York 37
5. Diagram showing the proportions of urban and
rural population and the distribution of the latter
between the village and the coimtry in 1910 . . 38
6. Number and distribution of population in the State
by place of residence 39
7. Proportion of land area in farms by counties in
1910 41
8. Value of farm real estate and buildings and the
amount of expenditures specified 42
9. Distribution of farms by size in 1910 .... 43
10. Showing the climatological districts in the State 44
11. Showing the average number of days between kill-
ing frosts in spring and fall which corresponds to
the average length of the growing season ... 48
xiii
^^y ILLUSTRATIONS
no. PAGE
12; Average annual precipitation in difTerent parts
of the State 51
13. Average amount of precipitation in inches in the
three summer months of June, July, and August in
different parts of the State 52
14. Numbers and distribution of rural population of
foreign stock by nationalities in 1910 .... 64
15. Graphs showing by decades the total and the rural
population of United States, the rural population,
and the populatixsn engaged in agriculture in
New York 73
16. Changes in rural population from 1900 to 1910 . 76
17. Showing the distribution of the main series and
groups of soil 92
18. Total value and distribution of all crops and the
amount and distribution of the specified crops in
1909 139
19. Amount and distribution of the specified crops in
1909 143
20. Graphs showing by decades the total area in crops
and the area in hay and forage, in clover and in
alfalfa 145
21. Graphs showing by five-year periods the area in
corn for grain, total wheat, spring wheat, winter
wheat, and oats 153
22. Graphs sliowing by five-year periods the area in
buckwheat, barley, rye, apples, and tobacco . . .154
23. Maps of the acreage and distribution of the speci-
fied vegetable crops in 1909 162
24. Graphs showing by five-year periods the area in
potatoes, hops, dry beans, and cabbage .... 164
25. Maps of the amounts and distribution of specified
fruits and crops in 1909 173
26. Amount and distribution of specified fruits in 1910 175
ILLUSTRATIONS XV
FIG. PAGE
27. Maps of the acreage and distribution of the speci-
fied fruits according to age in 1909 except for ap-
ples which are for 1910 177
28. Graphs showing by five-year periods the number of
all cattle, dairy cows, work oxen, horses and mules
and the production of butter and cheese . . . 206
29. Maps of the value, numbers, and distribution of the
specified types of domestic animals in 1910 . 208
30. Graphs showing by five-year periods the numbers of
swine, sheep, and chickens and the production of
wool and eggs 229
31. Maps showing number and distribution of sheep and
swine in 1910 231
32. Number and distribution of poultry in 1910 . . 239
33. General map of New York State showing drainage
svstems, counties, and chief cities. Between pages
245 and 246
34. Diagram showing the organization of the Council
of Farms and Markets into divisions and bureaus 300
35. Diagram showing the organization of the Conserva-
tion Commission into divisions and bureaus . 310
36. Diagram showing the organization of the Univer-
sity of the State of New York and the numbers of
units included in some of the main groups and
divisions in 1915 316
37. Diagram showing the amounts and distribution of
federal and state expenditures for agriculture in
New York State 329
LIST OF PLATES
I Relief map of New York .... Frontispiece
(From model in New York State Museum)
TACINO
PAGE
II Model of Iroquois Indian house, stockade and
family settlement 58
(From model in National Museum)
m Lettuce growing on muck soil 114
IV A grain field in the Genesee Valley .... 156
V Intensive fruit culture in Western New York . 190
VI Representative fruit plantations in New York . 224
VII Typical view in the hill country of Southern
New York 284
VIII View in the Mohawk Valley region .... 346
RURAL NEW YORK
CHAPTER I
THE PHYSICAL AND CLIMATIC SETTING OF
NEW YORK
The State of New York forms the connecting link
between New England and the remainder of the
United States. It is the central one of the north-
eastern group of states. It is the only state that
touches the open water of both the Atlantic Ocean
and the Great Lakes. In position, diversity and vol-
ume of resources, agricultural as well as industrial, in
transportation facilities and population. New York
is truly the Empire State. Its outlook for develop-
ment in all these directions justifies the progressive
spirit expressed in the motto on the great seal — Ex-
celsior!— which may be translated roughly: "We
aspire to higher and greater things."
New York stands at the northern extremity of that
broad wrinkled ridge made up of mountains and
plateaus popularly known as the Appalachian moun-
tain system, that reaches up across the eastern United
States from near the Gulf of Mexico. The lowest
divide between the Atlantic Ocean on the east and the
1
2 RURAL NEW YORK
Great Lakes and tlie upper Mississippi Valley of the
Central West lies through the center of the State. At
the eastern terminus of this lowest divide, between the
east and the west, which is the chief thoroughfare for
transcontinental travel, stands New York City, the
metropolis of the American continent and the leading
American port.
At the entrance to the magnificent harbor of the
city, on Bedloe's Island, is the Statue of Liberty,
which was a gift from the people of France to the peo-
ple of America. It is at once the symbol of friend-
ship, of equality, of opportunity, and a token of as-
piration. It may well be called the symbol of Amer-
ican institutions and of the spokesmanship relation of
New York State and City to the remainder of the
nation.
Situated at the western extremity of this low divide
on the eastern shore of Lake Erie and a short distance
from the tremendous falls of Niagara, is the City of
Buffalo, the second in size in the State. It guards the
western gateway to this artery of travel and its devel-
opment is based primarily on the industries and ex-
change that have grown out of the shifts in transport
that naturally arise at this point, from the junction of
lakes, canal and railroad conveyances.
The median latitude of the State is the forty-third
parallel north, which is the same as Milwaukee in
Wisconsin, Boise in Idaho, Vladivostok in Siberia,
and Madrid in Spain. The median longitude is the
seventy-sixth meridian west, about the same as that
of Philadelphia and Cape Hatteras.
PHYSICAL AND CLIMATIC SETTIXG 3
In outline the State is roughly an equilateral tri-
angle, with the apex to the west. More accurately,
the shape is that of a great shoe with the heel resting
on the shore of the Atlantic at New York City, and
trailed by Loug Island. The toe rests against Lake
Erie. Lake Ontario forms the instep and the St.
Lawrence river reaches up the front. It has also been
likened to a ship sailing westward. Long Island being
the rudder.
The length of the State from east to west is ap-
proximately 335 miles, to which should be added the
extension of Long Island beyond the main east line
for seventy-five miles further, and lying south of
Connecticut, making a total extreme length of 410
miles. The extreme breadth north and south is
315 miles.
Within these dimensions, New York State has a
total area of 49,170 square miles, of which 1550
square miles are water surface. The net land surface
is, therefore, 47,G20 square miles or 30,476,800 acres.
This is equal to the area of Ohio plus that of Massa-
chusetts. It is four-fifths the area of all New Eng-
land ; about equal to that of North Carolina or Louisi-
ana; a little less than the area of Iowa or Wisconsin,
and one-third that of California. It is two-fifths the
area of the British Isles, one fourth that of France,
and three-tenths that of Japan, and considerably
larger than the Island of Cuba with its depending
islands.
The boundary is exceedingly irregular. In part it
follows water courses but long stretches strike across-
4 RURAL NEW YORK
country on arbitrary lines having only an historical
significance.
GENERAL SURFACE FEATURES
The surface features of New York State are very
diverse, both in general and in detailed form. In
their variety and form they make up some of the most
beautiful scenery in the country. It does not reach
the extreme of boldness found in the mountains of the
West or of some other continental areas, but in pic-
turesque outline, in variety of detail, and in cultural
development, it charms the observer at many points.
Mountain domes, broad valleys, undulating hills,
lakes, waterfalls, fields, forest and stream, contribute
to those elements that make up beauty and grandeur
in the different parts of the State. This results from
the long and complex geological history of the region
which has developed a wide variety of rock strata and
subjected these to severe denudation with unequal
wearing and filling.
A three-armed system of main valleys centering at
Albany and Troy divides the State into three main
upland areas, a northern, a southern, and an eastern
or southeastern area.
These main valleys are the Hudson-Champlain
across the eastern side of the State and the Mohawk-
Great Lakes valley through the middle of the State
east and west. These, with Long Island, form seven
rather distinct physiographic regions. Beginning
with the lowlands they are: (1) The Hudson-Cham-
PHYSICAL AND CLIMATIC SETTING 5
plain; (2) the Mohawk Valley; (3) the Great Lakes
Plains; (4) Long Island; (5) The Adirondack
Mountains; (6) The Eastern Highlands; and (7)
The Southern Plateau, which includes the Catskill
Mountains at its eastern end.^
The highland and mountain areas with their
rugged outlines are the more impressive in a scenic
sense and they occupy the larger area. In the form
of a series of great domes they reach a maximum ele-
vation of 5397 feet in the peak of Mount Marcy in
the Adirondacks and 4305 in the Catskill Mountains.
The valley areas have a general elevation of 200 to
500 feet above sea level.
The Hudson Valley-Champlain region is a long and
comparatively narrow trough, fifteen to twenty miles
wide, rather sharply cut off from the Catskill and
Adirondack areas by steep slopes but joined to the
eastern highlands by a succession of hills that grad-
ually increase in height so that there is no sharp line
of division. It crosses the entire eastern front of the
State. In the northern third along Lake Champlain,
the valley is open to the eastward, so far as New
York is concerned. While called a valley, it is not
one in the sense of being a regular smooth erosion
1 For a detailed view of the topography and cultural fea-
tures of the State, the reader is referred to the topographic
sheets that show the country on a scale of one inch equals
one mile, with contours at twenty foot intervals, prepared
jointly by the New York State Engineer's Office and the
United States Geological Survey, and distributed by the Di-
rector of the latter at a small charge. These maps cover the
greater part of the State and are by far the best geographic
guides available.
6 RURAL ^EW YORK
valley. Rather it may be characterized as a low
region but the surface is exceedingly irregular. It is
a series of undulating to broken hills set apart by an
irregular network of valleys more or less filled with
glacial debris and in which most of the streams follow
a tortuous and often sluggish course. These state-
ments apply especially to the Hudson Eiver section.
The Hudson Eiver itself occupies a very narrow, low-
walled, mostly rock trench with almost no bottom
land along its course. The Hudson gorge and valley
extend out to sea in a southeast direction seventy-five
miles beyond New York City. At the present time,
tlie tide reaches up the river 150 miles to Troy. This
situation is explained by the fact that in earlier geo-
logical times the region stood at a much higher eleva-
tion and the general system of valleys was then
formed. Subsequently, during the glacial epoch, the
region was depressed. Later, it was raised but not to
its former position. Borings in connection with the
development of the Ashokan water supply for New
York City in the Catskills showed a trough eroded in
the rock more than 1000 feet below the present sur-
face of the Hudson Eiver near Newburg, where the
inverted svphon of the canal crosses the channel.
In the Palisades region below Newburg, the rocks
rise for the most part precipitously from the water's
edge. Farther north, that is half way to Albany, the
rise is less abrupt and bold but still of a rugged hilly
form. Beginning near the north line of Dutchess
County and extending northward, a gently undulat-
ing plain fringes the river but at an elevation of sixty
PHYSICAL AND CLIMATIC SETTING 7
to one hundred feet above its surface. This is a clay
plain with the exposed edge eroded into a system of
steep slopes. It narrows and widens according to
the position of the adjacent rock-cored hills. The
plain is best developed above Troy and from there to
a little above the great westerly bend of the Hudson
River, in Washington and Saratoga counties, it is a
broad plain, mostly capped by sand and gravel.
From point to point the valley widens to receive some
inflowing tributary, the largest of which on the west
is the Mohawk Eiver opposite Albany and Troy.
On the east the most important tributary is the Hoo-
sic Eiver in northern Eensselaer County.
North of the "Great Bend" at Hudson Falls
the general valley region is constricted to a very nar-
row pass by the east flank of the Adirondacks to unite
with the Champlain Valley. For a number of miles
there is only this narrow rock-walled lake, but further
north near Ticonderoga the hills recede a little and
place is given to a low and rather narrow lake-plain
terrace of clay, with here and there sand and gravel
shelves. The surface is undulating. The plain wid-
ens toward the north, though at places it is con-
stricted. The greater width of lowland is on the
Vermont side. In Clinton County the plains region
blends with low hills that successively rise to the
Adirondack Mountain system.
The Mohawk Valley which breaks out from the
Hudson region at Troy is a V-shaped trough lying
between the Adirondack and the Catskill mountains.
Both masses approach the river by a succession of
8 RURAL NEW YORK
rounded hills of decreasing elevation. The interior
trough is narrow and steep-sided but not to the same
extent as the Hudson River. As far up as Little
Falls, seventy miles from its mouth, there is only a
narrow ribbon of alluvial soil a half to three-quarters
of a mile in width, now on one side and now on the
other, or divided. On the rolling hills on either side,
the surface is smooth enough easily to permit success-
ful farming for many miles back; The land rises
less rapidly on the south than on the north side.
Above Little Falls, where a dike of intensive rock
crosses the course of the river and gives rise to the
falls that are the occasion for the city, the valley
gradually widens out into a great amphitheater that
looks out westward over Syracuse, Buffalo and the
Great Lakes region. On the north the lowland
swings gradually to the north around the western
flank of the Adirondack Mountains, past the end of
Lake Ontario where it forms a plains area ten to
twenty miles in width with an imdulating to flat
surface. Thence it trends northeast along the St.
Lawrence River and passes out into Canada. Oppo-
site the source of the St. Lawrence in Lake Ontario,
where the surface is in general low in elevation,
there breaks forth a multitude of low ridges and
knolls of solid rock, some of which constitute the bulk
of the Thousand Island group. These are the out-
lyers of the Adirondacks. The Island region is a
partially submerged valley. The soil is a combina-
tion of lake clays and sand and gravel terraces with
some glacial till, interspersed between the projecting
PHYSICAL AND CLIMATIC SETTING 9
rock masses. The influence of the St. Lawrence Val-
ley region is felt across the entire north line of the
State where it joins with the Champiaiu Valley by a
broad low ridge around the northern side of the
mountains.
On the southern side of the Mohawk Eiver the
lowland area west of Little Falls continues with a
slight southerly trend. The boundary past Utica
is still quite abrupt but from there west it fades into
a more gentle slope of decreasing elevation. West of
Syracuse there is a uniform slope from the southern
highlands to the shore of Lake Ontario. A little
to the north of a line from Utica to Syracuse is a
broad, flat plain in the midst of which lies Oneida
Lake, a shallow sag in the land surface.
For a hundred miles west of Syracuse, which is
two-thirds of the distance to Bufl'alo, the country
forms a long, gentle, but undulating to hilly slope
from the southern plateau region of the State north-
ward to Lake Ontario. The six hundred foot contour
is situated about thirty miles back from the lake
and is followed a few miles further south by the one
thousand foot contour. The surfaces of a large part
of this rich plains region is made up of large, rounded
and elongated hills, usually not over a hundred feet
in height and with their long axes in the same
general northerly and southerly direction. In fact,
these tadpole shaped hills, which are most numerous
in Wayne County and gradually decrease in numbers
as one passes outward from that general region, are
arranged concentrically and focus on a point on the
10 RURAL NEW YORK
northeast shore of Lake Ontario, While the slopes
of tliese hills, known as " drumlins or hogsbacks,"
are usually steep, tillage is generally possible and they
form a prosperous agricultural region. Between the
hills is an intricate system of hollows often occupied
by mucky swamps. To the south of the drumlin re-
gion, the land surface has a more general roll.
The southern margin of the plains region is
notched at a half dozen places by rather narrow val-
leys occupied by lakes. These are the Finger lakes,
the largest being Cayuga and Seneca. The country
around the northern end of these lakes blends with
the general plains region.
In its western part, the lake plains region breaks
into two distinct levels separated by a steep slope
or mountain. This escarpment is best developed in
central Niagara County and crosses the Niagara Eiver
in the grand cascade of that river in its northward
course between lakes Erie and Ontario. The maxi-
mum difference in elevation between the two plains
is two hundred feet, at the Niagara Eiver. The
height of the main slope between these plains grad-
ually decreases toward the east and disappears alto-
gether a little west of Rochester. The lower or On-
tario plain is distinctly flat, or slightly hollowed out
near its southern margin. Its surface is relieved by a
few low knolls and ridges. The upper or Erie plain
is more complex. Near the shore of Lake Erie it is
generally quite flat. This type of country swings
south past Buffalo as a broad plain and then south-
west along the lake. As it passes westward, the plain
PHYSICAL AND CLIMATIC SETTING 11
becomes more narrow and is progressively set off from
the highland region by a sharp steep slope. At the
west line of the State, the plain area is only a few
miles in width. The remainder of the plains region,
reaching well into the second tier of counties from
Lake Ontario, is made up of rolling hills easy to farm.
Long Island should be associated with the up-
state lowland region in the discussion of surface fea-
tures. It is a long low ridge with smooth, and on
the south side, low shores bordered by sand reefs and
marshy tidal flats. The north sliore is for the most
part a steep bluff and is indented by a number of
shallow bays. In general the elevation is from sixty
to 150 feet above sea level but at several points in
the interior there are rough hills, one of which reaches
an extreme elevation of 380 feet. For the most part,
the island is made up of a series of undulating sandy
plains.
Considered as a whole, the three lowland regions
embrace much the best agricultural and industrial
parts of the State. Their total area, about 15,000
square miles, is approximately one-third that of the
State. Exclusive of Long Island, which has an area
of 1500 square miles, these lowlands include part or
all of thirty-five counties. The high development in
these regions is due to a fortunate combination of
smooth topography, good soils, reasonably mild cli-
mate, and good transportation and market facilities.
The highland areas may be described more briefly.
The boldest of these is the Adirondack Mountain dis-
trict, which is made up of a succession of mountain-
12 RURAL NEW YORK
ous domes, culminating near the center of the area in
Mount Marcy. Most of the area is timbered. The
soils are thin and very stony. Small areas are cleared
and tilled in the interior valley. Around the base of
the mountain area is a narrow fringe of agricultural
land that includes some prosperous farming districts,
such as that in northern Oneida and central Herki-
mer counties.
The eastern highland takes in the western foothills
of the Berkshire hills that begin on the eastern edge
of the State and spread over into New England.
It also includes the mountainous hills lying across
the lower part of the State above New York City
and the Palisades district of the Hudson Eiver. The
maximum elevation is not over 1500 feet but by con-
trast with the adjacent lowlands, it appears high and
rugged and is distinctly mountainous and pictur-
esque in outline. All the southern part of this area has
been appropriated as a high-grade residence district.
The southern plateau is the most extensive of the
three, as well as the most important agriculturally.
As has been stated, it rises gradually to the south and
east and in the latter direction culminates in the
Catskill range. Near its middle part there is a sag
of several hundred feet in maximum elevation, the
western part being higher than the middle.
This vast plateau which is the northern margin of
the Cumberland plateau, that reaches southward into
Alabama, has been deeply eroded and now appears as
a system of bold hills rising by gentle or steep slopes
PHYSICAL AND CLIMATIC SETTING 13
from the network of valleys that have been formed
in its structure. While these broad valleys traverse
the region in all directions, the prevailing one is
north and south. They are continuous from one
drainage system to the next and consequently form a
system of deep passes, called Through valleys, that are
the thoroughfares of modern travel. The Catskill
portion being the highest, is most broken and has little
agricultural importance. It occupies about a sixth of
the area. The main plateau has a maximum eleva-
tion of 1800 to 2500 feet and is bounded on the north
by about the 1000 foot contour.
The valleys, especially the north-south ones, have
two main slopes : first, the interior, rather steep walled
that bound the narrow valleys of alluvial and terrace
land, usually of good agricultural value; second, the
upper slope which forms a broad, moderately graded,
U-shaped trough. Over most of these slopes, mod-
ern machinery may be used readily.
These distinctions in topography should be kept
clearly in mind since they are essential to a correct
appreciation of the agricultural and industrial de-
velopment of the region later to be discussed.
A large part of the southern area is tillable land,
especially that associated with good valleys, bearing
prosperous farms. However, it is within this as
well as the other highland areas, that the margin of
profitable farming is most frequent and in which the
shifts of economic pressure have had their most
marked effects.
14 RURAL A^L'W YORK
THE STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY (See FigS. 1-3)
The underlying geological structure of New York
is very ancient. Its formations represent the dawn
of the land areas of the American continent. Great
mountain chains and plateaus have been formed and
largely destroyed by erosion. New York lies on the
west slope of the narrow ridge of land extending
from New England to northern Georgia that formed
the original backbone of the North American conti-
nent. For ages nearly all of the territory of New
York was beneath the ancient ocean and received the
succession of sediments and deposits washed from the
upland to the east. The floor of this sea oscillated
up and down unequally, somewhat like the billowy
waves passing over a grain field, only vast periods of
time were required for the movement. Sandy shores,
mud flats, deep clear water and alkaline basins suc-
ceeded each other in their occupancy of the territory.
The waste sediments from the upland came in from
opposite directions and were, therefore, of different
character. All these incidents are recorded in the
great succession of rocks that now make up the struc-
ture of the State. With the exception of the Adiron-
dack region, practically all the surface rocks are
made up of marine sediments and accumulations,
and their total depth is measured in miles rather than
in feet. They begin in pre-Cambrian time, which
was before the dawn of rock formations distinguish-
able by fossil remains of plants or animals. Vast
successions of time are represented in rock strata that
reach through the Lower and Upper Silurian and
il ^
15
16 RURAL NEW YORK
the Devonian ages, np to the beginning of the Car-
boniferous or Coal age. Of this latter age the only
representatives in the I'ormatiuns in the State are a
few immense conglomerate bowlders in southwestern
New York, of which the Panama rocks in Chautau-
qua County and at Eock City in southern Cattarau-
gus County, that were formed at the very beginning
of that age, are the last remnants.
All through the long Coal age and to the present
time, New York has been dry land with the exception
of a small part above New York City which was sub-
merged in the Triassic age folloAving the Coal age.
For the most part, the land of the State has been
well elevated and has been subjected to extreme ero-
sion, although it is possible that later formations have
been entirely swept away, as is suggested by the
remnants of the lower coal measure rocks. In the vast
ages during which the rock formations have been
exposed to all the various destructive agencies, they
have been eaten away and eroded by streams, the
wind, and the waves, and carved into the main land
forms, as they exist at the present day. The hard
rocks resisted destruction more than the soft ones
and form the eminences and rough slopes. The frail
rocks were eaten into valleys and mild slopes. Thus
the features of the State represent the scarred and
weather-beaten products of ages of denudation act-
ing on the succession of rocks of different degrees of
resistence. Each gorge and waterfall and hill, if it
could repeat its story, would give the succession of
changes to which that region has submitted, and the
PHYSICAL lA'Z) CLIMATIC SETTING 17
present commerce and industry would be seen to con-
form to those geological changes. Of course it must
be remembered that much has happened to the struc-
ture of the State since the rocks were formed and
carved into the present general features. The
changes due to the glacial epoch must be kept in
mind as the immediate occasion of many features,
but they have as their baso and background the under-
lying rock structures. The soils will be seen to relate
closely to all these formations and processes, so that
in the study of the geological changes of a region one
is laying the foundation for the understanding of
tlie natural and human features of the states, — land
forms, industries, commerce and sociology, and with-
out this relationship one's conceptions of them must
at best be very superficial.
The complex succession of formations and proc-
esses found in New York, together with the fact that
it was one of the earliest fields of careful geological
study in America, make it a landmark in progress.
Since many of the American rock formations were
first studied here, they have often become types and
given local names that have been carried with those
formations wherever they are found in America.
Adding to this the monumental study of the " Nat-
ural History of New York," complete and published
in five large volumes, and profusely illustrated, by
special act of the legislature in 1841, one has some
conception of the place New York occupies in the
natural history annals of the country, and the basis
it has for further development.
18 RURAL ^^EW YORK
To consider the formations of the State in a little
more detail, though briefly, one may begin with the
oldest Precambrian areas. The Adirondack region
is the larger of these, the southeastern highland
above New York the pmaller. Both have a core of
plutonic rock centered by masses of granite. The
higher peaks of the Adirondacks in Essex County
belong to the granite group of rocks. Around
this core of acid rock is a much larger area of the
basic Gabbro rock, Norite, which skirts the base of
the mountains and reaches across the St. Lawrence
Eiver near its source where it forms the Thousand
Island group. This basic rock also extends well
down to the Mohawk Valley.
In the second or southeastern area, the granite is
associated with gneisses and schist rocks which prob-
ably represent the transformation of ancient sedi-
ments by pressure and heat. Together these rocks
form the mountainous portion of that section. This
region does not again become prominent in geo-
logical processes until in Triassic time when the
bright red sandstones of lower Eockland County were
formed coincident witli similar formations through
the Connecticut Valley in New England, and in
various pockets throughout the Piedmont Plateau.
At its close the great cracks in the structure per-
mitted tlie intrusion from below of the molten mate-
rial that now forms tlie Palisades rock along the
lower course of the Hudson. The hard rock ridges
that reach under the site of New York City are an
important incident in its development, for they form
PHYSICAL A^'D CLIMATIC SETTING 19
the best kind of foundation for the ranks of tall
buildings that distinguish Xew York City from Lon-
lon with soft marsh foundation. The channels that
have been carved in the surface of this rock make the
incomparable harbor that is also a large factor in the
upbuilding of the city. These facts should not be
forgotton in a sketch of the agricultural development
and status of the State since the existence of such a
city and port with the market and transportation
facilities it represents is a determinant factor in the
agricultural development of the adjacent territory.
Touching again the Adirondack region, this broad
dome is the center from which the succession of sedi-
mentary rocks slope away in nearly ever direction.
The up-turned or cut-ofE edges of those formations
are arranged successively about the base of the plu-
tonic core and form the floor of the country. The old-
est rocks come first and disappear under the younger
rocks as one passes out from the central mountain
region. They dip to the south and west at a medium
to slight angle. The older ones have been most
eroded. The north-facing exposure of most of these
rock outcrops has been an important fact in the
succeeding development of the State because of its
relation to the entrance of the Continental glacier
and the subsequent history of the soil materials.
There is on the north side a band of the Potsdam
sandstone, a rather pure quartz rock, hard and lean
in the elements of plant nutriment. Next, en-
circling the area is an irregular band of thick-bedded,
20 RURAL NEW YORK
high-calcium limestone, the Calciferous-Trenton.
It touches the Mohawk iiiver and passes under Lake
Ontario. Its widest development is in central Jef-
ferson County. On the soutli the next band of rock
is a succession of gray to dark blue shales and sand- .
stones known as the Hudson River group. They
swing east over the southwest flank of the Adiron-
dacks, along the Mohawk Eiver, and thence south-
ward through the Hudson Valley past the east slope
of the Catskill Mountains. These rocks form the
greater part of the floor of the Hudson Valley.
Their eastern development has been much folded and
contorted by mountain-making processes, so that
throughout the Hudson Valley and progressively to
the east line of the State the strata stand at a high
angle and sometimes on edge. By this means bands
of limestone were brought to the surface in a succes-
sion of pockets scattered through the valley. The
metamorphosing forces of pressure and heat incident
to the folding, changed the shale to slate, the sand-
stone to quartzite and the limestone to marble. All
of these occur in deposits of commercial importance.
South of Lake Ontario the floor of the plain is
formed by a quartzose sandstone and a gray or red
shale interbedded with red sandstone. The sand-
stone is sufficiently hard to be used for paving brick
and for building. This is the Medina, and reaches
up to the foot of the " Niagara Mountain." In the
Ontario Lake region of western New York many
of the farm houses are built of smooth rounded water-
PHYSICAL AND CLIMATIC SETTING
21
worn bowlders or cobblestones of this rock that have
been washed out of the glacial deposits and smoothed
and rounded on the shore of the lake.
Ci-gi^K;'
n/jmdur/oN or D/mf^tNT nocK md
%mm3(/ma or mrm^m
LCG5ND
^L/Mf^rONa H 6/\NDST0N£S
E3 Gfumimi FmYJ
Fig. 2. Geological map of the State showing the distribu-
tion of the different types of rock formations.
Eeaching eastward across the State from the
Niagara Eiver to a point south of Utica and form-
ing the front of the Ontario escarpment, is a suc-
cession of limestone and drab shale formations.
The lower of these, chiefly shale, is the Clinton for-
mation on which Oneida Lake rests. Above it is the
22 RURAL NEW YORK
Niagara formation capped by a bard magnesian lime-
stone tbat forms tbe floor of tbe Niagara River and
over wbicb its cataract drops. Tliis cap of bard
limestone, underlain by tbe soft Lockport sbale, con-
stitutes tbe rock structure tbat gives rise to tbe mag-
nificent Falls of tbe Niagara.
In tbe period succeeding tbe formation of tbe
Niagara limestone, western New York was a sbal-
low arm of tbe sea witb a desert climate. In tbis
sea tbere accumulated witb tbe mud tbat now makes
tbe Salina sbale, great beds of salt and gypsum. It
forms a band of country five to twenty miles in width
as far east as Rome. At Syracuse, wbere salt springs
originally occurred, salt is extensively manufactured,
from which fact tbe name " Salt City " is taken.
These springs were valuable to tbe Indians as well
as to the early settlers and account for the begin-
ning of tbe city of Syracuse. At Ithaca, Watkins
and points in tbe Genesee Valley, these salt deposits
are reached by wells and shafts extending through
the later rock formations for commercial working.
The next and one of tbe less important limestone
formations. I lie Helderberg limestone, lies above and
south of tbe Salina. It is blue rock high in cal-
cium content witb tbick bedding. Its outcrop is not
wide but it reaches from near Buffalo, eastward
around tbe east base of tbe Catskill Mountains. It
passes by LeRoy, Geneva, Auburn, and has an even
M'ider development in southern Oneida and Herkimer
counties and tbe northern part of Schoharie County.
Tbe position and extent of these various limestone
PHYSICAL AND CLIMATIC SETTING 23
formations are of special importance because of their
bearing on the later introduction of lime into the
soils with its attendant agricultural significances.
Their position with reference to the topography of
the State and the important agricultural areas is
also important in the matter of supplying lime to
the soils that require it.
The remainder of the State upward and south-
ward from the Helderberg limestone is a succes-
sion of shales and sandstones with occasional thin
layers of limestone. Their color varies widely, but is
predominantly gray or black. The first important
division of these is the Hamilton shale which is some-
what calcareous. But the great mass of these forma-
tions is very lean in lime content and weather down
to a light brown or yellow soil material. They be-
long to that part of the Devonian series usually
known as the Catskill group. Some layers are hard
sandstone, others soft shale. Capping the Catskills
is a rather hard layer of conglomerate rock, expressed
in the topography of the country as the protection of
hills and the facing of steep slopes and waterfalls.
Centering in Delaware County is an area of dark red
shale and sandstone known as the Oneonta forma-
tion which has a marked effect on the soils of the
region.
The topography of this southern region is the ex-
pression of the resistance of these soft and hard rocks
to long erosion, coupled with the factor of elevation.
The Catskills are highest, have the hardest capping
and have been most eroded. Hence, it is a rough
24 RURAL NEW YORK
mountainous country of low agricultural possibilities.
The long period of erosion to whicli the State was
subjected cut the surface into a very coni])]ete net-
work of valleys. While the data are incomplete, the
indications are that the drainage was mostly to tlie
north and west to a great channel that occupied the
axis of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River.
The topography of the southern highland was fairly
rough. Through the middle and eastern part it was
lower and in general more mild in outline than in
other parts.
Into this long-eroded region there came the great
continental glacial ice sheet. It advanced in a gener-
ally southerly direction from the Labrador highlands
in eastern Canada. Slowly it advanced, pushing long
tongues forward through the valleys. It was de-
flected by the land forms. Having tilled the valleys,
the ice advanced up the slopes until it covered all the
mountain areas. Southward it advanced and piled
deeper, until all the State was covered except a small
angle south of the Allegheny River in Cattaraugus
County. The rate of movement was generally in
proportion to the depth and was most rapid through
the valleys and slower over the hills. The old re-
sidual soil covering was swept away. Numerous emi-
nences were planed off. Some valleys that crossed
the course of the ice were partially or wholly filled,
and those parallel to the ice movement were eroded
still deeper, giving rise to "hanging valleys," which
is the phenomena of side valleys high above the main
valleys into which they flow.
PHYf^ICAL AND CLIMATIC SETTING 25
The rocks in the course of the ice were ground up
and carried in the direction of its movement, usually
south. Material from various sources was mixed.
Bowlders were mingled with finer material. Deep
deposits were laid down in hollows, perhaps none on
the eminences.
After a long and indefinite time, the ice began to
retreat. Its margin fluctuated from season to sea-
son or from century to century. Where it stood for
any length of time a ridge of earth was left and
these terminal moraine-bands may be traced across
the State in various places.
Great volumes of water were formed by the melt-
ing of the ice. This water accumulated in the hol-
lows and valleys and flowed off to the southward as
greatly flooded streams that formed broad bottoms of
gravel and sand and fine loam.
As the ice margin retreated to the northward, it
was, in all the western part of the State, moving
down the general slope of the country. Conse-
quently, the drainage water accumulated as ponds
and lakes between the front of ice and the land
divide in the valleys. As the ice retreated further
north, these lakes found new outlets at lower levels.
They connected through the valleys and finally came
to have a large extent. ]\rany successive levels of
these are recognized in the more important valleys
of the Finger Lakes region and the Genesee Valley,
marked by the level of the benches of gravel and
sand along their walls. At one stage this succession
of lakes connected with the Lake Erie basin and
26 RURAL NEW YORK
drained into the Mississippi Eiver through the Mau-
mee Kiver in northwestern Ohio, These were the
Warren and Newberry stages of the lake. Gravel,
sand, clay and other sediments were accumulated in
these lakes, of which the gravel beaches on the Erie
plain southwest of Buffalo on which the " Ridge
road " is located are representatives. Later, as the
ice retreated further north and the Mohawk Valley
was cleared, a great lake was formed on the On-
tario plain with its shore at the foot of the Niagara
escarpment. This had its outlet eastward into the
Hudson Valley and formed a great sand and gravel
delta between Schenectady and Albany. This level
of the lake built up a well defined sand and gravel
beach that is readily traced from Lewiston on the
Niagara Eiver to Sodus on the shore of Lake On-
tario. It is occupied throughout its course by an
important public highway, another " Eidge road "
lined by fruit-farms based in part on the materials
that make up this beach. Other lake levels are rec-
ognized further north. The St. Lawrence Valley
was flooded to a much higher level than at present.
Likewise the Champlain Valley was occupied by a
lake. A subsidence of the land ih the eastern part
of the State, due perhaps to the weight of the mass of
ice, permitted the sea water to enter this valley at
one stage. A glacial lake filled part of the Hudson
Valley as far south as northern Dutchess County.
In all these lakes more or less clay was deposited
where the water was deep and quiet. These differ
PHYSICAL AND CLIMATIC SETTING 27
from other clays in being more or less strewn with
bowlders, probably carried in on floating masses of
ice. Probably the lakes were not deep. There were
islands of glacial till formed from the mass of rock
debris left directly by the ice as it melted.
Long Island, which has a core of Cretaceous sedi-
ments, was also covered by the ice and has a rough
moraine along the northern shore and another diag-
onally through the central part from Brooklyn to
Montauk Point. On the south side the surface was
depressed below the sea during the retreat of the
glacial ice and during that period broad plains of
sand, sandy loam and clay were formed from the
glacial outwash of New England.
The net result of the glacial incursion was to de-
face the preglacial surface features, rub off the sharp
eminences, unevenly fill up many of the valleys and
hollows with till and sediments and to carve out
others perhaps a little more deeply. On the plains
area south of Lake Ontario the till or rock flour
from the grinding action of the ice was left in
rounded bunches that in some places conform to the
general rock surface and in others make tadpole
shaped hills, called drumlins. These latter are
widely distributed through the middle of the State
but are especially abundant west of Syracuse and
north of Auburn and Geneva. Wherever the general
surface was moderately flat, irregular undulations
were produced in which lakes and ponds were formed,
many of which are now marked by swamp areas that
28
RURAL NEW YORK
are made up of deposits of peat, muck and marl.
Through these, streams meander sluggishly in a very
winding channel.
GLACIAL rEATURES Or NEW )dRK6TAT[:
LCCCND {VCIV UHCKAIIIU))
WIkMoRAiN[ Bands ^^ Owmun Ocm/tcfcn
LrJ drmr/ON Dimnons LiJ bcusimc m Liimc
n]rni J,ctrmM,m ^''^'' ^'°'"'^'
MOMINIC ACUMULAWM
Fig. 3. Geological map of the State showing the general
direction of movement of glacial ice as indicated by
striations and the distribution of certain types of
glacial formations.
The course of all streams was changed more or
less. Some were sent over the edge of their old val-
leys and have cut deep gorges in the rock walls and
frequently important waterfalls have been produced
that have been the occasion for the location of more
than one settlement that has grown into a second or
PHYSICAL AND CLIMATIC SETTING 2d
thiril class city. Kochester and Little Falls are
the most notable examples of this effect.
Agriculturally, the glacial epoch had a profound
influence by its effect on the soils and on the lines of
travel. Mostly, it improved by producing better soil
and by smoothing the grades. A few grades it
steepened and gave a certain minor unevenness.
Such are the rises out of the deep north-south val-
leys and the over-hill roads through the drumlin re-
gions. Over the western part of the State, a general
mantle of till and rock debris was left and rock ex-
posures are infrequent. In the northern and east-
ern parts where the rock relief is more bold and where
the formations are more resistent, the earth cover-
ing is not so general and rock exposures are com-
mon and cut the country into irregular areas that are
difficult of agricultural development, especially in this
latter day when operations may be carried on with
large machines.
DRAINAGE SYSTEMS AND LINES OP
COMMUNICATION
New York State is well watered and well served by
waterways. It has ocean frontage, an extensive
shore line on two of the Great Lakes, many large
and small interior lakes and navigable and important
rivers, and other channels connecting the best parts
of the State with the ports of the world.
The gatew^ay to the ocean is at New York City
where, although the effective shore-line is short, the
harbor facilities are remarkably good. The long
30 RURAL JfEW YORK
shore-line of Long Island is generally low and flat
and does not afford good ports for large vessels. Of
course ships may pass on the Sound as well as through
the " Narrows " between Long and Staten islands.
The partially submerged rock gorge of the Hudson
River, with the inundated side channels that form
the East and Harlem rivers, make a sheltered port on
deep waterways having an unusual length for a
single city. At the same time, the low gradient of
the upper course of the river with the lack of large
tributaries that are active in erosion permit the
maintainence of the harbor in first class condition
for the largest boats and this is accomplished with
the minimum of labor. The largest ocean vessels
find ready wharfage in the heart of the Greater New
York district and may readily pass many miles up
the Hudson River. At the same time, the land-
locked harbor guarded across the Narrows by Long
and Staten islands affords safe protection from the
ocean storms.
On the Great Lakes the State has a total frontage
of approximately 275 miles, one-fourth on Lake Erie
and the remainder on Lake Ontario. The elevations
of the surface of these lakes above sea level are 573
feet and 247 feet respectively. The harbors on either
lake are not especially good. Buffalo is the port of
entry on the former, Oswego and Rochester on the
latter. By means of the Welland Canal across the
neck of the province of Ontario, Canada, between the
two lakes, large vessels may pass between all the,
Great Lakes and out to sea by the northern route
PHYSICAL AND CLIMATIC SETTING 31
through the St. Lawrence Kiver. From the St.
Lawrence Eiver, medium-sized boats may also have
access to Lake Champlain and by canal to the Hudson
Eiver.
There are numerous interior lakes, mostly small
ones, the most important group being the Finger
Lakes in the deep north-south valleys in the western
part of the State. These are long and narrow and
usually of great depth, the bottom of Cayuga and
Seneca lakes reaching below sea level. Oneida
Lake a little to the northeast of the Finger Lakes
is the only other important interior body of water.
Most of these lakes have been useful as means of
travel and transport, having been connected up with
streams and canal systems to form lines of commu-
nication. Their place in this service is not now as
important as formerly, before railroads had been
extensively developed. In the Adirondack Mountain
region, there are hundreds of irregular lakes hid in
the hollows and forests and utilized only for fishing
and summer resorts.
The drainage of Xew York State falls into three
main divisions: the Atlantic through the Hudson,
Delaware and Susquehanna rivers; the St. Lawrence
through the Great Lakes and the Champlain; and
the Mississippi which embraces only a small terri-
tory in the southwest part of the State, represented
by the Allegheny system. Of these streams the Hud-
son is the only one that is navigable to an impor-
tant extent and on this large boats may pass as iar
as Albany.
32 RURAL NEW YORK
• The most important ti'ibutary to the Hudson is
the Mohawk River that occupies the broad valley be-
tween the Adirondacks and the Catskill Mountains
and whose course forms part of a very important
thoroughfare of travel. Both the Hudson and Mo-
hawk Eivers head in the southern foothills of the
Adirondacks, and receive the drainage from the
north and east sides of the Catskill Mountains and
from the slopes east of the Hudson, including tlie
Hoosic River as. the largest tributary.
The St. Lawrence River receives the drainage of
the northern third of the State, including that which
flows into the Great Lakes.
The drainage of the southern highland is mostly
reversed from that of the general slope of the coun-
try and instead of passing northward is carried to
the south into the Delaware, Susquehanna and Alle-
gheny systems. The exception is the Genesee River
in the middle western part which cuts entirely
across the State from south to north and empties
into Lake Ontario above Rochester. A little drain-
age also goes out in that direction through the
Finger Lakes.
The headwaters of the three south-flowing rivers
mentioned are located on the very brink of the up-
land overlooking the Great Lakes plains. The water
within three or four miles of Lake Erie flows south
into the Mississippi system. These main lines of
drainage guided the course of early emigration and
the overland paths between drainage systems are
PHYSICAL AND CLIMATIC SETTING 33
marked by villages and cities, such as Rome and Buf-
falo.
The course of the streams, small and large, is ir-
regular in direction and grade. The glacial influence
superimposed on the general rock topography has
made them a succession of sluggish winding chan-
nels and plunging rapids or cataracts. Waterfalls
are common and are extensively employed. There is
a large development of these falls at Rochester, Little
Falls, Glens Falls and Watertown, and, of course, at
Niagara Falls. Numerous small falls are used and
in addition there is a large horse power in waterfalls
not yet utilized. Among these may be mentioned
that on the larger streams flowing out from the Adi-
rondack Mountains and that of the Upper Falls of
the Genesee at Portage, where there is the oppor-
tunity to construct a large storage dam to equalize
the flow of water, and at the same time relieve the
lower channel of the water that frequently causes
disastrous floods. It has been proposed to develop
electric power from these falls and distribute it under
State superisvion to fanns as well as to city enter-
prises.
Further, the State abounds in springs and one of
the features of its hospitality is the wayside water-
ing-trough on almost every highway, perpetually
supplied from these sources. Incidently, it may be
mentioned that a certain amount of tax is remitted
to each land owner who maintains such a conven-
ience on a highway.
34 RURAL NEW YORK
New York State has an extensive canal system now
largely fallen into disuse, with the exception of the
one great thoroughfare, the Barge Canal, successor
to the Erie Canal, and its tributaries which the State
is just now completing. The total mileage that has
been constructed is about 800, of which about 530
miles is now in service. The greater part of this is
represented by the Barge Canal which connects the
Hudson Eiver at Troy with Lake Erie at Buffalo
through the Mohawk Valley and across the Great
Lakes plain. It utilizes the channel of rivers and
lakes where possible. Extensive locks are required.
Branches also connect it with Lake Ontario at Os-
wego, and with Cayuga and Seneca Lakes at the up-
per ends of which are terminal facilities. The Erie
Canal was first finished in 1836, enlarged in 1840 to
a depth of seven feet with corresponding width and
has just now been entirely reconstructed and further
enlarged to a twelve-foot channel to carry large
barges, under the name of the Barge Canal.
The other important canal is the Champlain which
connects the navigable portion of the Hudson River
at Troy with the foot of Lake Champlain through the
pass by Fort Edward, Fort Anne and Whitehall.
This also has been enlarged to Barge Canal dimen-
sions.
Other important canals that should be mentioned
because of the part they played in the early develop-
ment of the country are the Delaware and Hudson
Canal, connecting the Hudson Eiver at Rondout
with Honesdale, Pennsylvania, which was opened in
PHTf?ICAL AND CLIMATIC SETTING 35
1828; the Chenango Canal, connecting the Mohawk
Eiver at Utica with the Susquehanna Eiver at Bing-
hamton, completed in 1837; and several shorter
canals acting as feeders between the Erie Canal sys-
tem and the river systems on the south boundary of
the State.
In the days before the advent of railroads, when
the country was still new, the completion of these
cheap means of travel and freighting were a strong
impetus to agricultural production and development.
The course of nearly all the canals is now paralleled
by railroads, some of which follow the old tow-path of
the canal. By their mobility, speed and the possi-
bility of reaching outlying sections not practicable to
be reached by water routes, the railroads have largely
supplanted the canal systems and give better and
more complete service for any but the most heavy and
slow-moving freight, such as lumber, grain, ore and
fuel.
A glance at any modern map of the State will
show the extent and the general position of the rail-
roads. In 1915 there were 8550 miles of steam road
and 5000 miles of electric road. The great part of
this mileage is coordinated into a half dozen great
systems of regional or transcontinental spread.
Thereby, through travel is greatly facilitated. The
real course and position of these roads is not so ap-
parent from the ordinary map. The topography of
the State has exerted a large effect on them and has
given to one place and taken from another where
their natural advantages were otherwise equal.
36 RURAL XEW YORK
The big factor in efficient aud cheap lines of travel
is the grade and the elevation to be overcome.
Every pound raised and every foot it is raised re-
quires a corresponding amount of power. This means
the consumption of fuel as well as expense in equip-
ment. Consequently, lines of travel seek the courses
of least resistance. They keep to the valleys or climb
the hills part way to dodge over a low divide or
through it in a tunnel to the next valley. The di-
rection and grade of the valleys determine their
availability for transport. Eeference to the discus-
sion of the topography of the State will point out the
practicable lines of travel. The same topographic
features that hamper travel have interfered with ag-
ricultural and industrial development, and hence
have put a further handicap on their expansion. All
the more important valleys, as well as lines of con-
nection across the plains, are occupied by railroads.
The electric road with its still greater elasticity is
reaching places not practicable for steam roads and
the motor bus and truck are still further extending
the service to remote regions. The prevailing north
and south course of the valleys in the highlands makes
cross country travel in the other direction circuitous
and difficult. Further, the first slope from the val-
leys is likely to be quite steep which greatly limits
the load and the speed of travel. The development
of the State and the extension of particular enter-
prises, especially agriculture, must be with due regard
for these physical limitations.
PHYSICAL AND CLIMATIC SETTING
37
PHYSIOGRAPHY AND INDUSTRY (See FigS. 4-9)
The distribution of the population of the State is
an unconscious conformity to these natural forces.
The great cities have grown up at the gateways
where are the big exchanges, transfer, trade and in-
dustry, at New York and Buffalo. In the valleys or
^ as
— ■
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f av£
yoo,^
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r— .
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II''
/f^fA
7oy£e
JiSr-'
.-tSiJ
— .
^^^
^•^
^^
T07>ili. y1/r£>1 or SrAITT": 'f9./70 3yn/es
^/fif>f or yvAITr/f: /,SSO » 77
i'°
II'
/(5
fSO
/s
SO
J6
TO
/«
?o
/a.
w
/9
OO
/3'
ii.
PffofV/fTJCw or /f(//f/^i. ro ror/^i.
Af/i.e-/0/VS
8 e •♦
20 40 £0 80
w;;
~T~
-jr
Fig. 5. Diagram showing the proportions of urban and
rural population and the distribution of the latter
between the village and the country in 1910.
Eoughly stated, about 71 per cent of the land in
the State is in farms. The remainder is mostly in
mountains and forests. An appreciable area is oc-
cupied by cities, towns, villages, roads and similar
cultural features.
Of the area in farms, 33 per cent is in woods.
Over half of this is also used for pasture. Including
the woodland, 36 per cent of the farm land is in
pasture. Of the cleared land in farms, 57 per cent
is in hay and pasture. About 59 per cent of the
farm area is tillable.
An analysis of the rural population which consti-
tutes only about 20 per cent of the total population of
the State shows the following distribution :
• = 1.000
• B 10.000
CIRCLE PROPORUONMf
TO SIZE OF CITJES
• = 1.000
♦ ~ lO.OOO
SCALE:
. <=■ 200
• =s 2.000
Fig. 6. Number and distribution of population in the State
by place of residence: a. country; b. village; c. city; d.
country population of foreign birth; e. decrease in popu-
lation 1900 to 1910.
39
40 RURAL NEW YORK
Table I. Distribution of Edral Population
1910 Total rural population 1,928,120
1910 Total country population 1,575,826
1917 Total farm population 830,517
1917 Total men and boys over 14 years 339,019
1917 Total women and girls over 14 years 271,333
1916 Number of hired men 104,332
1917 Number of hired men 88,310
1918 Number of hired men 47,433
1917 Percentasre of farms having hired men 21.1
1918 Number of farms 200,903
While the figures for 1910 and 1917 are not en-
tirely comparable, yet they are closely related.
This tabulation shows that 43 per cent of the rural
population actually live on farms, and that about
40 per cent of that farm population is men and boys
fourteen years of age or older. There is an average
of 1.7 men and boys to a farm and as the average
size of farm is 95 acres, the average amount of land
handled a man is 56 acres. However, the average
number of crop acres a farm is only 41 acres and the
number of crop acres handled a man is 24 acres.
By adding to the number of men the number of
women and girls who work in the field, the crop acre-
age a person would be reduced to about 20 acres.
The rapid decrease in the number of hired men on
farms in recent years indicates the difficulty of the
labor problem on the farm. An indication of the
unsettled social conditions is found in the propor-
tions of males to females on farms, which in 1917
were 1.2 and 1.
A relief map of the State representing the lowest
elevations by the darkest color and the highest ele-
PHYSICAL AND CLIMATIC SETTING
41
vations by successively lighter shades would to a very
large extent represent the distribution of population,
modified a little by the artificial means of communi-
cation.
I [ >JW »tM flD VW cut
\\'^ to to 40*0 tan
Fig. 7. Proportion of land area in farms by counties in
1910. Average percentage for the entire State 72.2.
CLIMATE OF NEW YORK STATE (See Fig. 10)
The climate of Xew York exhibits wide variations
in all its elements. These result not only from the
size of the State but also from its elevation, its varia-
tion in surface features, its position with reference
to large bodies of water, the Atlantic Ocean and the
Great Lakes, and finally from its position on the
I DOT = 830,000
I DOT = S200.000
%^
I 0OT =
t DOT = S5,000
I I Less than |10 per son.
no to xa per acre.
125 to )50 per acre.
liO to 175 per acre.
fegga 175 to )100 per acre.
1100 to 1125 per acre.
1126 and over per acic.
Fig, 8. Value of farm real estate and buildings and the
amount of expenditures specified: a. value of buildings-
b. expenditures for labor; c. average value of farm land
an acre ; d. value of farm implements ; e. expenditures for
fertilizers.
42
a JJa
I DOTS 10 FARMS
i DOTsilO FARMS
\ DOT = 40 FARMS
I DOT = 2 FARMS
I DOT = 40 FARMS ^l||V3^
Fig. 9. Distribution of farms by size in 1910: a. 3 to 9
acres; b. 20 to 49 acres; c. 100 to 174 acres; d. 260 to
499 acres; e. 1000 or more acres.
43
44
RURAL NEW YORK
continent with reference to the general course of the
cyclonic areas that pass across the country in more
or less regular succession. As a result of these con-
ditions, it exhibits the three main types of climate:
(a) the marine on Long Island and the southeast
Fig. 10. Showing the climatological districts in the State.
point of the State; (b) the continental on the south-
ern New York plateau; and (c) mountainous climate,
especially well developed in the Adirondacks.
On the basis of the direction of wind movement
and temperature and distribution of the precipitation,
the State may be subdivided into ten divisions, the
PHYSICAL AND CLIMATIC SETTING 45
limits of which are shown iu Fig. 10. The first or-
ganization for local climatic observations in America
was that inaugurated by the New York Board of
Regents in 1826 in cooperation with numerous acad-
emies under their supervision, which arrangement was
continued until 1863. Shortly after that date, other
agencies took up the work and continued it with some
degree of completeness until 1900, when the ISTational
Weather Service was inaugurated with which the
State service was atHliated.
The passage of the storm centers through the Great
Lakes region is accompanied by shifts in the direction
of the wind, but a westerly course prevails. These
disturbances occur at intervals of three or four days
in winter and with less frecpency and strength in
■summer. At any point in the State, the wind may
on occasion come from any point of the compass.
The velocity varies widely and sometimes exceeds the
speed of the fastest express train, but it seldom ex-
hibits the type or the violence of the tornado. The
southerly winds are most common in the extreme
west and in the southeast part of the State.
In addition to tlie general wind movements, there
are local winds, usually of moderate velocity. In the
Long Island province a sea breeze is recognized in
quiet weather. It is most prominent late in the day
and may attain a velocity of ten to fifteen miles an
hour. The land breeze is best developed in the latter
part of the night. The sea breeze reaches inland
about ten miles, and this may be augmented somewhat
by the prevailing wind.
46 RURAL NEW YORK
Adjacent to the Great Lakes a similar but less
noticeable land and lake breeze is recognized. In
the regions of steep topography, local breezes are de-
veloped by the flow of the cooled air down the slopes.
Where narrow gorges connect elevated country with
deep valleys, distinct breezes are observed in the eve-
ning that sometimes attain a velocity of eight or ten
miles an hour in the mouth of these gorges. Such
breezes are best developed in the plateau and moun-
tain regions. These are drafts determined by un-
equal cooling of the atmosphere as soon as the sun
gets low, coupled with their guidance by the form of
the land surface. There is a less perceptible move-
ment down broad slopes. These local movements have
been observed in the valleys of southern New York
often to be opposed entirely to the general wind move-
ment 800 or 300 feet above the surface.^ In the hill
and mountain regions, the exposure of the crests and
the higher slopes facing the prevailing storms to the
vigor of the high winds, especially in the extreme
temperatures of winter, makes a wide variation in
conditions for living and for the growth of trees, and
thereby affects agricultural development. Farms
seek the sheltered positions for home sites. In ad-
dition the freedom from sweeping winds in such
sheltered situations permits the snow to lay on the
ground to prevent the destructive action of frequent
freezing and thawing and protect winter crops from
low temperature.
1 Turner, E. T. " The Physical Geography of New York
State," R. S. Tarr. Macmillan Co., 1902, p. 340.
PHYSICAL AND CLIMATIC SETTItfO 47
The normal range in temperature that might be
expected from the reach of the State across four de-
grees of latitude is four degrees Fahrenheit. The
normal range in temperature that might be expected
due to the range in elevation from sea level to 5,379
feet at the crest of ^Mount Marcy is approximately
eighteen degrees Fahrenheit, or one for each 300 feet
elevation. Long-time records show that the range in
average temperature may exceed that, during the cold-
est months of winter when it reaches twenty degrees
— ten degrees on either side of the normal. In sum-
mer the range of average temperature from year to
year is ten to twelve degrees. Those regions which
have the coolest mean climate are likely to have the
largest range of extreme temperature.
A critical phase of temperature with reference to
crop growth is the date of the last killing frost in
spring and the first in fall, which mark the limits
of the crop-growing period. The average length of
the growing season determined by these limits is
presented in Fig. 11. Less elevated regions have the
greatest freedom from late and early frosts and, there-
fore, enjoy the longest growing season. Since each
crop has an average minimum season in which it can
mature, these weather conditions have a determining
influence in the growth of particular crops. On the
southern plateau, the maturity of the ordinary varie-
ties of corn is very uncertain because of the shortness
and irregularity of the seasons. In the mountain re-
gions, severe frosts may occur any month in the year.
Proximity to large bodies of water also affects the
48
RURAL NEW YORK
liability to untimely frost. Since water changes tem-
perature much slower than land and the air in con-
tact with the water is similarly affected, these land
areas so situated as to receive the prevailing winds
from over such bodies of water are correspondingly
Fig. 11. Showing the average number of days between kill-
ing frosts in spring and fall which corresponds to the
average length of the growing season.
tempered. This advantage is held by the Great Lakes
plain. The water in Lake Ontario maintains an av-
erage temperature of ten to fifteen degrees warmer
in winter and cooler in summer than the adjacent
land areas. The success of growing fruit on the lake
plains is largely due to the freedom from untimely
PHYSICAL AND CLIMATIC SETTING 49
frosts as well as the tempering influence of Lakes
Erie and Ontario over which the prevailing wind
comes into that region. This insures the better ma-
turity of the wood and buds which increases their
power of resistance. The greater uniformity of the
winter weather keeps them dormant and resistant.
The effect is especially noticeable on peaches.
The smaller inland lakes are considered to have a
similar though smaller effect on the weather in their
immediate vicinity and their ameliorating effect is
said to be most noticeable on the eastern shore.
The weather of the Long Island and Lower Hud-
son Valley provinces is similarly modified. This
ha.:; favored the development of the vegetable industry
around New York City.
In the plateau province there may be a wide range
in the length of season between the valleys and nearby
hill regions. This difference is well illustrated by
Ithaca and Perry City within twelve miles of each
other in Tompkins County.
Liability to frost is also determined by topographic
position in another way. As a result of the circula-
tion of air in response to differences in temperature,
the cold air settles into low pockets and deep flat
valleys where frosts are frequent. On the highest
points they are also likely to occur, due to rapid radia-
tion and cooling at night. Consequently, the regions
most free from frost are the intermediate elevations
having a fair slope so that there is free circulation of
air. The swamp and muck lands are generally liable
to unseasonable frost because of these relations. The
50 RURAL NEW YORK
intermediate levels are the most desirable farm sites.
Keference to the flow of water will often aid in
reaching an estimate of the air circulation and lia-
bility to frost of a particular section.
Another element of temperature variation is the
direction of slope. South and east slopes are warm-
est and west and north slopes are colder in the order
named.
The mean annual rainfall for New York State
ranges from 25 to more than 50 inches. The lowest
rainfall occurs on the Great Lakes plain, in the cen-
tral lakes region and in the upper part of the Cham-
plain Valley.
The higher amount of rainfall is also in three
regions, on the southwest slope of the Adirondack
Mountains, on Long Island and over the heel of
the State in the lower Hudson Valley. The Cat-
skill Mountains and the eastern plateau section have
a relatively high rainfall. The prevailing winds as
they move east over the Great Lakes strike the rising
country of the Adirondacks and by passing up this
slope are lowered in temperature so that a part of
their moisture must be precipitated. The same thing
occurs to the winds that sweep up from the Atlantic
and encounter the highlands in the lower part of
the Hudson Valley and Catskills. On the other
hand, the low rainfall in the Central Lakes region and
the Champlain Valley occurs where the wind has
passed over an elevation and its capacity for moisture
is increased by its rising temperature. On the Great
Lakes shore the wind from the lakes encounters the
PHYSICAL AND CLIMATIC SETTING
51
warming influence of the land with low elevation
which increases its capacity for moisture and reduces
the precipitation. The mean precipitation is shown
in Fig. 12.
The precipitation is greater in summer than in
winter, in many ways a propitious fact. It insures
CD
Fig. 12. Average annual precipitation in different parts of
the State.
a better supply of moisture for crop growth, and by
reducing the accumulation of snow in winter reduces
the damage from floods due to melting snow, although
it may sometimes expose winter crops to a little more
severe climate and physical stress due to the lack
of the snow covering.
52
RURAL NEW YORK
The mean summer precipitation is shown in Fig.
13. The winter precipitation falls largel}' as snow.
The regions of high precipitation are in the main
those of low winter temperature. Long Island and
the lower Hudson Valley are an exception to the rule.
Fig. 13. Average amount of precipitation in inches in the
three summer months of June, July, and August in dif-
ferent parts of the State.
Local storms and thundershowers develop most fre-
quently on the western half of the southern plateau
and on the western flank of the Adirondack Moun-
tains. They travel eastward, a little more rapidly
through the Mohawk Valley regions than over the
uplands. The hour of the loudest thunder which is
synonymous with the most violent electrical disturb-
ance is about two or three o'clock in the afternoon
PHYSICAL AND CLIMATIC SETTIJfG 53
at Buffalo and is progressively later toward the east
until it occurs between twelve and one o'clock at
night in the lower Hudson Valley region. The
topographic hollow in the Finger Lakes region ia
most subject to secondary local storms.
The proportion of cloudiness which is the obverse
of clear weather varies as a mean over the State from
a little less than 50 per cent to over 65 per cent.
The higher proportion of cloudiness is not directly
associated with the precipitation. Southeastern
Few York has the largest amount of clear weather
since the moisture-ladened winds from the ocean tend
to drift eastward. The winter is more cloudy than
the summer, especially in the Great Lakes region
where the range is from 80 or 85 per cent in De-
cember and January to about 45 per cent in July and
August.
The relative humidity is another factor in the
weather, of considerable importance both to crop
production and personal comfort. High humidity
not only makes extremes of temperature more un-
pleasant but it promotes the growth of fungous organ-
isms, including many disease-producing forms. The
annual humidity at different points ranges from 70
to 79 per cent in the lowland areas, to 60 in the
upland regions. It is highest in the vicinity of Buf-
falo and New York City. In general it is higher in
winter than in summer.
Sleet storms are most common a little way in-
land from the shore of the Great Lakes. Hail is
most common in the Central Lakes region and on the
54 RURAL NEW YORK
northern rim of the southern plateau where also local
storms most frequently occur.
Disastrous floods occur in all parts of the State on
occasion and are determined somewhat by the condi-
tion of the drainage system. Abnormal rainfall is
most common in the Central Lakes and southern
plateau region in association with the prevalence of
local storms. In such cases a rainfall of several
inches may fall in a few hours and constitute what is
known as a " cloudburst." Such downpours are very
destructive as a result of erosion and flooding.
The distribution of crops in New York State is
determined in considerable measure by these local
differences in climate. The fruit regions have a
long growing season and a stability of winter climate
that protect against winter-injury. Corn, beans, cab-
bage and vegetables thrive best in the lowland regions
of high summer temperature and high humidity.
This localizes their extensive production very largely
to the central part of the Great Lakes province and
the Long Island and lower Hudson divisions. Po-
tatoes are grown most extensively under the cool
climate of Long Island, northern New York and the
west central plateau region. Different factors com-
bine in these regions to produce conditions favor-
able to particular crops. Grapes are grown under
the influence of the dry sunny climate of the Erie
Lake plain and the Central Lakes region, combined
with immunity from frost, part of which is secured
by elevation and the careful selection of the slope.
For the forage and vegetable crops, one of the most
PHYSICAL AND CLIMATIC SETTING 55
determinate factors in success is the summer rainfall
and curves showing the total rainfall in the summer
season and the yield of hay and corn correspond very
closely. Departures from the normal weather ele-
ments are large and in the case of rainfall raise the
question of the practicability of irrigation. This de-
pends on the actual frequency and extent of variation
of the rainfall, the nature and value of the crops and
the cost of applying water. In general, irrigation
will be practicable only on crops of high acre value
and then only on the coarser soils of low moisture ca-
pacity.
CHAPTEI? IT
HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE IN NEW YORK
The first white men came into New York in 1G09,
two years after tlie settlement at Jamestown, Yir-
jjinia, and eleven years before the Puritans landed at
Plymoutli, Massachusetts. In July of that year
Champlain entered the lake region, that now bears liis
name, from the north, and Captain Hendrick Hudson
discovered the Hudson Piver and spent the month of
September on it. He sailed up the river to the head
of tide-water at what is now Albany. With his crew
he interchanged courtesies with the Indians and
later bought of them fruits, maize and otlier prod-
ucts of the soil.
The permanent settlement of New York began in
1623. In that year Peter Minuet acquired from the
Indians their claim to Manhattan ("Manna hatta")
Island for twenty-four dollars. Farms, which were
called boweries, were laid out on that island and on
adjacent parts of Long Island. To the regiou the
Dutch gave the name New Amsterdam. In succeed-
ing years, under supervision of the Dutch West Indies
Company, settlements of Dutch were planted along
the Hudson Eiver as far north as Albany or Fort
Orange and among these was a considerable number
of Walloons or Belgian French.
56
HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE 57
In considering the development of the settlement,
it is important to keep clearly in mind the physical
nature of the country and the more accessible lines
of travel, which were the waterways and the low
passes between the hills. The new settlement was
peculiarly situated in tliat respect, a fact that was
more vital to its later development than to its early
expansion. The wonderful harbor, the navigable
tide-water as far as Albany together with the low
pass into the interior of Xew York State, and also
the great middle section of the United States,
through the ^lohawk Valley and the Great Lakes re-
gion, have cooperated to make this route the main
gateway to the middle country and to maintain an
organic connection between the peoples and customs
in this eastern region and those in the more westerly
districts.
AGRICULTURE OF THE INDIANS
The territory of central New York from the east-
ern part of the ]\Iohawk Valley to west of the Genesee
River was the home and the stronghold of the Five
and later the Six Nations of Indians to whom the
French gave the name Iroquois. They called them-
selves Hodenosounce and in some cases Onguie-
Honwe, the latter meaning " the men or people of
the Long House." This term was descriptive of the
type of their dwelling-houses which were long frame
structures of poles and bark, built in compartments,
and in which lived several families of the same clan.
(See Plate II.)
58 RURAL NEW YORK
The geographic situation of this Indian confed-
eracy was peculiarly strategic. It lay at the headwa-
ters of great rivers that flow to all points of the com-
pass. It is the setting for an empire and New York
seeks to live up to that standard of outlook, as is
indicated by its popular synonym " The Empire
State." In view of the limited means of travel, the
situation of the Iroquois gave them a distinct ad-
vantage in conflict with the neighboring tribes, all
of which tended to strengthen their confederacy and
to build up a high state of social and industrial de-
velopment. They probably acquired many useful
ideas and customs from the tribes with which they
had contact.
In form of government, in the structure of their
houses and villages, and in their agricultural prac-
tices, the Iroquois had reached a high state of devel-
opment. They were composed originally of five
tribes — the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Caj'-ugas,
and the Senecas, situated in regions of which their
names are still indicative. Later, the Tuscaroras of
North Carolina were conquered and adopted into the
Confederacy, and occupied the region adjacent to the
Niagara Eiver, The tribal councils of sachems and
chiefs were assembled in inter-tribal conference at the
council house or castle in the Onondaga Valley.
They were bound together by recognized principles
of cooperation and the rudiments of democratic gov-
ernment in which female suffrage was recognized.
It is said that the early colonial assemblies in New
York that led ultimately to the Articles of Confedera-
B
w
a
3
O
o
5
o
a*
o
Id
O
1;
HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE 59
tion and the Constitution of the United States were
patterned somewhat after the Indian councils. The
Indian Confederacy was claimed to have existed for
six generations. The total Iroquois Indian popula-
tion is said never to have numbered more than
fourteen thousand after the advent of the white man.
In addition, there were the Erie and other tribes in
the western counties.
The Iroquois had numerous villages protected by
stockades of poles driven into the ground and equipped
with defensive platforms. Adjacent to the villages
were cleared and cultivated fields sometimes reach-
ing one or two hundred acres in extent, usually on
low land along rivers or lakes. Notable among these
were fields at Indian Castle, east of Little Falls on
the flats of the Mohawk, Onondaga Castle, south of
Syracuse, Seneca Castle near Geneva, at Honeoye
Falls, and a very large field in the Genesee Valley
between Geneseo (Big Tree) and the present site of
Mt. Morris. Other important settlements were near
Elmira, Binghamton and at Peach Orchard Point,
now Aurora.
Maize and beans, pumpkins and squash seem to
have been the main crops. General Sullivan's raid
in 1779, by which the strength of the Indians in cen-
tral New York was broken, is reported to have de-
stroyed great stores of corn and other crops at the
different settlements aggregating more than 300,000
bushels. The maize included flint, sweet and pop
varieties. In addition, peas, turnips and other vege-
tables and tobacco were grown. Winter stores were
00 RURAL NEW YORK
preserved in chests and in deep pits. Vegetables were
dried and meats were smoked, but the act of preserv-
ing with salt was not known. Many native fruits, in-
cluding the wild grape, were used. With the? advent
of the white man, the Indians were brought into
touch with the European fruits, the apple, peacli,
cherry and pear. They were particularly attracted
by the apple and developed extensive plantings.
They had an orchard on Stockbridge Hill in Madi-
son County, and early observers report that in the
Seneca Lake region and in the Genesee Valley there
were thousands of apple trees, some of which near
Geneva were still standing as late as the opening of
the twentieth century. Peach Orchard Point, or Au-
rora, is suggestive of the growth of peaches there
and trees of that fruit were scattered through the
later Indian settlement. From certain reports the
Indians seem early to have adopted some live-stock, .
but the abundance of wild game and fish made do-
mestic animals scarcely necessary to their sustenance.
EARLY SETTLEMENT BY THE WHITE MEN
The spread of the early population was slow.
Fifty years after the first settlement, Schenectady was
the most remote organized outpost. During the
eighteenth century, settlements spread up the Mohawk
Valley, and as late as 1790 in all western jSTew York
beyond Cayuga Lake, there were only about one thou-
sand white persons. To encourage settlement and
develop trade, the Dutch West Indies Company ar-
ranged for grants of large tracts of land to persons
HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE 61
who would bring into the new country fifty adult
settlers within four years. These grants were to
have a frontage of sixteen miles on the Hudson River,
eight on either shore, and with indefinite boundaries
inland. This was the basis of the Patroon settle-
ments by which the owners of these grants were
known. The Patroon was obliged to divide his land
into farms and to aid in their equipment, with build-
ings, tools, seeds, plants and stock. Pent was in
stock and produce, usually fifty bushels of wheat a
farm. Tenancy was for ten years, during which
the tenant was securely bound to the Patroon who
was officer and court. In addition to the first right
to purchase the tenant's products, he controlled the
rights to establish mills and to fish and hunt.
The largest and most noteworthy grant of this
sort was to Killan Van Rensselaer who acquired 700,-
000 acres extending from Albany, which he founded
in 1630, twenty-five miles south along the river and
forty-five miles inland. In 1684 after New Amster-
dam had become permanently English and changed
its name to New York, Chancellor Livingston ac-
quired a tract of 160,240 acres further south in the
Hudson Valley in what is now lower Columbia and
northern Dutchess counties. By the English these
grants were made from time to time but the principle
of tenancy rather than actual ownership by the op-
erators of the land was firmly established and led to
important agrarian movements that are still visible
in the political structure of the State.
In 1685 the Huguenots or French Protestants came
62 RURAL NEW YORK
into Ulster County, having already a foothold in
Westchester County into which Puritans from New
England and Quakers from Long Island and Rhode
Island had filtered. About the beginning of the
eighteenth century the West German Protestants, or
Palatines, were very much unsettled in their home
country and through the influence of Governor
Hunter of New York, 3,000 came to the colony, 3,277
of them were distributed through the settlements up
the Hudson Valley. Many were located on Living-
ston Manor and got out tar and resin. Within a
year there was a strike and some of these settlers
were induced by the Indians to go into the Mohawk
Valley where they located at Stone Arabia and Pala-
tine Bridge in ^lontgomery County.
To a considerable extent the pioneer settlements
throughout the early American colonies were a Prot-
estant search for religious liberty. Puritan, Palatine,
Huguenot, Quaker and Adventist, Methodist, Baptist
and Episcopal with many other sects have formed
strong chains of settlements that spread throughout the
State from their earlier foothold in this east country.
The introduction of Dutch immigrants was not
active after the acquisition of New York by the Eng-
lish. Then the latter, largely from New England,
spread westward in nearly straight lines modified,
of course, by the easier lines of travel. They dom-
inated the settlement of all western New York, prob-
ably in large part because much of that region was
claimed by Massachusetts, which retained preemption
rights even after the relinquishment of its political
HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE 63
claim about 1790. Welsh came into lower Oneida
County, Scotch and Irish into Otsego and some
Scotch into Genesee, French filtered into northern
New York and the St. Lawrence Valley from lower
Canada. Some Germans settled in western New York
from Pennsylvania. The different nationalities came
somewhat in successive waves. After the Revolu-
tionary War, many German and English soldiers re-
mained as settlers, and Yankees from New England
took up the confiscated Tory lands, such as those of
Sir William Johnson in the Mohawk country. After
Sullivan's expedition into western New York in 1779,
many of his soldiers returned to that region as set-
tlers. After the early stocks came the Irish in the
early part of the nineteenth century, many Germans
in the middle, and Poles, Hungarians and Italians
in the latter part. All these have been distributed
widely wherever large public works have been con-
structed, and they have remained in those regions to
enter more permanent industries, including agricul-
ture. The early settlements of different nationali-
ties and religions soon became so much intermingled
that there is now very little evidence of the persis-
tence or domination of the peculiar agricultural cus-
toms of any one group. Perhaps the inclination of
the Germans to establish small farms is one such
custom. (See Fig. 14.)
On the whole, the various nationalities and the dif-
ferent religious sects have blended their customs and
have developed a general tolerance quite character-
istic of the New World.
Fig. 14. Numbers and distribution of rural population of
foreign stock by nationalities in 1910. One dot equals
500 persons: a. English; b. German; c. Canadian (not
French); d. Scotch; e. Austrian; f. French; g. Rus-
sian; li. Irish; i. Norwegian; j. Italian.
64
HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE 65
EARLY ROUTES AXD MEANS OF TRAVEL
Of the early routes of travel, the Hudson and the
Moliawk valleys have been mentioned. At the pres-
ent site of Eome was the portage to Wood Creek
from which Oneida Lake and the Seneca and Oswego
rivers were accessible and led to the Finger Lakes
and Lake Ontario. The rivers, lakes and the other
parallel valleys opened the way to the middle hill
region. From Utica a line of travel led up Black
Eiver to the Jefferson County region. The Lake
George and Lake Champlain valleys opened up the
country to the north. In lower New York, low
passes led through the Catskills to the headwaters
of the Delaware and Susquehanna rivers on which
it was possible to float down stream into the new
country. The boats were also pushed up these rivers
by poles. From the Susquehanna its westerly tribu-
taries could be followed into the hill regions of lower
western New York, past Elmira and Hornell to the
headwaters of the Genesee River. In western New
York, the Genesee River was followed up to the pres-
ent region of Belmont or beyond, from which it was
possible to push a short distance overland to the Alle-
gheny River at Olean.
Many of these routes were traversed later by a
canal and still later by railroads. The first canal
in America is said to have been constructed in Orange
County in 1750. The great movement for the con-
struction of canals began about 1790 and was pushed
during the next twenty years both by the elder and
66 RURAL NEW YORK
the younger Governors Clinton and culminated in the
construction of the Erie Canal which was opened in
1825. From the main line of the Erie Canal a
number of branches were constructed in the subse-
quent fifteen years. Since New York State has al-
ways been preeminently agricultural, the opening of
these lines of travel and ready meaUs of moving heavy
freight were a great stimulus to its development by
affording an outlet for its products. Previously the
market for farm products had been essentially local.
The strength of this statement will be recognized by
considering that the only other method of movement
of farm products was by wagon or the movement of
stock on foot. Wheat was hauled from the Finger
Lakes region to Albany. In 1791, General Joshua
Whitney drove cattle from Binghamton to market
in Philadelphia and returned by flat (Durham) boat
and wagon with merchandise. The most important
period of development in New York was the first half
of the nineteenth century and especially following
the construction of the canals and the first railways.
Shortly after the opening of the Erie Canal, the Hud-
son Valley farmers complained that Genesee wheat
was flooding their market. Northern New York was
effectively settled about the same time as western
New York and as a part of the same general move-
ment.
Antedating canals were the trails and wagon roads.
A post road was early established along the Hudson
from New York to Albany. A good road was ex-
tended up to Clinton County. The Newburg and Co-
HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE 67
hocton turnpike led to the Delaware Eiver and cen-
tral Sullivan County. A road was early developed
along the Mohawk and at Utica left the river and
followed a course by Wampsville and Syracuse to
Auburn, and thence to Geneva and Canandaigua. It
was pushed through to Buffalo with branches to
Geneseo and a north fork west of the Genesee River
leading to Lewiston on the Niagara. This road was
opened to Auburn in 1789 and to the Genesee in
1791. At that time the western half was known as
the Genesee road and as it developed sections passed
under different names, such as Seneca Turnpike.
From the region of Utica a northern branch swung
around by Camden into Jefferson County, and as a
result of a special improvement was known as the
Plank road. Many of these early roads were im-
proved through the swamps by means of logs placed
crosswise and more or less covered with earth, known
as Corduroy. These were more substantial than com-
fortable to ride over, especially in the common spring-
less wagon of the region. Many of these old trunk
line roads have now been linked up in the state im-
proved highways system over which automobiles glide
with great speed where once oxen drew carts that
made slow, rumbling and jolted progress. Linked
with the early development of the canal was the in-
troduction of Fulton's steamboat, the Clermont,
which on August 7, 1807, traversed the Hudson at
the " remarkable speed " of a little more than five
miles an hour.
The Erie Canal, which was originally forty feet
G8 RURAL M'JW YORK
wide and three and one-half feet deep, and carried
boats of seventy-live tons' capacity, was enlarged be-
tween 1847 and 1852 to a width of seventy-five feet
and a depth of seven feet carrying one hundred fifty-
four tons, and later was enlarged to accommodate
two hundred twelve ton boats. As a result of the
larger capacity, and probably also due to competi-
tion with the railroads in the later periods, the freight
rates were successively reduced from $1.12 in 1839
to twelve cents in 1882 for carrying a ton from Buf-
falo to Albany. Between 1903 and 1920, the Erie
Canal was enlarged with some.changes in course to the
form of the Barge Canal. It is twelve feet deep and
will accommodate boats carrying three thousand tons
which will be moved by steam tugs instead of by
horses.
The construction of railroads followed close on
the opening of tlie Erie Canal. By 1832 the railroad
had reached Eochester and was operated by steam in
1837. The first line reaching across the State was
the Erie through the southern part and the first train
from New York reached Dunkirk in 1851. ISText
came the New York Central which, because of the low
elevation of its bed along the line of the Erie Canal
and the Hudson River, when taken in connection
with the large agricultural production along its route,
has come to be one of the heaviest lines of travel on
the continent.
Nearly all the existing lines of railroad were con-
structed by 1880. After 1895 the electric railroads
were developed along the lines of the more intensive
HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE G9
local travel, ofteu as branches to accommodate local
traffic. jSTow the automobile truck and bus lines are
cutting into the business of the electric and also of
the steam lines for local business, and by reason of
their elasticity are able to reach out into strictly rural
districts that were formerly very much handicapped
because of lack of transportation facilities. All these
means of travel have stimulated agricultural produc-
tion but when coupled with tlieir application to the re-
mainder of the country have brought trying indus-
trial problems through the wider range of competi-
tion.
TERRITORIAL DEVELOPMENT
The territorial expansion and organization of the
State are somewhat intricate to trace in any complete
way because the boundaries of the counties were
changed from time to time and several counties were
often made from a single earlier one. Much of the
original ownership of the land by the white men
rested on large grants by European crowns, or pur-
chases from the Indians, and on claims of the more
eastern colonies.
In the Hudson Valley the Dutch Patroons and the
English Manor estates occupied large tracts and de-
velojK^d an agricultural tenantry. But in a country
with so much cheap land, such a system could not be
very exacting as to rents. Long-time leases were
given and in the end the landlord was so far separated
from his land that by the end of the period, when he
came to claim his due, the tenant who had in the
70 RURAL NEW YORK
meantime made extensive improvement was likely to
resent the intrusion of such claims by the nominal
owner. This was the feudal tenure of the Patroons,
the practice of which between individuals was pro-
hibited by acts of the legislature of 1789. But that
act did not abolish the difficulties already started.
They were aggravated wherever there were large
estates in the ownership of absentee landlords. Con-
flicts of this sort fermented during the first part of
the nineteenth century in the Hudson Valley region
and later spread to the lands owned and disposed of
on contract by the Holland Land Company in west-
em New York. These culminated in the anti-rent
wars of 1836 to 1845 during which there were armed
conflicts in the east resulting in bloodshed, such as
those at Grafton, Rensselaer County and at Reidsville
in Albany County in 1839, and the burning of the
office and records of the Holland Land Company at
Mayville, Chautauqua County in 1836. In 1846, the
legislature set a limit of ten years to leases and abol-
ished all feudal tenures. This principle is now es-
tablished in the Constitution of the State.
The ownership of the farm land of the State is now
almost exclusively in small areas suitable for indi-
vidual farms or at most a very few farms, except in
the Genesee Valley where many thousand acres are
owned by the Wadsworth families, title to which
has come by inheritance from the pioneer acquisition.
Even these areas are divided into relatively small
farms and are operated under the ordinary lease
system. In this region is the nearest approach af-
HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE 71
forded by the State to the English manorial and
social system.
The Colonial assembly of 1683 established twelve
counties: IVew York, Richmond, Kings, Queens,
Suffolk, Westchester, Dutchess, Orange, Ulster and
Albany, and these included the present area of Rock-
land, Putnam and part of Columbia, and at the west
of Albany all the Mohawk Valley country as far as
any jurisdiction was claimed.
Tryon County was set off from Albany in 1784 and
embraced all central and western Xew York and out
of its territory more than a score of counties were
created directly and many others ultimately. Its last
remnant became Montgomery County. Herkimer
County, named after General Herkimer, the first
chairman of the home defense committee of Tryon
County, was set off from the latter, and from it
Onondaga and other counties were formed in 1788.
This region was largely comprised within the ]\Iassa-
chusetts Military tract of 600,000 acres lying be-
tween the Oswego and Chenango rivers, acquired
from the Indians by the treaty of Fort Stanwix in
1768. From it the counties of Onondaga (1817),
Cayuga (1817), Seneca (1816), Cortland (1808) and
parts of Tompkins (1817) and Oswego were carved.
Madison was created in 1806 and Oneida in 1816;
Broome County was formed from Tioga in 1806.
In 1779 all western New York beyond Seneca Lake
was included in the one county of Ontario, and at
that time had a total recorded population of only
1084 persons.
72 RURAL M:W YORK
The vast rich country was involved with the Mili-
tary tract in the claims oi' tlie State of Massachu-
setts, under grant of the King of England. Its claim
was adjusted with New York on December 16, 1786,
by which Massachusetts retained the preemption
right to settlement while all political authority was
reserved to New York. The eastern boundary of
this latter territory was roughly a line north and
south through Seneca Lake (due north from the 82nd
milestone on the Pennsylvania line to Lake Ontario)
and was thereafter known as the Preemption line.
The preemption rights of Massachusetts were ac-
quired by Nathaniel Gorham and Oliver Phelps in
1788 for 300,000 pounds consolidated securities and
later they purchased the claims of the Indians to
some tAvo and a quarter million acres scattered
through the western part of the State. The main
part of the tract was east of the Genesee Eiver and
was known as the Genesee tract. As a result of
financial stringency, the titles of Phelps and Gorham
were acquired in 1790 by Eobert Morris and by him
disposed of to a Dutch company made up of Sir
William Poultney, William Hornby and Patrick
Calquahan, and known as the Holland Land Com-
pany. This concern and its successors surveyed the
area and opened land offices at Canandaigua, Batavia,
IMayville and other points, and gradually during the
next sixty or seventy years disposed of its holdings.
Prices of land in the early days in these large areas
as well as in small farm tracts were, of course, low,
as the supply of land was almost unlimited. Then,
HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE
73
as later, there was land grabbing and speculation.
Individuals acquired large tracts in various ways at
very small cost, both before and long after the Kevo-
no
100
90
Si 80
?70
^ en
/
,
/
/
/
/
/
/
J
/
N dO
k'
i^-Sr-.
ififuR
1
? 30
J
<.f
V-
U'ti-^
P,o^o
\
V
r
,.y
'"/Jv"-
/OO^OQ
>
— ..'2
/ff/IL >
''OPi/L/^
\rio^..
,NLf.
\ —
1.^
/,ooa_
^—
leoo 1810 /8Z0 /830 /8fO /8S0 /860 /870 /S80 /890 /900 /9/0
Fig. 15. Graphs showing by decades the total and the
rural population of United States, the rural population,
and the population engaged in agriculture in New York.
lutionary War. In 1791, 5,548,173 acres of land
were sold in western New York for a total of $1,030,-
433, of which Alexander McCombs is reported to have
secured 3,635,203 acres, some of it as low as eight
pence an acre. It sold to settlers for one to six dol-
lars an acre.
74 RURAL NEW YORK
Ontario was broken up into a total of fifteen
counties and one of the earlier of these was Genesee
which in 1802 included nearly all the land west of
the Genesee River. Nearly all of the counties in that
region had acquired approximately their present
boundaries by 1824.
Nearly all of New York State was originally heav-
ily timbered. The growth was especially heavy and
diversified in the calcareous soil regions of the middle
part of the State. Hardwood made up nearly all
of the tree fiora. Further south on the hills were
much heavy white pine and several varieties of
Coniferae dominated the mountain regions. There
were a few prairie tracts mostly in river bottoms. At
Mt. Morris, in the Genesee Eiver flats, was a prairie
of 6000 acres. Through the hardwood country were
oak openings or tracts, sparsely covered by trees and
brush. On Long Island around Hempstead and Ja-
maica was a large prairie tract on well drained soil,
a condition unusual outside of the western prairie
country. New York was both a well watered and a
well timbered country.
To clear the land the timber was cut and burned,
and in many settlements the first money was secured
from the sale of ashes or from the potash and pearl
ash salts derived from them. It must be remembered
that in that day potassium nitrate was the basis of
gunpowder, the only available explosive, and the
potash secured by leaching the ashes wa!s necessary
to its manufacture. In some settlements, for ex-
ample Clinton County, charcoal was produced.
HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE 75
Tanneries were common everywhere, and grist and
saw mills sprang up wherever a little water power
could be developed and became relatively numerous
soon after settlement in every district.
As soon as there was any market and a means of
transportation, lumbering became the leading indus-
try. The opening of the Erie Canal and its tribu-
taries was a great stimulus to the business, and in
1832 Albany was the largest lumber market on the
continent. At that date the lower Hudson Valley
was relatively an old settled region in need of that
product. The first cash crop was generally wheat,
the production of which in western New York was
also given a tremendous impetus by the opening of
the canal. Eochester and Oswego became great flour
and barrel manufacturing centers, the former being
known as the Flour City. Genesee Valley wheat was
the standard in the market. Later, when the pro-
duction of wheat declined and Rochester ceased to be
the great flour center of the North, it was happily
able consistently to change its popular name to the
Flower City.
CROP DEVELOPMENT
The relative disadvantage in character of soil and
topography in some parts of New York to that in the
Middle West was greatly accentuated by the coinci-
dent development of modern farm machinery espe-
cially adapted to broad level acres and by the rapid
transportation facilities afforded by the steam train.
After 1875, land values shrank rapidly and only the
76
RURAL NEW YORK
best farms could be maintained in active tillage in the
open competition. In each decade in the last third
of tlie nineteenth century, the cultivated area in New-
York was less than in the preceding one. Stock, espe-
! ! , '-ix.,-,is-^ : ■.■:■■■. .<:■■:■■:■■. ■■X-.'-
I I OECRE
I.CM T>**lt ft »€• «<"
) 76 PCa CCH)
J a TO l5 »t" 't"t_
I &0 Pta •CNIJJtO «
Fig. IG. Changes in rural population from 1900 to 1910.
cially sheep and hogs and beef cattle, was reduced in
numbers togetlier witli the reduction in acreage of
tilled crops. Xot until the present time has the
shrinkage in acreage of crops and of certain types of
live-stock reached its base level from which it may
now be -expected to ascend.
The largest proportion of the total land area of the
HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE 77
state in farms was about 23,750,000 acres or 78 per
cent in 1880. The area in improved land was also
largest at that time and was 17,700,000 acres or 58
per cent of the land area. Figs. 15 and 16 show the
rural population of the State.
The largest total acreage in hay and forage was in
1870 when it was 5,600,000. The State has always
had a large area in forest and timber land and be-
sides the 23 per cent not accounted for in farms in
1880, or an even larger percentage in other years, a
considerable proportion of the farm land has always
been kept in timber so that never less than one-third
of the State has been so occupied, and a further in-
crease is likely to occur. Grass and pasture have al-
ways occupied a large area, partly because of the
land that was too rough and stony to be well adapted
to other purposes, partly due to the fact that the
climate of the State is well suited to these crops, to
the large proportion of springy wet soil, and to the
relatively profitable demand for hay and pasture.
The area in cultivated crops other than hay has al-
wsijs been low in proportion to the total, and since
1844 has swung very close to 4,000,000 acres, or
about 13 per cent of the total. It has been from 20
to 25 per cent of the total improved area in farms
and 50 to 60 per cent of the total land in specified
cultivated crops. The largest total acreage in crops
other than hay and fruits in this period was in 1854
when it was nearly 4,200,000. It was low during the
Civil AVar period and high again between 1875 and
1880. Since 1909, it has been near 3,500,000 acres.
78 RURAL NEW YORE
The area in fruits cannot accurately be determined
before 1909 when it was 500,000 acres, and this had
increased to 694,000 in 1917. Before 1890, the pro-
portion of commercial orchards was small, most of the
main area being for home use. The increase since
that date has been mostly of the commercial or ship-
ping type. Even yet, the proportion of the total acre-
age of fruit that is actively put on the market is rela-
tively small and probably does not exceed one-third of
the crop in a normal season.
The land area is still far from well developed.
The productive capacity of the land has decreased on
partif ular farms and in special regions. The prob-
lem of maintaining fertility has come to the fore-
ground. But from a consideration of the average
yield of all crops over a period of forty-seven years,
from 1866 to 1913, it is difficult to prove a decrease
in yields. Taking the yield in 1866 as 100, there
have been nineteen years when the average yield was
equal to or greater than this figure and twenty-eight
when it was less. From 1879 to 1896 inclusive, there
was not a year when the yield was above the base fig-
ure. This was the period of agricultural depression
and readjustment in the East. In the period from
1897 to 1912, the yield has been above that base
figure eleven times. In these figures is expressed
the more careful adjustment to areas adapted to the
cultivation of the main crops of the State in order
to meet the outside com])etition.
HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE 79
DEVELOPMENT OF UNDER-DRAINAGE
In the practice of modern under-drainage by means
of tile, New York was a pioneer. Drainage as an art
accomplished by the use of open ditches and of stone,
brush, poles, and other crude means is very old and
is recorded by Cato and other ancient writers. But
drainage by means of tile or short lengths of clay
pipes is relatively new and probably does not date
back more than 250 years to the convent gardens in
Mauberg, France. In England it is not much over
150 years old.
The honor of having first systematically tile-
drained a farm in America rests with John Johnston,
a Scotchman j who came to America in 1821 and ac-
quired a farm two miles southeast of Geneva, on the
east shore of Seneca Lake. His farm is in part a
strong heavy calcareous loam and in part a rather
heavy calcareous clay. For the first fifteen years,
however, he could not grow profitable crops. Then he
remembered the " pottery " he had seen buried in the
land of his native country. In 1835-1837, he im-
ported some of these clay pipes from England and be-
gan the systematic drainage of his farm about four
rods apart. He found it so profitable that he con-
tinued until his entire three hundred acres were all
well drained in this manner. Others followed his
example and a period of active tile under-drainage
began. Johnston was associated with John Delafield
in importing the first machine for making tile, a
Scragg pattern. In 1851, Johnston was awarded a
80 RURAL ZVEW YORK
prize by the New York State Agricultural Society
for an essay on his drainage operations, and in the
following year a set of exquisite gold and silver pieces
was presented to him in recognition of his service
to agriculture in introducing tile drainage, by a group
of public spirited men, among whom are a number
of prominent names. Whether the Johnston farm
was actually the first in America on which clay tile
were used is an open question. South of the Mason-
Dixon line, tile were not systematically laid until
about 1875 and this was at Charleston, South Caro-
lina. W. C. Hinson, a planter on James Island,
then began using tile. It is reported that one of the
English consuls stationed at a Virginia port used tile
long before that date. In any event, Johnston's was
the first work the results of which have been carried
through to the present day, for those drains are still
operating and in good form and the farm, under the
progressive management of the present owner, con-
tinues to produce yields of crops far above the aver-
age of the State.
The first sections of farm drain tile carried west
of the Mississippi Eiver came from this same vi-
cinity of Geneva. They were carried by another man
who has had very large influence on agriculture in
New York and also in the country at large. Isaac
Phillips Roberts, first dean of agriculture in Cornell
University, was born on a farm at East Varick on the
west shore of Cayuga Lake. He moved to Iowa and
engaged in farming. In 1865 he carried some lengths
of tile back to Iowa in connection with a visit at his
HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE 81
old home in New York. He preached the gospel of
under-drainage in the new country then and later in
his capacity as a professor of agriculture in the new
State College of Agriculture at Ames, Iowa.
During the depression in agriculture in the last
quarter of the nineteenth century, Xew York fell be-
hind the Middle West in the practice of tile drainage
and is Just now actively resuming the art.
THE RISE OF AGRICULTURAL I^TSTITUTIONS
The institutions and educational movements that
have so large a part in the agricultural progress and
prosperity of the State have been of slow growth.
The antecedents of these were the societies for the
promotion of agriculture, both local and state. In
February, 1791, The New York State Society for
the Promotion of Agriculture was organized, and at
once became a potent force in the discussion of agri-
cultural matters. The movement by which exhibits
of agricultural products were held, with prizes for the
best, had its rise between 1800 and 1810, in which
latter year Elkanah Watson conducted a cattle show
at Pittsfield, ^lassachusetts, that led to the organiza-
tion of the Berkshire Agricultural Society. In 1817
an agricultural fair was held at Eed Hook, Dutchess
County, and in 1818 a similar one at Auburn. In
January of that same year, Governor De Witt Clinton
made a notable address to the state legislature in
which he set forth the need of more attention to the
practical and educational needs of agriculture and
recommended the formation of a Board of Agricul-
82 RURAL NEW YORK
ture. In the following year, such a board was con-
stituted with an appropriation of $10,000, to be dis-
tributed among the several local secretaries for aid
in agricultural affairs. This Board of Agriculture
with the Society for the Promotion of Agriculture
were merged in 1833 into the incorporated New York
State Agricultural Society, which took over and con-
tinued until a very recent date the functions of the
Board, under which an annual volume or repository
of agricultural information was published. This an-
nual volume was for many years the chief source of
agricultural information and inspiration. That So-
ciety may be credited with the large amount of atten-
tion given to soils and fundamental agricultural facts
in the five-volume report on the Natural History Sur-
vey of the State published in 1844. About 1849, the
Society inaugurated the examination of soils, seeds,
fertilizers and food stuffs, which movement became
the lineal ancestor of the present division of Farms of
the Council of Farms and jMarkets, which was or-
ganized as the office of the Dairy Commission in 1884
and became the Department of Agriculture in 1893.
The agricultural fair movement had its largest de-
velopment in the period of 1850 to 1870. In 1857
there were ninety-seven agricultural societies or fair
associations in the State. The early policy of state
contributions to the premium list of these fairs has
been continued to the present date and for many years
was paid from the receipts from licensed gambling on
horse races. A state fair was first held in Syracuse
in 1841 and for many years it convened in different
HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE 83
parts of the State. In 1890 it was permanently lo-
cated at Syracuse by the State Agricultural Society
and one hundred acres of land on the present site were
donated by that city. This area has been increased
•to I45I/2 acres. At that time the development of the
present commodious grounds and buildings was be-
gun. In 1900 the enterprise was taken over by the
State and was placed under a commission of eleven
men. In 1909 this number was reduced to seven,
with the Lieutenant-Governor and Commissioner of
Agriculture ex-officio.
From the time of the notable addresses to the legis-
lature of Governor De Witt Clinton in 1818, in favor
of agriculture, and the writings of his cousin Simeon
De Witt, the founder of Ithaca, both nephews of the
first governor of the State, Eobert Clinton, who
was also a strong advocate of the promotion of agri-
culture, various movements were started for the or-
ganization of a school or college of agriculture.
Eensselaer Polytechnic Institute, established at Troy
in 1824, included agriculture among its interests.
After long and persistent agitation in the Xew York
State Agricultural Society, a charter for an agricul-
tural college at Fayette, Seneca County, was granted
in 1853, largely through the efforts of John Delafield.
As a result of his death in the same year, the move-
ment failed and was supplanted in 1850-1857 by the
organization of an agricultural college at Ovid, in the
same county, in connection with Ovid Academy, where
buildings were erected and the doors opened to stu-
dents in agriculture in 18G0. But this was not a
84 RURAL NEW YORK
permanent start. There was in that first faculty Wil-
liam H. Brewer, a native of Ithaca, who for forty
years, from 1864 to 1904, was professor of agricul-
ture in the Sheffield Scientific School associated with
Yale University. Another man who took an impor-
tant part in the launching of agricultural colleges
appears in the records at this time. This was the
Eev. Amos Brown who had been principal of the Ovid
Academy and the School of Agriculture and was
transferred to the presidency of the People's College at
Montour Falls, in Schuyler County. This institution
was started in that year as an outgrowth of a demand
among mechanics for vocational education in the me-
chanical trades, and agriculture was included among
its interests. The significant fact is that Amos Brown
was persona] advisor of Senator Justin Morrill,
who was instrumental in securing the passage of the
Morrill Act of 1862, by which public lands were
given to each of the states of the Union, from the
proceeds of the sale of which colleges of agriculture
and mechanic arts were to be established. That act
is the basis of such institutions in all the states, a
number of which have grown into universities of first
rank. The first assignment of the funds accruing
from the land scrip credited to New York was to
the institution at Montour Falls, of which Brown was
president. Owing to failure of that institution to
comply with the conditions of the assignment, the
outgro\\i:h was the transfer of this grant and the
founding of Cornell University at Ithaca. From its
opening in 1868, instruction in agriculture and the
E18T0RY OF AGRICULTURE 85
mechanic arts has been included, together with the
old established arts subjects and the newer instruction
in the sciences. The department of agriculture in
that institution was taken over by the State in 1904
and chartered as the New York State College of Ag-
riculture. The period between those two dates, 1868
to 1903, marks the full crystallization of the idea of
collegiate instruction in agriculture based on careful
scientific investigations as represented by the agri-
cultural experiment stations, which were an out-
growth of the colleges. In 1879, the Cornell Univer-
sity Agricultural Experiment Station was organized
by the faculty in agriculture, and in the same year
the students of agriculture in the same university in-
augurated a movement which resulted in the found-
ing, in 1882, of the New York State Agricultural Ex-
periment Station at Geneva, which was the second in-
stitution of its kind in the country, and antedated by
five years the foundation of such institutions in all the
states by the federal act of 1887. As early as 1876,
a private agricultural experiment station was estab-
lished at Houghton Farm, in Orange County. It
continued until the death of its founder, Lawson Val-
entine, in 1891.
Isaac P. Eoberts, the first permanent professor of
agriculture in Cornell University, and for many years
the dean of agricultural teachers in America, was the
director of the Agricultural Experiment Station at
Ithaca. His period of service, from 1874 to 1903, as
head of the agricultural work at Ithaca, covered the
pioneer period in agricultural education. That of
86 RURAL NEW YORK
his successor, Liberty Hyde Bailey, represented the at-
tainment of agricultural education to equal rank with
other academic courses, and the agricultural writings
and publications of the latter have been a leading
force to popularize agricultural practice and rural
life, and to give it a standing in the literature of the
day. The Station at Geneva, which was one of the
first in America that was well organized and took up a
carefully considered program of experimentation and
investigation, had as its first director E. L. Sturte-
vant, who was succeeded in 1887 by Peter Collier,
who in turn was followed by W. H. Jordan in 1895.
The beginnings of the farmers' institute movement
are hazy and are lost in the miscellaneous lectures on
agriculture that began at a very early date. The or-
ganized movement commenced with a series of meet-
ings of practical farmers with the agricultural teach-
ers at Ithaca in 1886. Out of this grew the scheduled
series of lectures on agriculture by successful farmers
and by members of the staff of the agricultural insti-
tutions, under state financed subsidy. The institutes
were for many years administered by the State De-
partment of Agriculture. On the death of the last di-
rector, Edward Van Alstyne, whose sturdy teachings
reached beyond ilie bounds of technical farm prob-
lems into the larger social and spiritual domains of
rural life, most' of this work was transferred to the
supervision of the State College of Agriculture at
Ithaca. This occurred in 191T after the extension
movement had been established on a national basis by
the Smith-Lever Extension Bill enacted bv the Fed-
HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE 87
eral Congress in 1912, by the terms of which federal
money is granted to the states for education directly
on the farms in proportion to the agricultural popula-
tion. This federal appropriation must be matched
by an equal amount from the State. This extension
movement, now grown to vast and intricate national
proportions, seems to have had its beginnings in an
appropriation by the New York State Legislature to
the Department of Agriculture at Cornell University,
now the New York State College of Agriculture, in
1895, to carry the teachings and inspiration of the
University to the young people and the men and
women on farms who could not become resident stu-
dents in the University courses. This movement had
its inception in the mind of John Spencer of West-
field, who later was affiliated with the University, and
under the familiar title of " Uncle John " was for
years the inspirer of boys and girls concerning the
things of the " out-of-doors." The conception of di-
rect teaching by the University beyond the walls of
the institution grew from this and other pioneer ef-
forts into the great extension movement.
Other movements worthy of special mention that
have especially affected the agricultural interests of
the State, and some of which have reached far beyond
its bounds, are the Grange or Patrons of Husbandry.
The Patrons of Husbandry, commonly known as the
Grange, which was fathered by 0. H. Kelley at Wash-
ington, D. C, had advisors in different parts of the
country. The first local chapter. Grange Number 1,
was established at Fredonia, April 16, 1868. New
88 RURAL AL'VV YORK
York lias always been one of the strongest Grange
states in the Union, and has stuck constantly to the
movement. It now numbers 863 local granges, 50
Pomona or county granges, and has a membership of
114,000. It has been a potent force for agricultural
leadership and inspiration in rural affairs.
The New York State Horticultural Society was
formed from the Western New York Horticultural
Society and the New York State Fruit Growers As-
sociation in 1918 and now has a membership of 1700
which makes it the largest as well as one of the most
live associations of horticulturalists on the continent
and perhaps the largest in the world. The Western
New York Horticultural Society was founded in Feb-
ruary, 1855, and for many years looked after the
horticultural interests of the State. In 1901, there
was a split in its membership, largely along the line
of nursery interests and fi'uit production, and the
New York State Fruit Growers Association was the
outgrowth of the movement. For many years, an-
nual meetings and one or more field trips have been
held by each of these organizations. They included
in their membership a very large proportion of the
fruit-growers in the State and have been effective
leaders in that field. In the State Horticultural So-
ciety the membership of the two organizations is now
united.
The third movement has to do with the dairy inter-
ests and is embodied in the Dairymen's League. Its
inception was the desire and a certain degree of ne-
cessity for a better price for milk if it was to continue
HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE 89
to be produced in quantity at all adequate to the needs
of the city population. The League began in 190T.
Its financial support consisted of an assessment on
each membership of twenty-five cents for each cow
owned.
CHAPTER III
SOILS OF NEW YORK
Few, if any, states have as large a variety of soils
as New York. This, when coupled with the existing
differences in elevation and in climate and varied
nearness to market, forms the basis of a wide range
of cropping scliemes and of agricultural development.
The soils of almost the entire State have been
formed under the influence of glacial processes. As
has been stated, the glacial incursion came into the
State from the north and covered all but a small angle
of country south of the Allegheny River, in Catta-
raugus County. The general movement of the ice
was deflected by the contour of the land surface.
Tongues of ice in the valleys protruded far forward
of the main mass. In the Mohawk Valley the gen-
eral direction of movement of the ice as shown by
scratches on the bed rock was nearly east and west,
due to the deflection of its movement around the
Adirondack Mountains from the Hudson Valley on
the east and the St. Lawrence Valley on the west.
In studying the soils of New York, it is important
to keep in mind three facts: First, that the ice
moved in general from the north; second, that the
exposure of the different rock formations lay across
90
SOILS OF NEW YORK 91
the general path of movement of the ice; third, that
throughout the southwestern two-thirds of the State,
the general slope of the land is to the north. As a
result of this condition, ponds and finally great
lakes were formed in the hollows between the front
of the ice and the northward slope of the land as the
ice gradually retreated northward due to melting.
Xaturally, the water accumulated in the valleys and
sooner or later attained a level that permitted it to
drain oif to the southward in the form of great swol-
len rivers. The valleys of the Delaware, Susque-
hanna and Allegheny rivers bear evidences of this
former ilood level in the remnants of gravel, sand and
silt that form terraces along their courses.
As a consequence of the three sets of facts just
pointed out, there has been very extensive mixing of
the rock material from different formations. In gen-
eral, the material from each rock formation is most
abundant to the southward of its exposure. This
feature of the distribution of rock material is es-
pecially important to keep in mind in considering the
occurrence of limestone which has a very large in-
fluence on the crop-producing capacity of the soil.
In a glaciated region there is not necessarily any
close relation between the underlying rock and the
soil material that rests upon it. The soil has prob-
ably been brought in from a greater or less distance.
The unconsolidated earth above the bed rock is
extremely varied in thickness, in fineness, in content
of stone, in color, and content of organic matter, in
content of limestone, in drainage, and as a result of
92
SO/L.S' OF XBW YORK 93
all these in crop-producing capacity. In general, the
soil formation is from ten to fifty feet thick. It is
deepest in hollows and protected coves and thin or
even entirely absent over the higher hills and moun-
tains. In the Hudson Valley and in the Adirondack
Mountain region, exposures of bed rock are com-
mon.
Information in detail covering the soil conditions
in New York may be found in the soil survey reports.
The survey has covered about 28,000 square miles or
about one-half of the State, mostly by counties. The
reports on the areas consist of a descriptive pamph-
let and a map. The maps represent the occurrence
of the different kinds of soils in relation to the
geographic features of the country on a scale of one
mile equals one inch. The descriptive report treats
of the location and general physical features of the
area, its geology, climate and agricultural history.
Each kind of soil is described in some detail and its
relation to crop growth and to the more important
soil improvement practices is pointed out. The aim
of the soil survey report is to give a comprehensive
account of the soils and natural agricultural features
of the region.
The characteristics by which the different kinds or
types of soil are recognized are much the same as the
farmer uses, and include the color of the material,
the kinds of rock of which it is composed, tlie propor-
tion of limestone and organic matter it contains, the
arrangement of the material, whether unsorted or
sorted and arranged in layers of different fineness,
94 RURAL NEW YORK
the extent to which it is drained and the general
lay of the surface, as well as the fineness of the mate-
rial and the occurrence of stone.
The individual kinds or types of soil fall into
groups in each of which the types have many charac-
teristics in common, such as color, kind of rock mate-
rial and arrangement. Such a group of soils forms
a soil series.
The soil conditions of the State may be described
by physiographic regions, as already enumerated.
The distribution of the different groups and series is
best represented by the map in Fig. 17. This should
be studied in connection with the relief map of the
State (Plate I).
SOUTHERN PLATEAU
This region of generally high elevation with deeply
dissected valleys is mostly covered by light colored
stony soils, formed directly by glacial ice. The un-
derlying rocks are predominately gray to black sand-
stones and shale with occasionally very thin strata of
impure limestone. These are embraced in the Cats-
kill group of rocks of the Devonian series. All of the
soils of the region are deficient in lime and over large
areas this is so pronounced as to be tlie chief limiting
factor in the production of large yields of crops.
All the unglaciated soils are embraced in the De-
Kalb series. The stony loam type predominates.
The DeKalb soils occur exclusively in the south-
western part of the State. In this region the be-
neficent effect of the glacial invasion is well illustrated
SOILS OF NEW YORK 95
by the contrast in soil character and general agri-
cultural development between the glaciated region and
the unglaciated part. The contrast is especially im-
pressive a little way southwest of Randolph where
excellent glacial soils have been pushed up into close
contact with the rough, infertile and undeveloped
unglaciated soils of the DeKalb series that lie to the
south. The general effect of the ice has been to
deepen the soil, smooth the surface outline and to im-
prove both the physical and chemical composition of
the soil. The DeKalb soils are light colored, stony,
and in texture border on a clay loam. Most of the
"area is in timber. Further south in Pennsylvania,
the DeKalb series occupies a large area and includes
types of soil less steep and stony and better suited
to agricultural development than those in New York.
From the crest of the Catskill Mountains, westward
throughout most of the southern two tiers of coun-
ties in New York and reaching westward into Ohio
and Pennsylvania, the hill regions are occupied by
glacial soils of a uniform character. These soils are
generally thinnest, most acid and least fertile on
the steep slopes and over the top of the higher hills,
and are deepest and most productive in the val-
leys and protected coves, especially those valleys hav-
ing an east-west direction. The soils are. also rela-
tively thickest and best on the northern boundary of
the plateau where it joins the Lakes Plains region.
Five main series of soils are developed in the
plateau region, and may be divided into two sub-
groups — one characterized by yellow-brown and the
96 RURAL XEW YORK
other by red to pink colors. The soils of yellow to
liglit brown color make up three sei'ios. In two of
these the soil formation is relatively thin and ranges
from two feet to eight or ten feet in depth. Tliese
are the Lordstown and Volusia series. The latter is'
distinguished cliiefly by compact hardpan structure
in the deep subsoil, resulting in poor drainage. The
third series in this sub-group is the Wooster, in
wliich the soils have a larger depth, more material
foreign to the bed rock of the locality, and a more
complex structural and textural character. The red-
pink soils are the Culver series in the upper Catskills,
the Lackawanna series in northern Delaware County,
and parts adjoining, and the Chenango series of high
terrace soils all through the western half of the State.
All of this plateau region originally bore a heavy
growth of timber. White pine predominated but
there was a heavy admixture of broad-leaved trees
that included oak, sugar maple, chestnut, elm and
many other species. This section needs much, under-
drainage in spite of the prevailing heavy slopes of
the land.
The fertility of the soil is only one factor to be con-
sidered in the agricultural development of this plateau
region. The topography of the country and the
situation of shipping centers and markets are equally
important factors that react on the social and agri-
cultural development. Much popular discussion has
been directed particularly at this region of so-called
abandoned farms. It has much less population as a
whole and especially in the country districts than it
SOILS OF NEW YORE 97
had forty or fifty years ago. On the whole, this dis-
trict has not been able to hold its own in the agri-
cultural competition with the Middle West.
THE GREAT LAKES PLAIN AND THE MOHAWK
VALLEY
Stretching northward from the foot of the southern
plateau region, across the Great Lakes plain and the
slopes of the Mohawk Valley, is a deep accumulation
of glacial and glacial lake deposits. Here limestone
formations are most extensively exposed, and con-
tributed largely to the ice mill. The great depth of
the glacial ice, coupled with its choked movement
due to the highland to the south, formed deep masses
of till over most of the area and imparted to it
surface features favorable for tillage. Later, glacial
lakes occupied large areas in the lowlands and the
local ice deposits were eroded, reworked and scattered
over the lake floor in sheets of clay, silt, sand and
gravel. Numerous ponds and lakes were formed that
were subsequently filled with mud and by the growth
of plants form rich marsh soils.
This is the region of the best soils and the highest
general agricultural development in the State. The
fertility and favorable physical condition of the soils,
combined with the low elevations and beneficent
climatic conditions, produce an intensity and diver-
sity of crop production, and a general agricultural
prosperity unsurpassed by any other state of the same
size, and seldom equalled or excelleil on the American
continent. The soils belong to two main divisions:
98 RURAL NEW YORK
those till soils formed directly by the glacial ice and
tliose subsequently formed by water arising from the
melting of the glacial ice during the retreat of its
front.
The glacial till soils are the most extensive of
the two divisions and occupy all the higher portions
of the region. The glacial till sheet underlies much
of the glacial lake deposits and often protrudes
through the surface. In addition, they reach up the
foot of the slopes to meet the soils of the highland
areas into which they gradually merge.
For the most part, the glacial till soils are moder-
ately stony. They contain occasional foreign bowl-
ders of igneous rock brought from the north.
Bowlders of the local rocks of the region are more
common than the foreign ones, and while the removal
of these rocks facilitates tillage, that operation is not
often necessary in order to utilize the land. The
type and proportion of stone vary widely in some
sections. Usually in close association with the un-
derlying limestone formations, blocks of massive
limestone constitute the predominate field stone.
These are most abundant on the southern rim of the
Mohawk Valley and of the Ontario plain. In the
Mohawk Valley and on the southern flank of the
Adirondack Mountains, the hard granite type of
rock is more common. Across the northern flank
of the Adirondacks and again on the Ontario plain,
sandstone is most common. The deeper subsoil of
these till formations is usually very compact and
may have properties akin to hardpan.
SOILS OF NEW YORK 99
The predominence of different kinds of rock give
rise to several series of glacial soil. The most ex-
tensive of these is the Ontario which prevails all
through the western plains region and eastward be-
yond Utica. The Medina shales and sandstones,
the Salina and part of the Hamilton shales have en-
tered most largely into the formation of this series,
together with rather large quantities of limestone
from the outcrops of the region.
The lime content is fairly ample, as might be ex-
pected from its association with limestone forma-
tions. The deeper subsoil is always heavily charged
with limestone fragments but in the surface two-to-
four-feet this is not so abundant, and that part of
the section will seldom show the presence of free lime
carbonates. However, it is sufficiently well supplied
so that acid sensitive crops such as clover grow
very well. On this series the production of alfalfa
is most largely developed. The fruit industry of
western New York is largely associated with this
series of soils, and it is one of the best for mixed
farming. Cabbage and beans are largely grown on
the same soils. Teasel and hops are special crops
developed at Auburn and south of Utica respectively.
This same soil covers much of the best live-stock pro-
ducing sections of the State including the region to
the south of Syracuse and extending east and west
for many miles.
The widest development of the series is through
the upper part of the Finger Lakes region, and thence
northward to Lake Ontario. It spreads well south-
100 RURAL NEW YORK
ward around the foot and along the shores of the
Finger Lakes. Its relation to the heavier move-
ment of the glacial ice is indicated by its furthest
southward reach in the Cayuga-Seneca lakes section,
which is the center of the Finger Lakes trough.
Lower Seneca County has a larger development of
this series than any other county of the same lati-
tude, except perhaps Livingston, where the broad
valley of the Genesee Eiver similarly favored the
southern development of the series. Around the east-
ern end and on the south shore of Lake Erie, the
series is not much developed, partly because of the
abrupt slope to the highlands. To the eastward its
development is modified by the material from the
A.dirondacks. Its most northern occurrence is at the
east end of Lake Ontario in southeastern Jefferson
County, and in Central St. Lawrence County where
it is associated with the Trenton limestone.
Standing close to the Ontario series, in character
but not in extent, is the Honeoye. This is closely
associated with the exposures of the limestone for-
mations in the same district in which the Ontario
series occurs. It represents that part of the till
region where limestone was most largely introduced
into the soil and where there is sufficient lime car-
bonate, even in the soil, to effervesce freely with
acid. The field stone are nearly all limestone.
The subsoil is filled with limestone fragments.
The till mantle that forms the Honeoye series is
relatively thin and in the stony type limestone ledges
protrude in many places. Three types are common
SOILS OF NEW YORK 101
in the series, the stony loam, the loam and the fine
sandy loam. Tlie two latter are excellent soils.
They are sometimes a little shallow, which property
interferes with their moisture supply. Their higli
lime content makes them especially favorable to the
growth of alfalfa and clover. Blue-grass thrives, as
it also does on the Ontario series. The hop industry,
formerly more prominent than at present, and de-
veloped from northeastern Madison to northern
Schoharie counties, is largely associated with these
series.
East and northeast of the Ontario-Honeoye occur-
rence, through the middle of the Mohawk Valley,
the glacial till from the Trenton limestone and from
the black calcareous Utica shale is mingled with the
igneous material, brought down from the Adirondack
region. The Hudson Eiver sandstone and shale on
the north side of that valley contribute some material.
The result is a rather compact material that ranges
from a clay loam, through the silt loam to the loam
in texture, and is called the Mohawk series. The
limestone and the black Utica shale have contributed
a considerable amount of calcareous material. The
black shale gives a dark to black color, especially
when wet. Finally, the granite and other igneous
bowlders from the Adirondacks that make up much
of the field stone and in finer form enter into the
soil, distinguish this series from the calcareous soils
described above.
In crop-producing capacity, the Mohawk series
closely resembles the Ontario. Especially is this
102 RURAL NEW YORK
true of the black loam. It grades off to the adjacent
series on the plateau to the south and to the moun-
tain soils on the north. It is preeminently a grain,
hay and dairy region, largely because of the character
of the climate under which it occurs.
The glacial lake soils exhibit a greater diversity in
the character of the types, but a greater uniformity in
series characteristics than the glacial till soils. All
tlie glacial formations and all the rock formations of
the region were drawn on by the waters of these lakes
and by the streams flowing into them for the material
that was strewn over the bottom of the lakes. This
general uniformity of the soil material is most notice-
able in the former beds of larger lakes. Those are
adjacent to the present shores of the Great Lakes.
The soils formed in the higrh-level lakes that occu-
pied the first hollows at the south front of the ice
exhibit somewhat more diversity since the material
brought in by the streams was more local. However,
this is rather a fading out of the typical character of
the larger lake deposits than a definite change in
character.
The most widely developed lake formed series is
the Dunkirk and is made up of light brown or yel-
low to chocolate brown material that ranges from
heavy clay to light sand and gravel. The sand, in
small areas, is so clean as to be blown about freely
by the wind. As has been indicated, the material
represents the assorted wash of all the adjacent
higher formations. South of Lake Ontario, the soil
has a decided pinkish tinge, probably due to the in-
SOILS OF NEW YORK 103
fluence of material from the red part of the Medina
and the Salina formations that give rise to the Lock-
port series. With the dark or black shale, this pro-
duces the rich chocolate brown color of the heavier
types that characterizes the series.
The boundaries of the glacial lakes were very ir-
regular. The earlier levels to the southward were
the higher and reached up to a thousand feet or more.
The more gentle slopes and level areas further north
are devoted to mixed farming. Fine sandy loam,
loam and silty loam types predominate and as is
usually the case with these classes of soils, they are
about equally valuable for the production of a variety
of crops.
The agricultural experiment stations both at Ge-
neva and Ithaca are situated, one partially and the
other entirely, on the Dunkirk series, the clay loam
predominating. At Geneva the station also includes
some of the Ontario fine sandy loam soil.
With the Ontario series, the Dunkirk occupies the
bulk of the fruit-producing region. Both are made
up chiefly of strong types of soil. Of course, cli-
mate, produced by the low elevation and the influence
from the Great Lakes, is a factor in the development
of fruit. Good farming conditions prevail on most
of the Dunkirk series.
Closely associated with the Dunkirk series of soils
is the Clyde, which represents that part of the lake
deposit that, because of its low position and flat
topography, has been in a pronounced swampy con-
dition. Consequently, it has received much rich
104 RURAL NEW YORK
wash from the adjacent land and has accumulated
enough organic matter from the remains of plants to
have a very dark or black color to the depth of at
least a foot. It differs from muck and peat soil in
that it is not predominately organic. Sandy loam,
loam and clay loam predomiiiate and make first-class
soil for grain, hay, and vegetables. The Clyde soils
are most extensively develo})ed on the western part
of the Ontario plain in Niagara County.
THE ST. LAWRENCE AND CHAMPLAIN VALLEYS
This region is made up of a relatively narrow rim
of tillable land that reaches around the base of the
Adirondack Mountains. Its width along Lake
Champlain is narrow and ranges from less than two
or three miles to ten or twelve miles in the northern
part. The tillable land in the lower valley is ex-
ceedingly narrow or entirely absent. In the St. Law-
rence Valley the width ranges from ten to about
thirty miles, and the inner or mountain border is
irregular.
The topography and soils naturally subdivide into
two divisions: the undulating to flat portion at the
lower levels that have been covered by glacial lakes ;
the higher, rolling to hilly portions covered by glacial
till soils. The lake soils are generally quite free from
stone and range from heavy clay to light colored
sand and gravel. The glacial till soils are moder-
ately to prevailingly stony.
The till soils are subdivided into three main series,
based on the predominant character of the rock mate-
SOILS OF ^'EW YORK 105
rials with their attendant physical properties.
These are : the Dover series derived from the inlluence
of igneous rocks and sandstone on calcareous till
from the Trenton limestone; the Coloma series from
the predominant influence of the Potsdam sandstone*,
and the Worth series from the predominant influence
of the Hudson Eiver shales and sandstone in their
western development where they are horizontally
bedded and but slightly metamorphosed but are
coupled with the slight influence of igneous material
from the Adirondacks and of some materials from
the pink Medina sandstone.
Tlie Dover series is the most important agricultu-
rally of the three derived from till in this region.
In general character and crop-producing power, it
resembles the Ontario series. It usually has a more
decided light brown color and a more open, friable
structure.
The soils of the Dover series need more or less
drainage. They are also benefited by applications of
lime for acid sensitive crops, although the soils are
generally strong and durable. The deep subsoil is
heavily stocked with limestone fragments and the
field stone are largely of that rock. Hay and forage
crops are the predominant products. In Franklin
County hops were formerly grown mostly on these
soils and in northeastern Clinton County apples are
produced somewhat extensively. In the production
of these two crops, the series shows its relation to
the Ontario and Honeoye. In northern Lewis
County and the adjacent portions of Jefferson
106 RURAL 7^'EW YORK
County, and in fact wherever the series is developed,
the possibility for the production of grass, hay and
forage crops has led to the extensive use of the land
for dairying.
The Coloma series is distributed around the north-
ern flank of the Adirondack Mountain area in asso-
ciation with the Potsdam sandstone. The hard
character and resistant arrangement of that massive
formation has resulted in a relatively thin stony soil.
The tillable areas are small and irregular and occupy
protected hollows and slopes in the rock structure.
Large and small bowlders are thickly strewn over the
surface.
The soil and subsoil are a light rusty brown color.
Loam and sandy loam types predominate. Drainage
is generally good and the lime content is low. The
content of organic matter is also relatively low.
Consequently, the general agricultural development is
low and without special characteristics. Grass and
grain do poorly on the soil. The one crop to which
it has been found to be preeminently adapted is po-
tatoes, of which good yields and excellent quality are
secured. The physical properties of the soil, coupled
with the cool even climate produced by the latitude
and the elevation, combine to give it this favorable
relation to the potato crop. The region is developing
a reputation for seed potatoes for southern planting
and bids fair to compete successfully, though on a
smaller scale, with the famous Aroostook district in
Maine.
The Worth series is recognized on the southwest
SOILS OF NEW YORK 107
flank of the Adirondack Mountain region in lower
Lewis, northwestern Oneida and eastern Oswego
counties where the Hudson Eiver and Medina shales
and sandstone furnish the bulk of the material. In
general, the soils are quite stony. The resistant
sandstone contributes bowlders that strew the fields
and in the cleared areas have been built into fences.
The elevation ranges from 1800 feet in the Lewis
County portion down to 600 or 700 feet at the lower
limit in Oneida and Oswego counties. A large part
of the series is in timber and bears a heavy native
growth of hemlock, spruce and a few hardwood trees
of maple, beach and elm. In the more accessible
parts, the timber has been removed and the land
remains in birch slashes with a mixture of more
useful species. Farm conditions are rather back-
ward and decadent. None of the common crops
makes an especially good gro^\d:h.
A rather quiet lake at some time covered large
areas in the St. Lawrence and Champlain valleys.
The low rock structure, especially in the former re-
gion, was covered by an extensive glacial lake and
the sediment laid down over the surface formed a
thin covering on the high points and deep deposits
in the hollows. In western Jefferson and St. Law-
rence counties, innumerable masses of igneous rock
and a few limestone ridges protrude through the
lake deposits, which condition is well illustrated by
the Thousand Island region.
These lake deposits form the Vergennes series and
closely associated with them on the mountain side
108 * RURAL NEW YORK
arc large areas of the Merrimac series. In the Cham-
phiin Valley they reach up to the foot of the steep
slopes that rise to the mountains. The deep water
deposits which predominate through the region, ex-
cept near the shore, are silt and clay of a light brown
color. They give rise to the clay loam and silt loam
types. These form a broad, fiat to gently undulating
surface, and coupled with the compact character of
the subsoil this surface feature produces large areas
of wet land in need of under-drainage. The common
practice is to use shallow surface ditches for drain-
age, which are very inefficient. Many of these are
formed by plowing the land in narrow beds a rod
or two in width with a broad " dead furrow " be-
tween.
The utilization of the soils and the general agri-
cultural development of this region is handicapped
by the short season and by the limited transportation
facilities. The seasons are further shortened, es-
pecially on the flat heavy soils, by the poor drainage.
Better under-drainage, coupled with the development
of special money crops such as potatoes, in addition
to dairying, and the adjustment of the systems of
farming more effectively to those practices will pro-
duce better results from the land.
THE HUDSON VALLEY REGION
Both the soil conditions and the agricultural de-
velopment of the Hudson Valley region may be de-
fined by the word " piecemeal," and so they must
continue in view of the predominance of those
SOILS OF NEW YORK 109
" small-scale " practices that go with small opera-
tions. The rough topography that generally pre-
vails, together with the dissection of the tillable
areas of soil by the numerous rock exposures will
continue to interfere with the development, except in
limited regions, of large, well arranged progressively
managed farm units. Its proximity to large centers
of population, together with the beautiful roll and
outlook of the coimtry, strongly stimulates the
" summer boarder crop." This indeed is spreading
in ever increasing numbers up the valley and over
the Catskills, and is breaking up enterprises of a
strictly agricultural character.
The glacial till soils fall into three series, one of
which, the Dutchess, is far the most extensive. It
is the result of the glaciation of the Hudson River
formation of sandstones and shales. Occupying
pockets through the region, the limestone and mar-
ble have given rise to the calcareous Dover series,
which has a small total development. The igneous
and highly metamorphosed gneiss rocks in the heel
of the State, gave rise when glaciated to the Glouces-
ter series, the typical hiU lands of much of New
England.
The three most extensive soil types in the Dutchess
series represent differences in general depth and char-
acter and amount of stone content. The silt loam is
the deepest, the most generally tillable, and by far the
best agricultural soil for extensive farming. Hay pas-
ture and timber are its most natural products. When
well handled, it gives good yields of grain, corn.
110 RURAL NEW YORK
wheat, oats, rye and buckwheat. The last three are
prominent crops. These crops, with the pastures
and corn for silage, are combined with dairy farming
which, is perhaps the most common industry.
In the middle part of the valley, fruit-growing has
attained some prominence and most of the fruit is
produced on this type and certainly on this series of
soils. Tree- and small-fruits are extensively devel-
oped. A further factor in their development appears
to be the long growing seasons that prevail here, due
to the influence of the drift of air up the Atlantic
Coast into the lowland area.
The glacial drainage over the irregular surface of
this region formed gravel and sand terraces in all
the main channels, remnants of which remain to give
rise to soils similar to the Chenango series in the
plateau region and of similar crop and agricultural
value. There is the same range from loose coarse
gravel and sand to sandy loam and silt material.
ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS
The Adirondack Mountains scarcely require men-
tion as to soils, as the region has small agricultural
value outside of forest purposes. This elevated area
was traversed by the glacial ice and large areas of
the rock raked bare. Their resistant character and
the sluggish movement of the ice produced a small
amount of material. -The drainage water incident
to the retreat of the ice further reduced this, and
left, in addition to a partial and irregular sandy
covering over the slopes, deep sandy fills in the val-
SOILS OF NEW TORE 111
leys that are crowded with howlders. The irregular
filling of the valleys produced innumerable lakes and
through these and down the slopes the streams
meander, forming numerous and extensive falls that
have large potential water power. In its way the
soil covering of the region will produce a large
amount of timber, but active farming is justified
only under very unusual conditions.
LOXG ISLAND
The last physiographic division of the State to be
considered, and the lowest in general elevation, is
that comprised in Long Island and small areas
on Staten Island, together with the adjacent parts
of the mainland, considering Manhattan as such.
Nearly all of this belongs to the Atlantic coastal plain
division of the country, and the soils have been
largely formed under the ocean. The great ter-
minal moraine of the glacier cuts eastward from
Xew Jersey and lies across Long Island. But even
that has been largely overtopped and cut away by
the ocean waves so that most of the area is a gently
sloping sandy plain. Heavy glacial till is exposed
in scattered areas on the northwest shore of the
island in the northern suburbs of the city of Brook-
lyn. Reaching east from this heavy till is a much
more sandy and gravelly till that forms two lines
of irregular hills. These cross the island, eastward,
one in a diagonal direction to Montauk Point, and
the other is situated on the north shore of the island
and known as the Harbor moraine. They rise to a
113 RURAL NEW YORK
maximum elevation of 400 to 600 feet at different
points. The rough surface of these interfere with
their utilization for agricultural purposes. The
north shore is generally quite precipitous and is in-
dented by many shallow bays. The sand plains that
in many places cut through the glacial formations
spread out to the south to seashore beyond which
are mud flats guarded by an irregular outlying line
of sand bars. Much of the material of this plain was
derived from the adjacent glacial formations which
in turn were brought down from New England by
the ice.
Thousands of acres of land all through the middle
of the island are in a state of near-wilderness. It
is covered by scrubby timber, is unsettled and un-
fenced except as limited areas have been developed for
suburban residences, and the roads are poor except a
few main highways. It is open to the wild birds, the
rabbit and the deer, in spite of its proximity to the
greatest center of population on the continent.
The western end of the island within twenty-five
miles of New York City has a good loam to sandy
or silty loam. It has the depth and body that make
most of it suited to the large development of the
market-garden industry of that region.
The marine plain has been largely formed from
the destruction and distribution of the glacial
moraine. A peculiar development is the Hempstead
plains soils in the town of Hempstead, reaching in
several irregular areas from w^est of Mineola to near
Farmingdale. The soil has a dark to black color
SOILS OF NEW YORK 113
and a moderately productive quality. The central
portion of this area, which is a slightly sandy to
silty loam two to five feet deep over the gravel, is
one of the few examples of a native prairie area east
of the x\ppalachians. This is known as the Hemp-
stead plains. Its original vegetation was a rank
growth of sedge grass and was early used as the
common pasture. Many kinds of vegetable crops
groAV well on this soil. Potatoes give particularly
good yields. The transition to the adjacent poorer
sand plains is through a gravelly loam of lighter color
and lower crop value than the Hempstead loam.
The cause for the dark color and treeless condition
of the area has not been explained.
On the eastern end of the island, the soil and con-
sequently the agricultural conditions are again much
better than in the middle of the island. The soil has
a finer texture and a better body. The sandy glacial
material that forms the core of these two eastern
prongs of the island is mixed with considerable
silt and clay and reworked into a fairly smooth sur-
face so that it makes good farm land. This soil
has proved suited to the production of early pota-
toes. Cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and Lima beans
are also prominent crops, their production centering
rouglily in Riverhead. Considerable corn is pro-
duced and on the southern prong of the island dairy-
ing is still practiced.
Tlie island is dominated by its availability for
residence purposes and its value for home-making
has often misled individuals as to its agricultural pos-
114 RURAL NEW YORK
sibilities. For le^mes, practically all the soils need
lime. Lime is beneficial to many oilier crops. On
these soils the chief objection to its larger use is the
possibility of favoring the disease known as scab on
potatoes. Shore swamps and the limited areas of
heavy soil need drainage. Humus is generally de-
ficient in the soils. Because of the physical nature
of the soil, and its poor relation to moisture for crop
growth, and also because of its proximity to so large
a population, irrigating with sewage should be con-
sidered wherever conditions are favorable.
SPECIAL SOILS
The stream bottoms and the marsh and swamp
lands of the State constitute a division of land that
is essentially distinct because the character of the
soils is much alike through the different areas.
Along nearly every stream, small or large, is the
ribbon of first bottom alluvial soil, traversed by the
stream either in a meandering sluggish channel or
with a direct rush. The width and quality of the
bottom land is generally proportional to the former
condition — sluggishness. This means frequent
overflow as a result of which the sediment is de-
posited. The nature of these bottom lands is much
afFected by the character of the adjacent lands from
which the wash is derived. However, this quality is
considerably masked by the mixing of the material,
together with the large and deep incorporation of
organic matter. Usually, the presence of organic
matter is evident to the depth of three feet or more.
SOILS OF NEW YORK 115
A dark gray to brown color prevails. The larger part
of the first bottom soils is placed in four main
series that are distinguislied chiefly by their color.
The lightest colored of these is the Caneadea series.
That of medium dark color is the Genesee series
which is the most extensive. The red series is called
the Barber and is associated with the Lackawanna
soils. The dark or black alluvial soils form the
Papakating series.
The prevailing class in all these series is the silt
loam. Along small streams the loam, sandy loam
and gravelly loam are more common.
The surface is likely to be mildly cut up by old
abandoned cliannels and overflow courses as most of
the land is subject to annual overflow, by which addi-
tions of sediment are formed. The bank of the
stream is usually highest and coarsest in texture.
The foot of the slope to the upland is lowest and most
poorly drained. These soils make first-class corn,
hay and vegetable lands. Small grains are liable to
lodge and to injury by overflow. Summer crops are
safer than winter ones.
Swampy soils luive been formed in many blind
hollows and pockets in the surface of the country.
The glacial incursion has given rise not only to
hundreds of lakes of all sizes and shapes, but to an
even larger number and variety of swampy areas
and mud flats. The low south shore of Long Island
and a little of Staten Island represent the marine
type of tidal flat which must be reclaimed if at all
by diking, and perhaps pumping the drainage water.
116 RURAL NEW YORK
This has been done only to a very slight extent.
Such land is saline and usually bears a dense growth
of grass. However, a few seasons of protection from
the tide, coupled with leaching by the rains would
make the tillable land suitable for crop production.
The inland fresh water swamps, native and re-
claimed, have an aggregate area of about 2000 square
miles. A number of tliese, including one of the
largest, are situated in the Hudson Valley. There
are a number of important areas in the Champlain
and St. Lawrence valleys and in the southern
plateau region, but the greater part in number and
area are in the Great Lakes plain. From Oneida and
Oswego counties west to Buffalo and south into the
Finger Lakes region, large and small areas of swamp
and marsh land dot the surface. The intervals be-
tween the drumlins are a common position. The
small areas are usually deep and are kept quite wet
by springs on the border. The large areas are shal-
low sheets wbere border springs are not so well able
to maintain the water level.
The larger areas of muck soil are in the Wallkill
marshes in southern Orange County; the Cicero and
Eome areas near Oneida Lake ; the Montezuma
marshes on Seneca River; the Oak Orchard area on
the north line of Genesee County and the Pope Mills
area east of Black Lake in St. Lawrence County.
A large number of small areas lie among the drumlins
■" in Wayne ounty and in the hollows in the surface
of Oswego County.
A large part of this land is still undeveloped, ex-
SOILS OF NEW YORK 117
cept for pasture. Much of it is in timber. Favor-
ably situated areas are under cultivation. The black
swamp soil, Clyde, and tlie muck are excellent for the
growth of vegetables, as celery, lettuce, onions, spinach
and cabbage, for forage crops, corn, and for hay,
timothy. Large yields are derived. These lands
constitute one of the important potential resources
of the State, but since they are special and not gen-
eral crop soils, and their development is an expensive
process, it should be undertaken with caution.
Special fertilization is necessary, particularly on the
muck, and special knowledge and training go with
success on such soil.
CHAPTER IV
OTHER RESOURCES OF NEW YORK STATE
Trees grow naturally throughout New York as
they do also in New England. They spring up freely
in every neglected field and fence corner, as grass
does on the western prairie or moss in the cool forest
shade. The farmer contends with brush — the young
trees — as he does with common weeds. Given a
chance they will make every fence-row a dense hedge
of vegetation, overgrown with vines. To the person
accustomed to the difficulty of growing trees in the
middle and western states, this ease with which trees
spring up in New York is a matter of wonder. Their
cool shade reaches into the villages and many of the
larger cities and gives them a cool and comfortable
aspect.
Practically every part of the State was originally
covered by forest, much of it very dense. About the
only exception was the prairie area of Hempstead
soils on western Long Island. Great forests of pine
and hemlock mixed more or less with hardwood
species covered all the lower and better lands and
reached well up into the mountain regions. In the
latter, spruce and hemlock were more common.
The quality and variety of timber reflected the qual-
118
OTHER RESOURCES 119
ity of the soil and the nature of the climate, as is
the case with the cultivated crops that succeeded the
forest. Indeed the original settlers were guided
more or less in the choice of their land by the timber
growth it bore.
But to the pioneer farmer bent on producing things
to eat and wear and sell, wheat and flax and wool, the
trees were mostly an encumbrance to be got rid of —
branch and stump and root — as rapidly as possible.
The market for timber was small, especially as com-
pared with the supply. Hence, one of the earliest
sources of cash to the pioneer was the sale of " black
ash salts," potash salts, presumably for the arts and
for the manufacture of gun powder. The timber was
burned on the ground and the potash salt extracted
by leaching the aslies.
A little later New York became the leading state
in the production of timber. In 18G0 Albany was
the most important timber market in the country.
In 1914 Xew York State stood twenty-third and is
going down, although still leading in farm forest
products.
The forest resources of an old settled state have
a direct relation to the soil conditions. The hand of
the farmer crowds back their border from the better
to the poorer or less accessible land. Forest land is
thin, steep, rough, poor, or swampy, and does not
lend itself to the plow. In New York the zealous
pioneers who came largely from an even rougher
country, New England, reached over the border of
the arable land, encouraged by a different set of
120 RURAL yi'AV YORK
prices and market conditions than now prevail, and
actually brought much of this natural forest land
under the plow. Fortunately, their successors have.
to a considerable extent, perceived their mistake and
are letting such land go back to a timber covering.
The forest and timbered area of the State divides
into two parts: (a) The general forest largely owned
by the State by original title or reversion or i)ur-
ciiase. This covers the greater part of the two moun-
tain areas, the Adirondacks and the Catskills. These
are the State forest reserves and are bounded by the
fire patrol line. Within these areas the State by a
system of look-outs and systems for fire fighting aims
to protect the timber from fire, (b) The farm wood-
lot areas made u]) of the small or large patches of
timl)er on the lands included in farms and asso-
ciated witli tillage. For the most part this repre-
sents the rougher, poorer or more remote lots on
the farm and is a compromise with the native in-
stincts of every man to have a bit of forest to draw
on for timber and fire-wood.
The mountain forest areas comprise 7,500,000
acres, of which the State owns about 5,000,000,
and private interests own 2,500,000. In the Ad-
irondack region comprising 1,800,000 acres, the
ownership is distributed as folllows: State 48 per
cent ; lumber and pulp companies 23 per cent ;
private parks 15 per cent; improved land 6 per
cent; private forests 6 per cent; mineral land 2
per cent.
The farm woodlots have an area of 4,500,000
OTHER RESOURCES 121
acres. There are 300,000 acres of virgin timber,
about 400,000 of bare land, probably rock outcrops,
and about 5,000,000 acres of cut and burned over
land. The remaining area of 6,300,000 acres is in
various grades of timber in State and private
forests.
The average stand is estimated at 4000 board feet
to the acre, making a total of 25,000,000,000 board
feet, to which is added the equivalent of 30,000.-
000,000 board feet in the form' of round timber and
fire-wood. The forests of the State now produce
about 25 board feet to the acre a year, or a total pro-
duction of 300,000,000 board feet. The annual cut
of lumber in 1913 was 1,000,000,000 board feet, a
reduction of about one-third in the five-year period
from 1908. In 1917 it had decreased to 360,541,000
board fee.t, and 913,169 cords (128 cubic feet) of
round wood, making a total equivalent to 861,870,-
781 board feet.
The annual report of the State Superintendent of
Forests under the Conservation Commission records
the annual cut of timber for 1912 to be distributed as
shown in Table II which gives a good idea of the
species of timber that prevail, arranged in the order
of volume:
Table II. — Distribution of Timber Cut
BY Species
1. Hemlock ...128,440,828 4. Spruce ■'52,061,700
2. Pine 78,221,480 .5. Beech 41,478,.5.50
3. Maple 78,103,985 G. Basswood . . 29,703,865
123 RURAL NEW YORK
7. Birch 31,906,350
8. Oak 25,790,650
9. Chestnut . . • 18,139,275
10. Elm 14,766,535
11. Ash 11,130,065
12. Cherry 3,585,555
13. Poplar 1,567,910
14. Hickory 1,386.180
15. Balsam 237,100
Total lumber 517,205,872 feet board measure
Pulp wood in cords equal to 279,265, .320 feet board measure
Round wood in cords equal
to 146,174,077 feet board measure
16.
Gum
179,630
17.
Cucumber . .
124,800
18.
Butternut . .
121,785
19.
Cedar
77,950
20.
Willow
57.984
21.
Locust
30.700
22.
Tamarack . .
20,000
23.
Black ^^•alnut
9.525
24.
Svcamore . .
2,050
Grand total 942,645,269 feet board measure
As a result of the various soil, climate and timber
successions, twenty-five types of forest are recognized
in the State by the professional forester. These turn
on the species of trees that predominate, and those
that are present as accessories in the mixture. Such
a variety of timber species and types afford opportu-
nity for a broad and excellent study of plant ecology.
The relation of crop to soil is of course very direct,
but the crop, whether timber or tilled, represents the
results of so many forces and conditions that the in-
dividual is often misled in his conclusion as to the
controlling factors in the environment.
From the figures, it is evident that the consumption
of timber in the State, whether gauged by the present
rate of cutting or by the actual consumption, far ex-
ceeds the present rate of production. When it is
remembered that about 40 per cent of the area of
the State is probably" better suited to tlie production
of timber trees than any other crop, it is evident that
OTHER RESOURCES 123
the forestry problem in New York is one of large
importance. The annual production of about 25
cubic feet to the acre is relatively low as compared
with the results achieved under modern methods of
forestry management in European countries. In
Germ'any, for example, as much as 100 cubic feet is
produced in some of tlic best forests and the average
production to the acre has increased under good
management from 25 cubic feet to 67 cubic feet.
A cubic foot is equivalent to about 12 board feet.
As compared with most other states, Xew York
has taken an advanced stand on the preservation and
extension of the forest area. Much as has been ac-
complished in tlie last ten years, much more remains
to be done to make the forest area produce up to its
limit and to bring its management up to the high
standard that is possible. The prevailing attitude
toward forests and timber is not surprising when it
is remembered that within the lifetime of persons
now living such a large part of the country was cov-
ered by timber that the supply seemed almost inex-
haustible. It was not a crop to be planted and
matured but an enemy to be contended with. Like
all other phases of agriculture, the destruction of
the forest crop is now followed by the pinch in the
supply and it is not unreasonable to expect that in a
few years every commonwealth and its subdivisions,
as well as individual farmers, and especially com-
panies interested in forest products, will look on
timber as a regular domesticated crop to be planted,
cared for and harvested in approved fashion when
124 RURAL NEW YORK
it is mature. At tliis present stage the country is
passing out of the usual period of extravagant waste
of a vast natural resource into one of intelligent
economy.
The State is gradually promulgating three or per-
haps four lines of policy for the benefit of forest
development. The first of these is the ownership
and reforestation of cheap land; second, the protec-
tion of forest areas, especially the State forest areas
from damage by fire; third, encouragement and aid
to individuals to extend and develop their forest
areas ; and, fourth, the provision of educational facil-
ities relative to forest management and forest prod-
ucts.
As has been indicated, the State owns about 5,000,-
000 acres of land mostly in the two larger mountain
parks, the Adirondacks and the Catskills. It is
continually acquiring title by tax default or other-
wise to small areas of land over the State but mostly
in the main forest regions. Through the State Con-
servation Commission it is the aim to manage this
forest area in the most approved manner and there
should be derived therefrom a regular crop of tim-
ber. This policy is not in working order and is
prevented from operating by the provision in the
constitution of the State against the sale of timber
from State land. This " save-the-talent-in-a-nap-
kin " policy has been discarded in the federal policy
in managing national forests. Progressive and ef-
ficient management insures substantial returns to the
government at the same time that the forests are
OTHER RESOURCES 125
maintained as a regular crop and it puts into effect a
sane polic}^ that exemplifies true conservation instead
of putting a premium on inexcusable waste.
In order to protect large forest areas against fire,
the State has marked off the boundary of two large
areas, one in the Adirondacks and the other in the
Catskills, within which special provisions are made
for detecting and extinguishing fires. The town-
ships within this area are called State fire protection
towns. The areas are subdivided into districts and
forest rangers with fire wardens and observation sta-
tions equipped with an observer, telescopes and other
instruments, and with which telephone connections
are maintained. Of course fires are more likely to
occur at some seasons than at others. Records show
that most fires start in May and August. In the
bad season, from sixty-three to seventy fire rangers
are maintained. In the best season this number
is reduced to twenty-five or thirty. There are forty
mountain observation stations. These have had a
material effect in reducing damage by fires. State
regulations backed by laws have been enacted requir-
ing precautions on the part of individuals who may
be in forest areas against letting fires get a free
range. Railroad locomotives must have equipment
against setting fires by means of sparks or ashes and
a system of inspection is maintained. A top-lopping
law is designed to hasten the removal of brush by
requiring that it be lopped down in close contact
with the ground so that it will decay rapidly.
It must also be piled so as to hinder the spread of fire.
126 RURAL IVEW YORK
Campers, sportsmen and otliers are required to ob-
serve certain precautions in making fires and are sub-
ject to penalty of fine or imprisonment, or both, for
carelessness with cigars or others dangerous mate-
rials. Camp fires must have a cleared space ten
feet in radius beyond their limit and must be com-
pletely extinguished before being left. All these pre-
cautions and provisions have resulted in reducing the
number of fires started. Most of the provisions for
detecting and stopping forest fires are of recent pro-
mulgation. In 1918, there were 398 fires reported.
Of these 100 were started by smokers, 47 by fisher-
men, 111 by locomotives and 24 by campers. Ninety
per cent are classed as preventable. The efficiency
of the fire-fighting arrangements is indicated by the
figures showing the number of acres traversed by
fires as follows :
1903 464,189 acres
1908 368,072 acres
1913 54,792 acres
1918 7,354 acres
Assuming that this land had the average stand and
that all the timber on the burned area was lost, the
timber lost by fire has * decreased in the ten-year
period equal to one and a half times the annual cut in
the last named year, and assuming a value on the
stump of five dollars a thousand, the saving would
be $5,000,000. The cost is less than $100,000.
The exemption or reduction in tax on timber lands
OTHER RESOURCES 127
falls into two classes : small woodlot areas of less than
fifty or one hundred acres where both land and tim-
ber are exempt from tax for thirty-five years, which
land must be a stated distance from cities or villages ;
poor lands assessed at five dollars or less an acre
and of any area above five acres. The assessed value
of the land not to exceed ten dollars may not be in-
creased for the period of thirty-five years. The
stand of trees must be brought up to 899 to the acre
and must be subject to the inspection and direction
for maintenance of the proper officers of the State
Conservation Commission. By these provisions, the
owner is protected against burdensome taxes until
the time when the crop has come to a fair maturity.
The State maintains a number of nurseries from
which trees are supplied for planting the State
land, and are also sold to individuals at cost. These
plantings are now beginning to assume some consid-
erable proportions and will undoubtedly increase more
rapidly as the public becomes acquainted with the
tax exemptions, the aid furnished by the State and
the value of the first crop.
The State maintains three institutions that give
instruction in the principles of modern forestry.
The division of forests of the State Conservation
Commission publishes bulletins on modern forest
management and gives public instruction through
popular lectures. The more systematic instruction
of university grade is given in two State colleges.
These are the Department of Forestry of the State
128 RURAL XEW YORK
College of Agriculture at Ithaca, and the State School
of Forestry at Syracuse, both of which have forest
tracts for practical instruction.
PISH AND GAME
Nearly all the species of game animals and birds in
the State are reported to be on the increase thanks
to fairly comprehensive laws dealing with open
shooting seasons and restrictions as to the number of
individuals that may be taken by any one person.
From time to time certain species may be protected
from molestation for a period of years to permit their
increase. Of course, game laws are effective in the
present stage of society only in so far as they are
backed up by a system of wardens and inspectors for
their enforcement, since public sentiment is not
sufficiently well developed for that purpose. The
State is divided into thirteen districts with a chief
game warden and a half dozen or more assistants and
the restrictions limiting fishing in particular are
fairly effective. Some varieties of game — the deer
for example — have increased in such numbers in the
more heavily forested sections as to be something of
a nuisance to farmers because of their injury to
crops.
The diversity in timber and stream-cover and in
climatic conditions favors a large variety of animals,
birds and fishes. The bird life of the region is espe-
cially rich, particularly the migrating species that to
a considerable extent follow the cover of the Alle-
OTHER RESOURCES 139
gheny Mountains in their annual movements from
north to south. The timber and swamp covering in
the bottoms and on the sides of the main north-south
valleys form natural roadways of migration. The
numerous lakes afford a consfenial home for water
and shore birds and within recent years certain species
of duck that normally nest and rear their yoimg
far to the north, are now found to spend the entire
year and to propagate on the waters of the State.
The extensive arrangements for the preservation
of bird life and the dissemination of interest in and
study of outdoor life, by means of Audubon societies
and especially as a result of the introduction of na-
ture-study in the schools, have resulted in much in-
crease in the number of birds due to their better pro-
tection. The Weeks-McLain law which became effec-
tive March 4, 1913, gives federal supervision over
the taking or killing of all birds of migratory habits
and has supplemented many of the State regulations
relative to them, at the same time making the pro-
visions more effective through the local support the
measure receives.
The State has instituted four game farms, the
oldest being at Sherburne. These are used for the
propagation and dissemination of important species
of game birds and mammals. The pheasant has been
most extensively distributed in this way. Other
farms are at Brownsville in the Adirondacks, and
on eastern Long Island. In connection with the New
York State College of Agriculture at Ithaca a game
loU RURAL NEW YORK
farm was established in 1916 with particular refer-
ence to the investigation of problems connected with
the propagation and care of such animals.
The utilization of the waters of the State for the
production of food and game fish as a definite phase
of agriculture is just beginning to receive attention.
J. G. Needham, who occupies the chair of Limnology
and Biology in the State College of Agriculture at
Ithaca, points out that there is quite as much, if
not more possibility, for the production of animal
food in water forms as in land forms and that this
type of agriculture is now essentially neglected. The
numerous and fairly continuous streams and the
many lakes and swampy areas in the State afford ex-
cellent facilities for this type of industry. In the
institution just mentioned the study of the habits and
methods of propagation of these forms of animals
and of the organisms and materials used for food by
them, and instruction in such matters, is now a regu-
lar part of the curriculum.
The state maintains twelve fish hatcheries dis-
tributed as follows:
1. Adirondack, Saranac, Hamilton County.
2. Bath, Steuben County.
3. Caledonia, Livingston County.
4. Cold Spring Harbor, Suffolk County.
5. Delaware County.
6. Linlithgo, Columbia County.
7. Warrensburg, Warren County.
8. Chautauqua, Chautauqua County.
9. Dunkirk, Chautauqua County.
OTEER RESOURCES 131
10. Fulton Chain, Herkimer County,
11. Oneida, Oneida County.
12. Ogdensburg, St. Lawrence County.
These stations hatch and distribute a large num-
ber of species of fish and other water animals suitable
for food. In 1913, the total number of fish dis-
tributed was 1,287,255,120. In 1918 the number was
reduced to 396,319,251. Most of these were put into
the streams and lakes. ISTew York is said to lead
other states two to one. In 1913 thirty-nine varieties
of fish were distributed. The leading varieties were
several forms of trout, black bass, river herring, lake
and tuUibee fry and pike perch.
The state owns and leases 31,665 acres of shell
fisheries, mostly oysters. These are located on Long
Island Sound, Earitan Bay, on the south shore of
Long Island and in the mouth of the Hudson Eiver.
MINES AND QUARRIES
New York is not a leader in the product of mines
and quarries, and yet it occupies a place of consider-
able importance. A large variety of materials is pro-
duced and in some of these the State is preeminent.
In point of value, the most important ore product is
iron. The last available figures are for the census
year of 1909. At that time the iron ores were valued
at $3,095,023, nearly all of which came from the
magnetite ores of the Adirondack region. New York
is the only state besides Pennsylvania that produces
all four kinds of iron ore, magnetite, hematite, limo-
nite and carbonate. The last three, however, are of
132 RURAL A/:TV YORK
small commercial importance. The Clinton ores
from the Clinton formation are the most important
of this latter group and are related in geological age
to the famous ore deposits at Birmingham, Alabama.
No other metal assumes importance, although speci-
mens are found.
Next to iron ore in value stands limestone, derived
from several formations in diiferent parts of the State.
Their total value is a little more than $2,500,000.
Blue stones for flagging and building, sandstones for
building and especially for abrasives are produced in
the southern and the western Catskill regions respec-
tively. Marble of several grades and colors is quarried
at Gouverneur and in the central Hudson Valley.
Slate for roofing occurs in Washington County where
it has been formed under the influence of metamor-
phism of shale in the same way as marble in that and
other regions was formed from limestone as a result
of great pressure and heat. Granite quarries are op-
erated in the eastern Adirondacks and trap rock
quarries in the Palisades district. Talc and soapstone
of high quality are secured at Gouverneur. The
Adirondack region also produces feldspar, a little vein
quartz, garnet and graphite. The production of
graphite by the mines in the Ticonderoga district
makes New York the leader in that product. The
garnets from Essex and Warren counties are used as
an abrasive. Peekskill, in Putnam County, is an
important center for the production of emery.
Standing next to limestone in value is salt, which
may be regarded as a manufactured product. The
OTHER RESOURCES 133
Salina formation has a series of heavy salt beds in its
lower part that are drawn on mostly by wells in the
counties from Onondaga through the Finger Lakes
region to the Genesee Valley. In the latter region
at Eetzoff, rock salt is mined by means of shafts about
1200 feet deep. 'New York has long been a leader in
this product, recently outstripping Michigan which
formerly stood at the top of the list.
Close to salt in value is petroleum. It comes from
wells that reach the Devonian sandstones in the Olean
district. Gas is found in a series of pocket-like areas
in the western third of the State. The gas-producing
areas have been estimated to have a total area of 550
square miles. Gas comes from a variety of forma-
tions. As early as 1821 a well was drilled at Fre-
donia and the product used for lighting. In 181:1,
natural gas was used in the manufacture of salt for
evaporating the liquid. These items are of interest
since they antedate the general use of this fuel in the
states to the west and south that have so far out-
stripped Xew York in later years. Another impor-
tant product in which New York has been promi-
nent, and in which the manufacturing operations
have a large place, is cement. In the production of
the water-lime or natural cement rock that preceded
the use of Portland cement, j^ew York was pre-
eminent and has four centers, Rosendale in Ulster
County, Akron in Erie County, Fayetteville and Man-
lius in Onondaga County, and Howes Cave in Scho-
harie County.
The Portland cement which is usually a more
134 RURAL NEW YORK
satisfactory product because of the control that may
be exercised over the material used, has now largely
supplanted the natural cement rock and in some
places the same formation is used in the new process.
Limestone and either shales or pleistocene clays of
several ages are used and New York still has a prom-
inent place in the cement industry.
Gypsum is available from the top of the Salina
formation over a band of country extending from
Utica to the Niagara River and is extensively mined
west of Eochester, where it was formerly much used
as a fertilizer.
Other products are molding and glass sand and
clay for the manufacture of brick and tile. The
molding sand and the glass sand are pleistocene —
recent deposits. The former is most abundant
west of Albany and in southeastern Saratoga County.
Glass sand which occurs as a surface deposit north of
Oneida Lake is now unused. In the main, the clays
are superficial deposits and are suited only to the
manufacture of the coarser grades of building ma-
terial. There are some shale deposits suitable for
this purpose, for example, at Alfred in Allegheny
County where the State School of Ceramics is located.
In these and particularly the manufacture of brick
and tile the State takes a high rank, namely fifth
in total value. The lower Hudson Valley is by far
the most prominent district. None of the higher
grades of fire or pottery clay or shales is available.
The total value of these several products in recent
years is as follows :
OTHER RESOURCES 135
rx^
Table III. Value of Mining Products in
New York
Clay products .$11,871,949
Iron 3,095,023
Salt 2,897,000
Petroleum and natural gas 2,688,996
Cement 2,409,000
Limestone 2,656,142
Bluestone 910,054
Slate 99,827
Traprock 755,128
Granite 444,435
Marble 344,981
Feldspar 47,166
Gypsum 1,048,403
Talc and soapstone 314,724
Garnet 101,920
Emerv lfi,389
Graphite 138,905
Other products 184,294
WATER SUPPLY
The numerous streams, springs and lakes in the
State, coupled with the fairly generous rainfall, af-
ford a good general supply of potable water. The
runoff of about 50 per cent of the rainfall ranges from
less than twenty inches in the Great Lakes region to
a little more than twenty over the plateau and the
Hudson Valley sections, and thirty inches or more
in the Adirondacks. Limited investigation indi-
cates that with the extension of the tilled area
and the reduction in the area of forest land and
forest covering, there has been an appreciable drop
ill the general level of the ground water-table. As
fi^presented by the level of water in wells at different
136 RURAL M:\\ YORK
periods, the extent of the drop varies in diiferent re-
gions of the State. That the consequence of this
drop is as serious to agriculture as is sometimes
believed is questionable, since the moisture used by
crops is held in the upper soil by capillarity and is
not drawn directly from the body of ground water.
The range in elevation of the land which reaches
up to four and live thousand feet in the mountain
regions affords a large quantity of water power, as
this drainage water passes over the succession of falls
and rapids to sea level. Nearly all the larger streams
develop some potential water power on their course.
The flow fluctuates widely at diffierent seasons in the
year. A comprehensive study has been made of the
possibilities of storing tlie flood flow to develop water
supplies and hydro-electric power. It has been de-
termined that there are thirty-nine suitable reservoir
sites distributed as follows: thirteen on the Upper
Hudson ; three on the Sacandaga ; nine on the west
branch of the Hudson ; eleven on the Eaquette, and
three on the Genesee Eiver. One of the facts that is
often overlooked is that water supply is one of the
important limiting factors in the multiplication of
poiHihition. It comes even before food and is more
critical. Several of the reservoir sites have an im-
mense capacity. Tlie reservoir on Aesopus Creek in
the Catskills, which is being developed by ^Tew York
City, has a maximum capacity of 124,000,000,000
gallons, which would make a body of water fifty
feet deep over an area of 5000 acres. That on the
Sacandaga at Conklingville has a potential capa-
OTHER REf^OVRCES 137
city of 32,000,000,000 cubic feet, equivalent to 1150
acre feet. By a dam on the Genesee River at
Portageville, 18,000,000,000 cubic feet, equivalent
to nearly 700 acre feet may be stored. In one mile
a pressure head of 200 feet is available. Many of the
reservoir sites are in the State forest parks, and it is
now provided that 3 per cent of the area of such
state land may be utilized for reservoir purposes.
The liydro-electric power that may be developed in
the State is estimated at a million and a half horse
power. Of this amount, a little over a half million
horse power is in use within the State, to which
should be added two hundred thousand horse power
developed on the international stream, the Niagara
River. It is interesting to note that the total water
liorse power now in use in the State is about the same
as it was in 1824.
The development of water power comes under the
supervision of the Conservation Commission. Very
little has been done to make this power available to the
public and thereby conserve the supply of coal and
oil. That it ought to yield a considerable revenue
to the public treasurer is generally accepted. At
the same time the investment in existing power plants
should be reasonably protected perhaps by State ac-
quisition. The most extensive region for power de-
velopment is around the base of the Adirondack
Mountains on the several streams radiating out of
that center of high elevation and large rainfall.
CHAPTER V
AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES, PLANTS AND CROPS
OF NEW YORK
The crops produced by New York are exceedingly
varied. The variety in soils, in climate and in
market conditions encourage diversity in crop as well
as animal products. The State is exceeded in this
variety of crops only by California, which is much
larger in area, in climatic reach and in range of ele-
vation and topography. The range in these three
primary factors produces an exceedingly complex
pattern to which farm practice is continually adjust-
ing itself and the process will doubtless continue for
many years to come.
In value of all farm crops, the State ranks eighth.
New York produces 3.8 per cent of the total value of
all crops grown in the United States, while her pro-
portion of the total acreage in crops is 2.7. From
this it appears that the intensity of her production is
above the average. This amounts to an average value
of $25 an acre of crops to be compared with slightly
less than $18 for the entire country as valued in
1909. The rank in acre value of crops is thirteenth.
In value of crops to a farm New York is sixteenth
with the sum of $950, the average for the country
being $860, or nearly $100 less. (See Figs. 18, 19.)
138
I DOT = $100,000
I 00T= 2,000 TONS
I DOT =
60,000 BUSHELS
, I DOT = "\'
100,000 BUSHELS
I DOT = -v. / ^^
100,000 BUSHELS^^j^-;;;^
I DOT = 2,000 TONS
Yis 18. Total value and distribution of all crops and
the amount and distribution of the specified crops in
1909. a. value of all crops; b. wheat; c. oats; d. hay
and forage; e. corn; f. alfalfa.
139
140 RURAL NEW YORK
'New York ranks first, in the thirteenth census re-
turns, in the production of hay and forage, potatoes,
vegetables, buckwheat, flowers and phmts, nursery
products, small-fruits, willows and teasel ; second in
orchard fruits and grapes, hops, maple sugar and
sirup and ginseng, and until very recently it was
third in dry beans. In the production of the grains
and cereals it ranks low, having long since given way
to the central states. In the last census period, the
chief change in its position has been a further de-
pression in rank in the production of cereals, and com-
plete loss of standing in the growing of sugar-beets,
while in the production of buckwheat it advanced
from second to first place. Acreage is a better mea-
sure of the relative production of crops than is yield,
particularly in making comparisons between differ-
ent regions and periods. Nearly 8,500,000 acres or
28 per cent of the entire area and 56.5 per cent of
tlie improved area are devoted to cultivated crops.
Tliree-fifths of this crop area or about 5,000,000 acres
is occupied by hay and forage crops, a little less than
one-third, 2,800,000 acres, by grains, cereals and seed
crops, one-twentieth or about 400,000 acres by po-
tatoes and vegetables, and one-fourteenth or about
000,000 acres by fruit and nursery crops.
The total value of all crops including fruits and
flowers in 1909 was $209,000,000. In rank accord-
ing to value New York stood somewhat different
from the acreage relations. The value of farm crops
alone in 1909 was approximately $132,000,000. In
1918 it amounted to $281,000,000, though the acreage
AGRICULTURAL IXDUSTRIE8 141
was then very little larger than in 1909. Fruit
moved up from fourth to third place between 1899
and 1909, changing with vegetables.
In addition to the major crops, the production of
several minor crops has developed in localized areas.
The most intensively cropped portions of the State
are, first, a broad region lying south of the Great
Lakes, second a narrower section along the axis of
the ]\Iohawk Eiver and third the lower point of the
State in the Hudson Valley from Albany southAvard
to Newburg. The remaining regions of important
agricultural development are fourth, the southern
tier of counties ; fifth, a fringe of country ten to
twenty miles wide around the eastern end of Lake
Ontario and along the St. Lawrence Eiver and the
Canadian line; sixth, together with a still narrower
fringe along the west side of Lake Champlain and
tlirough the Hudson Valley above Albany.
The region south of Lake Ontario centei ing around
Rochester and reaching to the Niagara Eiver is the
most highly developed and the most thoroughly tilled.
It loops southward into the Genesee Valley and fol-
lows the general sag in elevation along Seneca and
Cayuga lakes. This as a whole is the " flower of
the State " in agricultural development. Other re-
gions are as intensively developed over a small area,
for example, the grape belt south of Lake Erie, por-
tions of the Mohawk Valley, some of the territory
between Albany and Newburg in the Hudson Valley
and the east and west ends of Long Island. But
when both area and intensity are taken into account,
142 RURAL NEW YORK
few districts anywhere in the entire country surpass
this south of Lake Ontario for a widtli of forty miles
in general intensity of agricultural development.
Hay and forage crops are widely distributed in the
tilled area. Pushed aside to a considerable extent by
the development of the other groups of crops, they
have still maintained the major development, and in
conjunction with the market facilities, support the
hirge live-stock and dairy interests of the State.
Tlu' cereals, except buckwheat, are most concentrated
in the Genesee Valley region. Buckwheat is largely
a poor-land crop and has the largest area but not the
largest yields in the rougher and more remote regions.
Vegetables, including potatoes, have several centers
of production that in part coincide with particular
crops. Potatoes, however, are most largely grown in
three centers: west central New York from Lake
Ontario southward into the northern half of the
southern tier of counties ; on eastern Long Island, and
in northern New York around the north flank of the
Adirondack Mountains in Franklin and Clinton
counties. The more detailed distribution and rela-
tions of individual crops will appear as the discus-
sion proceeds.
In Table IV is a summary of the changes in crop
area in acres in New York State since 1844.
HAY AND FORAGE (See Figs. 18, 20)
In the production of hay and forage, New York
should be compared witli southern Wisconsin, south-
ern Minnesota and eastern Iowa. Two factors unite
I DOT =
100.000 SUSHELS
I DOT =
60.000 BUSHELS
I DOT =
60.000 BUSHELS
I DOT =
50.000 BUSHELS
I DOT =
10.000 BUSHELS
' DOT«
60,000 POUNDS ^i-
Fig. 19. Amount and distribution of the specified crops in
1909. a. potatoes; b. barley; c. dry peas and beans; d.
buckwheat; e. rye; f. hops.
143
144 RURAL -NEW YORK
to cause the large yield of these crops. As a cash
crop, they are bulky and therefore expensive to ship
long distances. New York City and other large cities
adjacent to this territory require large quantities of
forage and the sale of the crop has been one of the
most profitable enterprises on the mixed-crops farm.
This fact is shown by farm management figures.
Consequently, many farmers make a business of sell-
ing hay and if it were not for the limiting factor of
soil fertility as commonly handled, many more would
follow the same practice. Then, too, there are large
areas where the soil, climate and labor conditions
make hay the most satisfactory crop, even if only
small yields are secured.
Timothy and clover constitute nearly three-fourths
of the hay area, timothy occupying the second larg-
est area, somewhat less than one-fourth of the total,
or 1,07'8,358 acres. Timothy grows best on clay
loams and clay soils in the Great Lakes plain, the St.
Lawrence and Champlain valleys and through the
Hudson Valley.
In 1909 clover alone occupied 87,267 acres or onlv
8 per cent of that of timothy. Clover has declined
on soils of all southern and eastern sections of the
State. Clover succeeds best on a loam to heavy loam
soil, moderately supplied with lime, with good drain-
age, such as in the counties of Genesee, Livingston,
Oneida, Seneca and southern Cayuga, Onondaga, cen-
tral Madison and northern Schoharie. The yield
averages a little over a ton to the acre.
Alfalfa was introduced as early as 1790 under the
AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES
145
French name of lucerne. Eobert Livingston, in
1793, had fifteen acres in Jefferson County. It was
tried in the central part of the State in 1812 and
while not eminently successful, some plants from
that parentage are believed to have persisted for many
years. The successful culture of the crop began in
Onondaga County in 1867, with the introduction of
/»f9 ms* /gSV m* /8S9 /874^ /STS /38f 1889 /$»t /89^ /»>* I909 /»■* 1919
Fig. 20. Graphs showing by decades the total area in
crops and the area in hay and forage, in clover and in
alfalfa.
seed in chaff from the Pacific Coast. Doubtless, the
early development of the crop was handicapped by its
exacting requirements of a lime-rich soil and by the
successful growth ever}'where of red clover, and the
greater ease with which clover can be handled in the
rotation. The average yield of alfalfa is more than
146
RURAL NEW YORK
Table IV. Summary of the Area in Crops in
Acres in New York Since 1844 *
YEAR
harvested
1 Corn
2 Corn for silo
3 Corn or sorghum
grown for feed or
for fodder only..
4 Oats
5 Barley
6 Buckwheat
7 Winter wheat. . )
8 Spring wheat. . J
9 Rye
10 Flax
11 Field beans
12 Alfalfa 1
13 Other hay . . . . j
14 Cabbage
15 Potatoes
IC Hops
17 Tobacco
18 Nursery stock and
flowers
19 Root crops raised
for stock food...
20 Peas
21 Canning factory
crops
22 Other vegetables
and garden
23 Misc. crops
24 Apples
25 Peacnes
26 Pears
27 Plums
28 Cherries
29 Quinces
30 Vineyards
31 Small-fruit
32 Total except hay
and fruit
33 Total except fruit
34 Total
1844
595,134
1,026,915
192,503
255,495
1,013,665
317,099
46,089
16,231
255,762
§15,322
117,379
1854
3,851,594
917,601
1,349,384
212,608
293,233
) 601,142
} 194,346
281,715
11,764
16,918
3,384,441
220,576
9,482
786
§7,578
48,155
112,591
4
1864
4,177,883
7,562,324
632,213
tl4,579
1,109,910
189,030
240,302
399,919
113,115
234,670
23,874
61,821
4,237,085
235,058
24,339
12,981
§8,124
46,401
1110,837
102
1865
3,357,275
7,594,360
721,600
tl2,430
1.163,545
243,125
184,717
406,577
104,992
233,214
18,242
24,208
4,296,721
254,403
25,870
4,614
§5,632
40,725
fI10,110
58
1874
3,454,062
7,750,783
627,749
t^8,712
1,327,975
211,560
263,781
558,069
96,027
257,736
' '8i,321
4,796,739
' 358,433
28,278
2,593
22,384
3,894,618
8,691,357
This table is adopted from the Census of Agricultural Resources
of New York State for 1917.
* Statistics for 1879, 1889, 1899, 1909, are from the U. S. Census. All
other figures are from the State census.
From 1844 to 1875, inclusive, for all crops except hay, the figures are
acreage sown or planted. After 1875, for all crops except fruit the
figures are acres harvested. For 1874 and all later years, the hay fig-
ures are acres harvested.
In 1875 the number of apple trees of all ages was reported. This
number was divided by forty-five to get the approximate number of
acres. The trees were then planted closer than is now the case.
AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES
ur
1875
1879
188S
1899
1909
1916
1917
1 673.28i
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
149,929
1.438,166
282,393
201,894
564.221
69,836
229,070
"78,641
4,783,857
405,800
37,004
2,516
18
19
20 23,645
21
22
23
24 406,192
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32 4,056,399
33 8,840,256
34
779,272
1,261,171
356,629
291,228
I 736,611
244,923
4,644,452
'346,'536
39,072
4,937
4,054,379
8,698,831
493,320
1,417,371
349,311
280,029
462,561
236.874
2,922
5,243,010
' 357,'464
36,670
8,629
1,188
3,646,339
8,889,349
658,652
tl89,601
1,329,753
111,658
289,862
557,736
177,416
159
129,298
5,582
4,959,782
25,261
395,640
27,532
11,307
9,734
25,051
4,050,871
9,016,235
512,442
t259,119
1,302,508
79,956
286,270
j 285,823
i 3,266
130,540
58
115,698
35,343
4,748,249
35,269
394,319
12,023
4,109
11,659
663
4,007
140,246
3,763
351,918
29,213
22,777
7,796
6,356
1,936
59,340
22,496
3,581,743
8,365,335
8,867,167
341,931
365,990
1,120,565
95,189
263,667
351,225
12,536
118.176
"igs.Viog
163,150
4,140,489
41,668
309,213
44,661
L 64,858
30.678
342,243
50,050
37,187
8,733
12,959
'"54,020
28,841
3,358,666
7,662,305
8,196,338
327,509
321,926
112,511
1,083,646
102,297
269.138
351.594
26,821
111,458
218,742
146,221
3,970,379
47,244
348,269
4,516
2.095
6,258
18.032
"43,668
84,624
385,737
53,470
41,031
10,249
12.989
3,277
56,126
32,893
3,480,188
7,596,788
8,192,560
In 1910 the census gave numbers of trees, but not acres. To get
acres, apples are divided by 40, peaches, pears, plums, and cherries
by 160, and grapes by 600. In the case of apples the fiarure used is an
average found by orchard surveys in four counties. Since the census
enumerated trees, it is probable that many were listed that were not
reported by acres. The increase in the eight years 1910-1917 was
therefore more than the figures indicate.
t " Coarse forage," mostly corn for the silo.
t Corn for fodder.
§ Turnips.
U Market gardens.
148 RURAL NEW YORK
twice that of the other hay plants, 21/^ tons to the
acre, but 4 to G tons in three cuttings in a season is
not uncommon.
Millet, or Hungarian grass, occupies a minor place
as a home forage plant. It is a summer crop often
put in where spring crops have failed. Its largest
acreage is in the dairy counties of Delaware, Che-
nango, Cortland and Madison. The average yield is
nearly a ton and a half to the acre.
Orchard-grass is the most common and the most
widely distributed run-wild grass in the State. In
June, its vigorous upstanding stems may be seen
coming into bloom. Almost everywhere conditions
seem favorable to it. Seldom is it planted in the
regular grass mixture. Its tussock roots are vigorous
and long-lived. It grows well with alfalfa and some-
times is used in seeding that crop, to fill in wet places
unfavorable to the alfalfa. Cut at the same time as
alfalfa, the stems are soft and palatable and make
a good hay, but if left standing it soon becomes woody
and makes poor hay.
In 1909 nearly 50,000 acres of grains were cut green
for forage. Doubtless it was mostly used for soiling
dairy cattle as there is an increasing tendency to use
this system, together with the summer silo, and
thereby reduce dependence on pasture. Pasture is a
poor means of producing forage economically and out-
side of the use of waste land, many farmers are elim-
inating it. Eye, wheat, barley and oats form a good
succession from early spring until corn is available.
Eoots to the extent of 663 acres, probably beets,
AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES 149
were grown for forage. The chief objection to this
crop is the hand labor required to grow it. The
crop is rather exacting both in soil and culture. The
soil must be rich and calcareous to give best results.
The dry nutrients of beets have been shown to be
equal in feeding value to grain concentrates. Beets
are prized in feeding dairy cows for record milk
yields because of the variety it gives the ration as
well as its large feeding value.
Corn for silage is the preeminent green forage
crop. jS'early 260,000 acres of coarse forage is pro-
duced and gives an average yield of seven and a
half tons of green forage to the acre, equivalent to
about two tons of dry matter to the acre. Thus corn
stands next to alfalfa in its ability to produce nu-
trients. Corn, however, makes a good growth over
a much larger area than does alfalfa. The area of
corn for coarse forage is equal to half that devoted to
corn for grain. New York is far from being a corn-
producing state because of the cool summer climate,
but for succulent forage, corn has no equal. A dairy
farm without a silo is now regarded as unprogressive
and relatively few of them exist. A silo of smaller
diameter for summer use is now coming to take its
place together with the larger winter silo in the
adoption of the system of summer feeding. Higli
summer rainfall, warm temperature, and a moder-
ately calcareous soil combine to produce the largest
yield of green-corn forage. The best yields are se-
cured in the counties of Jefferson, Herkimer, Madi-
son, Chenango, Delaware, Montgomery and Living-
150 RURAL NEW YORK
ston, where the average is ahout nine tons. In other
parts of the State it falls to six or seven tons.
PASTURE
Pastures occupy a large area, about one-fourth of
the total farm land. This does not include woodlot
pasture. Much land too rough and stony to cultivate
has been cleared and retained in permanent pasture.
In different parts of the State the proportion of
pasture land varies in inverse ratio to the general de-
velopment of the region. It is lowest in the counties
directly south of Lake Ontario, medium in the south-
ern tier of counties and high in eastern and northern
New York. Naturally the mountainous regions have
the most pasture as well as the most timber. It
embraces steep mountainous country, wet areas and
other rough stony land. It is not standardized as to
vegetation, condition, or yield of forage. Receiving
little care, it returns usually a small amount of crop.
The stony pasture is often the earliest land to
green up in spring because the soil is thin and easily
warmed.
In the wet areas, red-top is probably the most com-
mon grass. Legumes do not thrive generally. The
small white or Dutch clover comes in naturally
on many sweet soils. It is closely associated with
Kentucky blue-grass. Wild swamp grasses play a
small part in the herbage. In all the regions of bet-
ter soils, where lime rock is prevalent and the soil
calcareous, Kentucky blue-grass prevails. All
through central and western New York this is the
AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES 151
common grass that not only overspreads the perma-
nent pasture land but encroaches into the alfalfa and
mixed hay meadows. Its presence and growth is a
good index to the native character of the soil. In
Wayne, Cayuga, Onondaga and Madison -counties,
and the southern slope of the Mohawk, there is much
steep land that is otherwise good soil, being the cal-
careous glacial till laid into drumlin ridges or eroded
into narrow deep valleys. These make admirable
blue-grass pasture land. A little further south the
limestone outcrops of the Niagara and particularly
the Helderberg formations that have a thin pocketed
soil covering, the Honeoye stony loam soil, are left in
pasture. Up the St. Lawrence and in the Hudson
Valley are smaller areas of calcareous pasture-soil
associated with the Trenton-Calciferous limestones.
The light sandy areas of the lake plains are often oc-
cupied by a poor quality of pasture but more often
are in timber. The higher hills of southern and
eastern New York are largely devoted to pasture, the
cultivated crops occupying only about 10 per cent and
all tame crops not over half of the area. In that
region is much pasture of poor quality. Over large
areas the soil is so depleted that Kentucky blue-grass
does not occur and its place is taken in part by the
smaller-growing Canada blue-grass (Poa compressa)
which makes good feed but " small picking." In
the last stage even the Canada blue-grass is crowded
out and fails to maintain itself against the advances
of wild strawberry, devil's paint brush, white daisy,
red sorrel, and ferns that make up the bulk of the
153 RURAL ^'EW YORK
herbage. This transition in vegetation is closely
identilied with the increase in the acid condition of
the soil and the general reduction in the content of
organic matter. In the main, the higher the eleva-
tion the poorer the condition of pastures. These
poor pastures are not confined to a single soil type,
but follow certain gioups as the Volusia-Lordstown,
the Dutchess soils and the Gloucester and Culver
series.
Since most of this land is difficult to plow, it is a
problem how to keep the pasture in condition to
produce even a little forage. The favorable condi-
tions for the growth of bushes and trees cause a large
variety to spring up and compete with the grass.
Often the pastures are over-grazed in hot dry weather
and no materials, either seed or fertilizer, are ap-
plied. The droppings of cattle are poorly distributed,
and if the growth of desirable vegetation is stimulated
it is poorly utilized by stock. That it is possible with
some attention markedly to improve poor pastures has
been demonstrated.
GRAIN CROPS (See Figs. 18, 19, 21, 23)
Com for grain is most extensively grown in the
region lying south of Lake Ontario. It is also a
prominent crop in the valleys of southern and east-
ern New York on both the bench soils and on the
first bottom land. Before settlement by white men,
corn was extensively grown by the Indians in these
latter positions.
On the hill land above an elevation of 1000 to
AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES
153
1200 feet, corn does not mature with regularity. This
keeps it largely off the hills of southern N"ew York.
In New York, as in other parts of the country, com is
the safest tilled crop on overflow lands and the surest
of the grains on very rich swamp lands, such as the
/»•«* /19*9 I8S* IBS9 1864 /SS9 /a74- 1879 /ff84 /a89 /a9* /e99 /904 t909 J3/* 1319
Fig. 21. Graphs showing by five-year periods the area in
corn for grain, all wheat, spring wheat, winter wheat, and
oats.
Clyde series and muck soils. Of the upland soils,
tlie Ontario series is most widely used for the crop.
Because of the seasonal limitations, flint varieties
are extensively grown on tlie liills and dent varieties
prevail at the lower levels.
The State produces about a half million acres of
corn, with a ten-year average yield of 36.2 bushels.
The two tiers of counties south of Lake Ontario
154
RURAL NEW YORK
have three-fourths of this area. The average yield
is also largest iu that region. The three counties of
Wyoming, Genesee and Monroe each have an average
yield of 40 bushels or more to the acre. The northern
and eastern counties fall considerably below the av-
erage yield.
There has been a continual decrease in the area
/*** /9t» I8H- 1^ /*»♦ /«» If 7* lan lai* ias» i9»* iisa /to* i9e» /s/* /»/»
Fig. 22. Graphs showing by five-year periods the area in
buckwheat, barley, rye, apples, and tobacco.
devoted to corn for grain in the last thirty years.
In the census of 1880, 780,000 acres of corn were
reported. The decrease has been most pronounced
in those counties outside of the corn-belt of the State
but has occurred in all parts. When combined with
the area devoted to silage corn, the total is about
the same as the maximum acreage the State grew in
1880.
Oats occupy nearly three times the acreage of corn
and four times that of any other cereal. They are
largely produced in all sections of the State. The
acreage amounts to 1,300,000 and the ten-year aver-
age yield is 32.2 bushels or about half as much sub-
AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES 155
stance as an acre of corn. It is produced on all
grades of soil and under a much wider range of
climate than is corn. Its successful growth reaches
further up on the hills and further north in the
State than does corn. One reason why oats have a
large place is that the seasons are a little short to
start a fall crop such as wheat or rye after a summer
tilled one. Oats may be put on early in the following
spring. Another reason is its value as feed and when
ground with corn it is a standard constituent of ra-
tions for horses, poultry, and to a considerable ex-
tent for cattle.
Oats grow best in a cool moist climate which is
common in Xew York. They respond to the better
soils and the best average yields, 30 bushels or more
to the acre, occurred in 1909 in the same region in
which the best yields of corn are secured. Monroe
Cbunty produces 35, Ontario and Genesee 33, Living-
ston 31, Wyoming and Seneca 30 bushels. However,
Chenango County, in the center of the State, produces
33 bushels and Franklin in the extreme north 30
bushels. The southern tier of counties have yields
around 20 bushels or below, doubtless reflecting the
less productive soils of the hills where it is one of the
common grain crops. Oats are widely used as a nurse
crop for seeding grass. The acreage of oats has held
its own or slightly increased over that of 1880.
Wheat occupies about half the acreage of corn,
around 300,000 acres. Its production is almost en-
tirely confined to the two tiers of counties directly
south of Lake Ontario. It is pushed back from the
156 RURAL NEW YORK
lake somewhat by the development of fruit-growing.
The eastern half of the State produces less than 50,-
000 bushels a county and many of them only a few
hundred bushels. The counties of Ontario, Living-
ston and Genesee normally have an average yield of
nearly 35 bushels. The largest total production of
wheat was in 1850 w^hen it attained 13,100,000 bush-
els. The acreage was then about 750,000. Soon
after that time, the " wheat weevil " appeared and
caused such damage to the crop during the succeed-
ing fifteen years as to force a change in the rota-
tion and a considerable abandonment of wheat-grow-
ing. The acreage was as low as 289,000 acres in
1910, but increased again during the World War to
435,000 acres. The ten-year average yield has in-
creased regularly from 14.1 bushels in 1879 to 19.3
in the seven-year period from 1906 to 1913. Spring
wheat was early grown in the higher hill regions,
then abandoned and recently has again been grown
to the extent of nearly 30,000 acres.
Wheat production fits in with that of beans and
canning-factory peas. The former crop in particu-
lar, which occupies a large acreage in this same region,
is harvested and out of the way in good season for
planting wheat. Beans leave a clean, firm seed-bed
favorable for wheat and the residual fertilizer and
the legume residue combine to make the succession
a good one. In that same region, clover seeded with
timothy is the most common hay mixture, and wheat
makes a good nurse crop for these. Further, or per-
haps basic to all these facts, is the prevalence of clay
Ol
"3
2
fl
"5
3d
-ri
-4->
AGRICULTURAL INDUf^TRIES 157
and heavy loam soils of calcareous nature and fairly
smooth topography that permits the use of modern
harvesting machinery. Fertilizer is generally used
on wheat and, in fact, in seeding all the small grains,
but not often on corn.
There was a time when New York was the granary
of the country, the period immediately following the
opening of the Erie Canal in 1825. From the earliest
settlement it was the commonest cash crop because of
the ease of its storage and transportation. It con-
tinued to be the leading grain crop until the substan-
tial opening of the Central West when its produc-
tion shrank to the present acreage and to the region
where it is now most successfully produced. Here it
fits into the prevailing system of farming by which
wheat is able to hold its own against further western
competition. If not in itself profitable, it is worth
while because of the aid it gives to the conduct of
the prevailing system of farming.
Both barley and rye are secondary grain crops of
limited area and emergency use. Barley is pro-
duced in the same region as wheat, south of Lake
Ontario. Its growth swings a little further east and
north than wheat, being used in the dairy region east
of Lake Ontario and in the northeastern part of the
State. It is a short-season crop and often finds place
on wet, " late " land where oats or other spring grains
eould not be planted. It also reaches south well up
on the hill land of the Genesee Valley, doubtless be-
cause of its ability to grow in a cool climate. It is
almost entirely used as feed. The acreage of barley
158 RURAL NEW YORK
is from 80,000 to 90,000 and the ten-year average
yield is 26.6 bushels. There has been a tremendous
decrease in the acreage of barley in the last thirty
years. Together with wheat it once had a large place
on the hill lands, reaching its highest point in acreage
in 1860. In 1879 it occupied approximately 360,000
acres. Northwestern states' competition forced its
decadence.
Eye occupies more acreage than barley and instead
of one has two centers of production. It is grown
extensively in the Finger Lakes and Genesee Valley
regions, and again in the central section of the Hud-
son Valley. In the former region it takes its place
with wheat in the rotation, perhaps on rather poorer
soils. In the latter, it is the preferred grain on thin
soil, is used extensively as a nurse crop for grass
seeding and, in addition, the straw has a high market
value in the city for packing and certain manufac-
turing purposes. It is carefully harvested and
threshed to preserve the straw without breaking.
Much of it is cut with a dropper and bound by hand
and some is even cut with a cradle in the old-fash-
ioned way. The acreage is about 150,000 and fluctu-
ates considerably from year to year. The ten-year
average yield for the period ending in 1915 was 17.3
bushels, three bushels more than the ten-year average
for any period since 1865.
Eye is widely planted as a cover- and green-manure
crop. It makes a fair growth on rather poor soil.
It grows late in the fall and reaches good size early
in spring. The fall growth may be pastured and
AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES 159
the spring growth turned under for manure. In the
dairy region where the soiling system is used, rye
is the first crop available in spring. It is now much
recommended for seeding with hairy vetch as a green-
manure crop. They grow together very well, the rye
serving to hold up the trailing vetch, and the sup-
port promotes the growth of the latter. They are
ready to be plowed under about the same time in
spring and usually in season for planting a regular
crop.
While New York stands at the head of the list
in the production of buckwheat, the acreage of that
crop is fourth among the cereals. Wheat and also
oats and corn stand above. The competition for
third place is fairly close with wheat, in some years,
exceeding buckwheat. The acreage now approaches
280,000 but may fluctuate widely in difi'erent years.
This is probably because it is an emergency crop and
is put in where the land is wet, or where for other
reasons the regular crop has failed. As a general
average, the acreage has not clianged materially in
the last forty years. It has dropped a few thousand
acres. Pennsylvania is a close second in acreage and
in a few years has exceeded New York. The high
tide of production in the country was in the sixties,
but the statistics do not show that New York pro-
duced much more than at present. In several years
through the intervening period, it has exceeded
300,000 acres.
The production is nearly all in the lower half of
the State. The two main centers are the southwest-
160 RURAL NEW YORK
ern [)art and the cultivated territory centeriii>i; on
Albany. In the former, the most extensive area is
throug'h the Finger Lakes and particularly on the
higher land on the Pennsylvania line, centering in
Tioga County. However, the production is heavy all
through western iSTew York back from the lake shores.
Its heavy production reaches well north along Cay-
uga Lake. Buckwheat is considerably grown in
northern New York. ^
The soils with which the growth of buckwheat are
most associated are those of the southern plateau,
the Wooster, Lordstown and the Volusia. The high
elevation and moist character of this soil coupled with
the fine fibrous root system give buckwheat the ad-
vantage over other cereals.
The ten-year average yield of buckwheat for the
period ending in 1915 was 20.4 busliels, being 2 to 7
bushels more than in any preceding ten-year period
since 1870. The yield varies in different counties
from 12 or 14 to 28 bushels, the last being in Cajoiga
County. Evidently it is very susceptible to differ-
ences in season. Madison yielded 26 bushels in 1909,
Chautauqua 25.6, Steuben 14, Tioga 21, Albany 19.5,
Eensselaer 21 and Clinton 19 bushels.
Buckwheat is perhaps most widely used as a cover-
and green-manure crop, particularly in orchards
where tillage is practiced. Planted in early summer,
it will make a good carpet by apple harvesting time.
If a hardy legume is added, this will fiU-in the fall
and following spring. In the hill country, the crop
is often used as a nurse in seeding grass.
AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES 161
The large acreage of buckwheat is reflected in the
heavy production of buckwheat flour that is ground
in the smaller country mills. The crop is very prac-
tical for the State, the gross returns to the acre
comparing very well with those from other cereals. It
responds to good soil and on calcareous loams, such
as the Ontario, the yield is much increased over the
average.
VEGETABLES (See Figs. 18, 19, 23, 24)
Potatoes constitute the one staple crop in which
there has been a consistent increase in acreage in the
State for the last sixty-five years, as recorded in the
decade census reports. Since 1850 the acreage has
approximately doubled. It now ranges from 350,000
to 400,000 acres. While N'ew York has been in the
lead in the production of potatoes, Michigan is rap-
idly approaching in acreage, and in one recent year
equaled New York, the yield, however, not being so
high.
Potatoes are used for human food more than any
other staple crop. The yields look large but it is an
interesting fact that both corn and wheat produce
more total nutriment and more protein to the acre.
In starch production the potato exceeds wheat but
still yields a third less than corn.
The relative production, taking the average yields
for the State, are given in the following table:
Fig. 23. Maps of the acreage and distribution of the speci-
fied vegetable crops in 1909. One dot equals 50 acres ex-
cept for the total area of vegetables when one dot equals
500 acres, a. total vegetables; b. green peas; c. celery;
d. cabbage ; e. sweet corn ; f . tomatoes ; g. onions.
102
AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES
163
Table V. Production of Potatoes, Corn,
Wheat and Buckwheat in New York
Yield of
drv matter,
lbs.
Yield of
Ijroteiu,
lbs.
Nitrogen
free extract,
lbs.
Potatoes, 100 bu.
Corn, 36 bu
Wheat, 20 bu. . .
Buckwheat, 20 bu.
1260
1950
1080
845
126
220
142
96
1030
1500
870
625
New York has about 10 per cent of the acreage of
potatoes and produces from 8 to 12 per cent of the
crop grown in the United States.
By far the most important region of production of
potatoes is .the middle western part of the State
from Lake Ontario at Rochester southward to the
State line, and from Syracuse to the western divide
of the Genesee Eiver. The acreage thins out on
either side of this region. Eastern Long Island is
second in importance, a third and growing section
being northern New York on the northeast flank of
the Adirondacks. The upper part of the eastern
Hudson Valley still retains a considerable acreage
but it has fallen from its former large acreage.
The most marked change in the last fifty years
has been the large increase in acreage in the western
New York potato belt. In all the counties there has
been an expansion of one-third to an entire doubling
of the area. However, since 1905, there appears to
be some diminution of the acreage in this territory
and therefore in the State. The eastern counties
1G4
liUIiAL NEW YORK
had their largest production hetvveen 1800 and 1880.
The soils on wliieh potatoes are gi'own vary con-
siderahly as to series hut agree (juite closely as to
texture. They are all a sandy to silty loam. None
is heavy clay or light sand. In the southern part of
western New York, potatoes are grown on the hill
lands on the Lordstown and Wooster loam and silt
loam. The Volusia series in the same region is very
much less suitable for the crop, probably because of
its poor drainage. Both the former series are fairly
t** /9*9 /ss* /an /96^ tee9 ie7* /ff^j /se* /at9 /99* tns /904 /909 /9/* /9/9
Fig. 24. Graphs showing by five-year periods the area in
potatoes, hops, dry beans, and cabbage.
well drained, deep and well oxidized. Near the On-
tario Lake shore, the Dunkirk and the Ontario fine
sandy loams are most utilized. In western New
York, late potatoes are a staple general farm crop in
rotation and receive from four to eight hundred
pounds of a complete fertilizer to the acre. The
third center of production is in Clinton and Franklin
counties, largely in the siliceous sandy and stony
mountain soils of the Coloma series. Their best
yield is on rather open fine sandy loam at an eleva-
tion of 1200 to 1800 feet. Often potatoes are the
AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES 165
first crop on new land. Very little fertilizer is used.
While grown in rotation, modern machinery is not
employed.
The ten-year average yield of potatoes for the
State for the period ending in 1915 was 97.5 bushels.
It has ranged from 145 bushels in 1914 to 62 bushels
in 1915. The northern counties have the best yields
and run from 150 to 200 bushels. Xext to these
stands Long Island, then the western potato belt.
The Hudson Valley counties have the smallest yield.
Both dry beans and green peas are important crops
and are grown in the Finger Lakes region of western
New York. In the production of beans New York is
third, with an acreage of 116,000. Michigan and
California lead with three-fourths of the total for tlie
country, New York being the only other state with
more than 100,000 acres. New York's acreage has
been going down for forty years, the fall being heav-
iest in the counties of the Mohawk and the middle
Hudson Valley where the crop was formerly of only
minor importance. In recent years the growing of
beans has been much hindered by a diseased condi-
tion of the roots that carries over in the soil and has
caused a heavy reduction in acreage in the centers of
bean-growing.
In green peas the State leads with a fifth of the
total acreage, about 17,000 acres or one-seventh of
that of beans. Wisconsin is a poor second. Like
beans, green peas have suffered a heavy decrease in
acreage that has been continuous for several decades
and has been quite heavy in recent years.
166 RURAL NEW YORK
These two legumes are associated with the calcar-
eous soils. The Ontario and IToneoye series are their
natural habitat. They run over onto the sandy loam
and clay loam members of the associated Dunkirk
soils. They are also grown to advantage on tlie allu-
vial soils in the region where they are dominant. A
fairly sweet condition in the soil is a prerequisite to
their successful growth.
Beans occupy the more restricted region and are
grown from the west shore of Cayuga Lake nearly
to the Niagara Eiver. The Genesee Eiver represents
the central axi'S of the region. It spreads along Lake
Ontario but does not reach the Pennsylvania line.
The plateau region is not favorable to the crop,
although it runs up on the Lordstown and Wooster
soils along the southern boundary. Livingston and
Monroe counties have the most extensive acreage.
Eainfall is a large factor in determining the
growth of beans. In the region in question the har-
vesting period, September, is rather dry which aids
in the field curing process. Eed kidney, yellow eye,
common white and pea beans are grown. The aver-
age yield of all varieties for the State is 15 bushels.
The yields increase toward the dry region to the west,
rather than toward the moist sections to the east and
south.
Beans are grown in rotation, preferably on a clover
sod. They are usually followed by wheat, as the
requirements of the two crops dovetail very well.
This rotation of beans, wheat and clover is one of
the most effective in use in the State to build up a
AGRICULTURAL IISIDUSTRIES 167
soil if the second growth of clover is turned under.
Sheep are largely kept in the bean-growing region
and are used to consume the bean straw.
Green beans have a small development near the
larger cities of Utica, Syracuse, Eochester and Buf-
falo.
Green peas have a wider spread than dry beans and
reach well down the Mohawk Valley and west along
the south shore of Lake Erie. They are even more
sensitive to the acid soils of the southern tier counties
than are beans. However, they are less sensitive to
summer rainfall, since they are cut and shelled green.
They, therefore, reach east into the region of high
rainfall between Syracuse and Utica. This is also
an important dairy and stock-raising country, and
the green pea vines are ensilaged at the canning fac-
tories and sold back to the farmers as feed. Statis-
tics on yield are not available, but observation indi-
cates it to be 18 to 20 bushels to the acre. Green
peas are grown in the rotation similar to beans but
have a wider crop association. Peas are an excellent
forerunner of fall grains and to precede alfalfa seed-
ing.
Dry peas are grown in the same region as the
green peas and occupy about the same acreage as
green beans, about 4,000.
Cabbage production reaches from Syracuse to Buf-
falo and from Lake Ontario to the break of the higher
hill land in the southern part of the State. It also
reaches well into the valleys along the northern mar-
gin of the hill country, for example, in Cortland
168 RURAL NEW YORK
County. Like beans and peas, it follows the calcar-
eous soils Init is rather less sensitive to a deficiency
in lime. IMoist climate and a nitrogen rich soil favor
its growth as they do all vegetables. For largest
yield it inclines toward the swampy soils such as the
Clyde and muck but the greater part of the acreage
is on upland soils of the Ontario series. The crop
is stored and widely shipped. Near Syracuse a con-
siderable amount of kraut is made. The area occu-
pied by cabbage is about 35,000 acres which puts
the State in the lead by far, with a fourth of the
total crop in the country. The yield is from 8 to
13 tons but some farms exceed 20. Cabbage is a
good cleaning crop for the land by reason of thorough
tillage, and by many farmers is used to combat
quack-grass.
Sweet corn for direct sale and for canning occu-
pies about 24,000 acres in the canning-crops region
south of the Great Lakes, and also in the Hudson
Valley from which latter section it is shipped to New
York as green corn. Its distribution is much the
same as green peas.
Tomatoes are largely associated with sweet corn and
green peas. They thrive on strong fertile soils and
seem to succeed best in the region of low summer
rainfall, closely fringing the edge of Lake Ontario and
the south shore of Lake Erie. It is possible that the
larger amount of sunshine and the dry atmosphere
that prevails in this region promotes ripening and
reduces susceptibility to disease of the fruit. The
AGRICLLTLliAL ISDL^TRIEU 169
acreage is approximately 8,500 or about equal to the
combined acreage of cabbage and onions.
Onions constitute a prominent crop and are most
largely grown on muck soil, for that reason following
the primary development of such soils through west-
ern jSTew York from the Niagara River eastward to
Rome in Oneida County. Wayne County leads al-
though the South Lima area in Livingston Count\'
and the sections around Rome receive rather more
popular advertising. In the lower part of the State
in south central Orange County, large areas of muck
soil are almost exclusively given over to the produc-
tion of onions, so much so that " Orange County
reds " have a standard market quotation as a recog-
nized grade. Heavy fertilization strong in potash is
required for all crops on muck soil. The area of
onions is about 5,500 acres and Xew York ranks a
close second to Ohio, several other states following
closely. The yield averages 300 to 400 bushels to the
acre, though two or three times this amount are se-
cured on some farms.
Celery ranks with lettuce and onions as a muck-
land crop. iSTew York led in area of these in 1909
with about 3,000 acres or a fifth of the total in the
United States. Muck areas in the Genesee Valley re-
gion are most largely devoted to celery, and the crop
extends into the southern tier of counties much more
than does onions. While the yield is larger on muck
than on upland soils, and perhaps the quality a little
better, it is recognized that the keeping properties in
170 RURAL NEW YORK
storage are better for the crop from the rich silty min-
eral soils, particularly dark alluvial soils, such as the
Genesee and the Papakating series.
Other crops having a localized development are
cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, Lima beans. and cucum-
bers. On the medium sandy loam and in conjunc-
tion with the peculiar climatic conditions of the north
shore of Long Island east of Wading Eiver, these
vegetables attain peculiar perfection and are most
largely grown. The chief center of production of
sprouts is at Orient, while that for cauliflower is a
little to the west. The production of Lima beans is
associated with cauliflower. While cucumbers are
grown to a considerable extent near Orient, the larger
area is near the western end of Long Island in west-
ern Sufl^olk County and nearest the south shore. The
acreage is between 2500 and 3000 used both for im-
mediate consumption and for pickling. Yields run
as higli as 150 barrels to the acre, but less than 100
is common. The yield of Brussels sprouts is about
2000 quarts and the area occupied is about 150 to
200 acres.
Mushrooms are grown by the acre in abandoned
natural cement rock mines and in a smaller way in
special cellars. Akron, in Erie County, is the larg-
est center of the industry in the country. Here mines
of large area a little below the surface of the ground
have been abandoned for purposes of making natural
cement. The beds are laid on the floor and the
height of the ceiling permits the free use of wagons
AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES 171
and teams. The total area of the mine is about
twenty acres, of which six to eight are used for the
crop.
The total area in vegetables exclusive of potatoes
is about 175,000 acres. The crops listed above oc-
cupy about 100,000 acres, leaving 75,000 acres for
minor crops and minor areas.
An important center of green vegetable produc-
tion is along the shore of Lake Erie southwest of
Buffalo. Owing, doubtless, to the general increase in
population in the northeastern part of the United
States, and to the markedly perishable character of
many of the vegetables, the production of these crops
is on the increase in this section of the country —
about equal to the increase in population in cities in
that region.
The sugar-beet fiasco of the late nineties and the
early years of the present century is an excellent ex-
ample of the futility of introducing a new crop with-
out full knowledge of soil conditions adapted to its
growth. Under the stimulus of state subsidies, fac-
tories for making beet-sugar were erected atBing-
hamton and at Lyons. The first factory was clearly
headed for failure from the very start because the
area of soil adapted to the culture of the crop in that
region is confined to the river valley and is very
limited in extent. At Lyons, similar difficulties ex-
isted but not of so serious a nature. Here, too, the
soils are better suited to other staple crops than to
beets. Had one of these factories been located in
172 RURAL -NEW YORK
the region of Buffalo, where there are large areas of
soil in Niagara and Erie counties adapted to its cul-
ture, it would have had some chance of success.
FEUiT (See Figs. 22, 25-27)
In acreage and value of fruit New York is second
only to California, which has three times as large a
total area. One acre in every fifteen in crops in New
York is devoted to fruit-culture. The total area in
all fruits is approximately 595,000 acres, equal to
the total acreage of potatoes, vegetables and special
crops, one-fourth that in cereals and about the same
as that of corn. The value, $25,000,000, in 1909
was five-ninths that of the cereals and five-twelfths
that of all the milk sold in the State. The rank of
New York among the states is second in quantity
and value. The value of the fruit crop in New York
is as large as that of all the tropical and subtropical
fruit produced in the country. The State is first
in apples, fresh grapes, bush-fruits, pears and quinces,
third in peaches and plums, seventh in cherries and
eighth in strawberries. There is even more divers-
ity in the conditions that govern the production of
different fruits than for general farm crops, and they
must, therefore, be considered by varieties.
The apple far outstrips all other fruits in acreage
and value, liaving about half the value of all fruit.
There were in 1910, 11,250,000 trees of bearing age,
and 2,750,000 younger trees. In 1917 the total acre-
age in apples, both young and bearing trees, was
nearly 386,000 acres. For decades New York has led
AGRICULTURAL IXDU8TRIES
173
in apple-growing but the production and marketing
has not reached the high standard that is attained in
the western boxed fruit and that is now beginning to
characterize the crop in this State due to State and
/00T =
26.000 BUSHELS
I DOT =
100.000 QUARTS
I DOT =
1.000.000 POUNDS
I DOT =
400,000 POUNDS
Fifj. 25. Maps of the amounts and distribution of speci-
fied fruits and crops in 1909. a. orchard fruits; b.
grapes; c. small-fruits; d. tobacco.
Federal laws requiring more systematic grading.
The number of trees below bearing age, 20 per cent of
the total, indicates the expansion to which the growers
look.
The apple tree grows well in nearly every part of
the State and the production of the fruit is widely
distributed, but the commercial growth of the crop is
174 RURAL NEW YORK
restricted to well defined regions. Both soil and
climate enter into the conditions that determine the
distribution.
There are three or perhaps four sections of apple
production : the lakes region, including the shore of
Lake Ontario and the Central Lakes, the Hudson,
and the Champlain Valley. The lakes region is by
far the most extensive. Five counties on the Ontario
shore, Niagara, Orleans, Monroe, Wayne and Ontario
in 1909 produced more apples than any state
except Pennsylvania. The lakes apple region forms
a broad belt south of Lake Ontario and loops south-
ward in the Seneca-Cayuga Lake district and in the
Genesee A'alley, to the middle of this part of the
State. Ten counties stand in the following order in
the number of trees to the square mile, a figure that
very well represents the intensity of production :
Niagara 1540, Orleans 1380, Wayne 1300, Monroe
1100, Genesee 620, Ontario 495, Yates 466, Erie 435,
Seneca 370, Livingston 230. The acreage thins out
to the eastward in western Oswego and Onondaga
counties, and westward it follows the escarpment
overlooking Lake Erie in Chautauqua County.
There are very few important orchards above an
elevation of 1,000 feet and the more intensive pro-
duction is at an elevation of 300 to 800 feet.
The Hudson Valley belt lies on either side of that
river within ten miles, and centers about the north
line of Dutchess County. It spreads north to Kin-
derhook and south to Newburg. It attains some im-
portance in Saratoga County south of Ballston
AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES 175
Springs. The elevation here is below 500 feet.
The Champlain region is in the upper part of the
valley back of Plattsburg in Clinton County at an
elevation of 300 to 600 feet. There is also a smaller
area of apple orchards along that lake in southern
Essex County.
A growing period between killing frosts of one hun-
dred and sixty days includes three-fourths of the
Fig. 26. Amount and distribution of specified fruits in
1910. One dot equals 500 acres, a. plums and prunes;
b. grape vines.
commercial apple territory as it does of all fruits,
and one hundred and fifty days marks the limit be-
yond which there are scarcely any large commercial
orchards. This does not get outside of the ranges
of elevation stated above, but neither does it include
all of the territory within those limits.
The Indians in western Xew York had large plant-
ings of apples when their strength was broken by
General Sullivan in 1779. Apples were not grown
for market in a commercial way much before 1825.
The early plantings were based on the production of
cider as well as fruit for culinary purposes. Beach
176 RURAL ?fEW YORK
states in "Apples of New York," that before 1840
probably not much over 15 per cent of the fruit was
budded or grafted.
New York has contributed largely to the creation
of new varieties. In a list of 804 given by Hedrick
and his associates in Bulletin 361 of the Geneva
Station, New York is credited with originating 144
varieties of those whose origin is known. Of these,
eleven are adapted to growth widely in the State.
Four are well-known commercial sorts, the Northern
Spy, Jonathan, Newtown Pippin and Wagener.
Four others belong to the Spy group. While tlie
number of varieties is large, those of real commer-
cial importance are small. Most of these appeared in
mixed plantings of seeds carried into the new settle-
ment by pioneers from the East. Probably at the
head of these varieties is the Northern Spy. It ap-
peared in a lot of seedlings grown by Mr. Chapin at
East Bloomfield, where the site of the original tree has
been marked. Early Joe and Norton's Melon ap-
peared in the same lot of seedlings. Two varieties of
Spitzenburg are in this list. The Wagener apple ap-
peared at Penn Yan. The Yellow Newtown origin-
ated on Long Island, near Prince's nursery at Flush-
ing. This is notable in another way because it was
probably the first variety shipped abroad. In 1758
a package of this fruit was sent to Benjamin Franklin
in London. In ITGT, Robert Livingston sent a barrel
of this fruit abroad. As late as 1825, apples were
packed in straw-headed barrels. The Swaar apple
appeared at Esopus in the Hudson Valley. The
^5=^
Fig. 27. Maps of the acreage and distribution of the spe-
cified fruits according to age in 1909 except for apples
which are for 1910. One dot equals 500 acres, a. apples
(bearing) ; b. apples (below bearing) ; c. peaches and
nectarines (bearing) ; d. peaches and nectarines (not
bearing). One dot equals 100 acres, e. strawberries; f.
bush-fruits.
177
178 RURAL NEW YORK
Tompkins King originated in New Jersey but has
been developed at Jacksonville in Tompkins County.
The first white man's apple orchard west of the Gen-
esee Eiver was that of Schaffer on Indian Allen's
farm at Scottsville, planted in 1799,
Beach in " Apples of New York " says that the
Baldwin ranks preeminent above any other in import-
ance in commercial orchards in the State. Rhode
Island Greening ranks next in importance. Doubt-
less, these two varieties supply at least two-thirds of
the apples grown for market. Neither of these varie-
ties is a New York production. The Baldwin,
named after Colonel Baldwin who recognized the mer-
its of the fruit, originated in eastern Massachusetts.
It is said by Wilson probably to have done more to
give apple-growing a large commercial standing than
any other variety. The Greening originated in Rhode
Island in the vicinity of Newport. Next in import-
ance is the Northern Spy. The relative rank of other
varieties is not so easily determined.
The quality of New York apples is concededly high
although the average color is not as strong as on
western-grown fruit. The system of packing and
marketing is improving rapidly under the influence
of a set of State-established grades for apples and a
system of bonding commission dealers. These laws
are backed by the large membership of the New York
State Horticultural Society. Marketing facilities, in-
cluding grading and packing are improving and
several central packing-houses have been established,
notably in Niagara County.
AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES 179
In the apple districts, storage and manufacture fa-
cilities have developed to a very large extent to hold
the crop to a longer marketing season and to utilize
the low-grade fruit. Seventy-five per cent of the
evaporated apples produced in the country are con-
tributed by New York, mostly from the western dis-
trict. To only a small extent the storage facilities
are controlled by growers. The cold storage plants
were formerly located in the larger market centers
but the development of organization among produc-
ers is pressing home the suggestion that storage fa-
cilities near home that give a more broad and in-
dependent market outlook are to be preferred.
Peaches are a poor second to apples in value of
fruit and number of trees. In 1909 their value was
$3,000,000 or one-seventh that of the apple. There
were 5,000,000 trees or about one-third as many as
of apples. In 1917 there was reported 53,500 acres
devoted to peaches of all ages. New York was elev-
enth in number of bearing trees, sixth in young
trees, and third in value of peaches by the 1909 fed-
eral census.
The crop is much less cosmopolitan than apples
and is confined to two districts, both of which are
within the apple zones. The first is along the im-
mediate shore of Lake Ontario from the Niagara
Eiver eastward and extending south but keeping
rather close to the shores of Seneca and Cayuga
lakes. The section adjacent to the Niagara Eiver
enjoys almost annual crops. The second district is
in the Hudson Valley from Albany southward on
180 RURAL AEW YORK
either side of the river witliin five miles. The west
shore opposite Poughkeepsie is most heavily planted.
The acreage has increased rapidly in the last ten
years but had been nearly stationary for the preced-
ing twenty years. The increase is shown by the pro-
portion of trees below bearing age. In 1909 there
were nearly as many trees below bearing age as were
producing crops. Since the trees should live for
twelve to fifteen years, this indicates a large increase.
However, the very cold winter of 1917-18 killed
many trees and correspondingly reduced the imme-
diate prospects for large crops of peaches. The El-
berta and the Early Crawford are the most satisfac-
tory varieties for market, the former for the late
season, the latter for the early season. In western
New York, says Anderson, over half the plantings
are of Elberta.
The peach crop experiences extremes in yield and
market returns. No-crop years have been succeeded
by seasons of over-production with slaughter prices.
The acreage and value of pears approaches that of
peaches and in 1917 was reported at 41,000 acres.
The regions of commercial production are the same
as for peaches but pears reach out further from the
influence of bodies of water, and as a rule are put on
much heavier soils. The loam and clay loam types of
the corresponding series used for peaches are em-
ployed for pears, and while important, lack of drain-
age is less critical than for peaches. The statistics
appear to indicate a marked increase in acreage in
AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES 181
very recent years. In 1!)09, the trees below bearing
were equal to three-fourths those in bearing.
The preeminent variety for the State in acreage,
value and successful production is the Bartlett. The
Seckel and Bosc stand next in the list of commercial
sorts. New York ranks first in the production of
pears.
Plums and prunes are minor tree-fruits with less
than a quarter the number of trees of pears and
peaches. They also show a less proportion of young
trees and the indications are that a decrease in acre-
age is imminent. Plums are closely associated with
pears in distribution, climate and soil relations.
They belong M^ith the hardy fruits.
The cherry, unlike the plum, shows a strong ten-
dency to increase in acreage. The acreage was some-
what larger than that of plums in 1917 and amounted
to 13,000 acres and is increasing. While the State
ranked ninth in number of bearing trees in 1910, it
was second in number of trees below bearing age
and fifth in value. The cherry compares with the
apple in the breadth of its adaptation to New York
conditions.
Cherry trees of native fruit of the cultivated sorts
are common in a wild state and are found in every
neglected fence corner and wayside spot. The cherry
is the most common home-garden fruit throughout
the State, the type being the pie or sour cherry which
is more hardy and less exacting of soil and climate
than are the sweet varieties.
182 RURAL NEW YORK
The commercial development of cherry-growing
clings ratlier closely to the main i'ruit belt in the
Hudson Valley and the western lakes region. It
has much the same spread as the pear and the plum.
The sour cherries, according to Hedrick, make up 9U
per cent of the plantings, the Montmorency, Early
Richmond and English Morella leading in tlie order
named. They are grown in the Hudson Valley on
either bank of the river, but especially on the eastern
shore in southern Columbia County, which has the
largest number of trees of any county in the State.
In this district the fruit is shipped to market as
fresh fruit and the industry has not reached a high
development.
In western New York there has been a very large
increase in the acreage of sour cherries in recent
years. The region of largest production is in the
Seneca Lake district, but it is an important fruit
through the Lake Ontario counties and has gained
a considerable foothold on the Lake Erie shore in the
grap,e district. The leading counties of the terri-
tory in the order of the number of trees to the
square mile of area are Seneca, Monroe, Wayne,
Ontario, Niagara, Orleans and Onondaga. Cherries,
therefore, seem to show a preference for the eastern
portion of this fruit belt.
The development in the industry of canning cher-
ries has been chiefly responsible for the large in-
crease in acreage. Geneva is an important center
in this industry.
The sweet cherry, which is very fastidious of soil
AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES 183
and climate, is grown in only a small way and finds
its best conditions on the lighter silty and fine
sandy loam and gravelly loam soils, especially of
the Dunkirk series from Rochester westward fairly
near the Ontario shore, that is, within eight to ten
miles.
In the production of quinces. New York leads in
total value with Ohio and Pennsylvania carrying a
similar acreage. There were nearly as many trees
below bearing age as of producing age in 1909, a
feature in which the State stood alone and indicating
the increase in planting. At that time the total
acreage was approximately 3000. The quince is un-
common outside the fruit belts but in the lakes region
and Hudson Valley it is grown with peculiar success
on the rich loam and fine sandy loam soils.
The prominence of ISTew York in small-fruit pro-
duction is due to raspberries which equal in acreage
that of all other small-fruits. The first commercial
planting was in Yates County in 1885. Easpberries
grow best in the cooler regions, and among the north-
erly states New York leads in its production. The
growing of bush-fruits is restricted to the area adja-
cent to the larger cities or to localities easily acces-
sible to market. The raspberry is an exception and
is most extensively grown rather remote from large
cities, in a belt extending along the west side of
Seneca Lake and thence northward into Wayne
County. The three counties of Yates, Ontario and
Wayne have half the acreage. Here the fruit is bat-
ted off the bushes into large baskets and it is then
184 liUKAL MJW yORK
evaporated in dry houses. Tlie soils of interme-
diate texture are adapted for its production and in
this region the types are rather calcareous and he-
long to the Ontario and Dunkirk series. Whether
the climatic conditions are peculiarly suited to the
production of the fruit is not evident from the data
at hand. Deficiency in soil moisture is particularly
disastrous at the time of fruiting and there may be
a connection between this fact and the moist summer
climate that prevails in the Seneca Lake belt.
In the production of the other kinds of bush-
fruits, jSTew York has no especial rank. Their pro-
duction has attained no large commercial importance.
Currants, blackberries and gooseberries are grown
with reasonable success and in amounts adequate to
meet the market demands. With the possible excep-
tion of currants, the center of best production would
appear to be in the states to the south of New York
so that the increase in the acreage for consumption
in the fresh condition beyond the normal growth of
regional population does not seem to be advisable.
In the Hudson Valley opposite Poughkeepsie and
from thence south to Newburg, small-fruits are in-
tensively grown and are largely shipped to New
York by boat. Small-fruits are an important group
in the lower Hudson region.
Strawberries rank next to raspberries in impor-
tance among the small-fruits but have only about half
the acreage. Their distribution is fairly cosmopoli-
tan in tlie valley and lake plain regions of the State.
They are best grown on the silt and fine sandy loam
AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES 185
types of series that are usually water laid, moist silt
loam of the Dunkirk and Hudson series being per-
haps preeminent. The cominon belief that the
strawberry prefers an acid soil is hardly borne out
by the distribution of its acreage. However, it is
evident that a content of lime beyond what will in-
sure ready decay of organic matter and, therefore, a
high state of fertility is not essential. The commer-
cial production of strawberries in Oswego County be-
gan about 1883.
It is interesting to note that 277 acres of cran-
berries on eighty-eight farms were reported in 1909.
This was only about one one-hundredth of the total
acreage. These gave a yield of 327,370 quarts worth
$20,743. The acreage was double that of ten years
before. This is all on Long Island, mostly on the
eastern end. The production of the crop requires a
rather high degree of skill. It is the only fruit that
thrives in low wet soils and during the winter the
crop is usually protected from low temperature by
flooding the area with water so that the plants are
submerged. The coast region of New Jersey sup-
ports half the total acreage of cranberries in the
country which was about 30,000 acres.
Over 1200 farms report the production of nuts to
the total amount of 2,750,000 pounds. The greater
part were from black walnut, butternut, chestnut and
hickory nuts presumably from trees growing wild.
Eighty-one farms reported 456 English walnut trees
in bearing that produced nearly 10,000 pounds of
nuts. This tree is attracting considerable attention
186 RURAL NEW YORK
and orchards have been started in the lakes fruit
belt. Scattered trees of bearing age occur at a num-
ber of points in the western part of the State.
These give a fairly consistent yield of nuts. As
yet, the propagation of trees from cuttings has been
difficult and the bearing trees, which are seedlings,
are of variable quality.
From almost the first settlement by the Dutch,
attempts were made to grow grapes and make wine.
The early efforts were with foreign varieties and these
were all failures in the New World. All the grapes
now grown commercially, except those used for rais-
ins, have been developments from the native Ameri-
can sorts. The American varieties do not contain
enough sugar and solids for making raisins. Rich-
ards of Manhattan Island had vineyards there and on
Long Island and as early as 1G64 enjoyed a monopoly
in wine-making in that region. Robert Underbill at
Croton Point on the Hudson, acting under the sugges-
tion of Mr. Parmenter of Brooklyn who had given
much study to grape-growing, developed the first
important vineyard in the Hudson Valley. He be-
gan in 1827 with the varieties Catawba and Isabella,
and expanded his vineyard to seventy-five acres.
These same varieties also constituted the first plant-
ings in western New York. The variety Isabella ap-
peared as a mutant in the garden of Mrs. Isabella
Gibbs in Brooklyn. In 1818 Deacon Elijah Fay
planted the first grapes in Chautauqua County, near
Brocton, which led to the foundation of the indus-
AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES 187
try in what is now the Grape Belt. As late as
1859 there was not over 100 acres of vineyards in that
region. In the Keuka Lake district the first plant-
ings were in 1830 in a garden at Hammondsport by
Eev. William Bostwick. The origination of the Con-
cord variety by Bull in Massachusetts before 1850,
which variety now occupies upwards of 90 per cent
of the entire commercial grape area, was the real
foundation of the development of the vine in west-
ern New York. Two well-known varieties, besides
many minor ones, have appeared in the State. The
Worden was originated Jjy Schuyler \Yorden, of
Minetto, Oswego County, in 1863, from seed of
Concord. The Niagara grape, the leading American
green variety, was originated at Lockport by Hoag
and Clark in 1868, also from seed of Concord fer-
tilized by Cassaday. The making of wine was the
first outlet for the larger vineyards. In 1880 the
first carload of table grapes from western New York
was sent to Philadelphia by Jonas Martin, of
Brocton. The commercial production of unfer-
mented grape juice began in Westfield about 1900
and has had a rapid rise. California leads in
grape-growing, her product being most largely the
raisin grapes of European varieties. New York,
which ranks second in total production, leads all
other states in American varieties used for table and
for making wine and unfermented juice. In 1910,
New York was growing nearly 36,000,000 vines, cov-
ering about 53,000 acres. All but one-ninth of this
188 RURAL NEW YORK
number was of bearing age. The total number of
vines was a little more than one-third of all the vines
in the country outside of California.
The region bordering Lake Erie on the south,
through the states of Ohio, Pennsylvania and New
York, is the most prominent eastern grape-growing
district. A large part of the acreage is in New York
and forms the most important center of production in
the State. This is the Chautauqua district. Three
other districts of grape production are of less im-
portance, in the order of acreage, being the Central
Lakes, the Hudson Valley and the ISTiagara.
The Chautauqua district had its rise to commercial
importance with the introduction of the Concord
about 18G0. It is located on the low and rather
flat Lake Erie plain which is marked off from the
southern New York highlands by a high steep slope.
Grape-growing extends well up this slope toward the
crest but has its best development on the old gravelly
bars and beaches that stretch east and west near the
foot. This area was formerly covered by lake waters.
They are often calcareous in the subsoil. They are
mostly of the Dunkirk series. Along the face of the
slope the Lordstown and Wooster soils are dominant.
The grape region is from three to four miles in
width and extends westward from just within the
Erie County line through all northern Chautauqua
County and thence westward into Pennsylvania and
Ohio, with ever decreasing intensity from the center
of production around Brocton.
The Central Lakes region is made up of several
AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES 189
centers of production, the largest of which is the
Keuka district. Next in importance is the territory
extending southward from the lower end of Canan-
daigua Lake. The third section is more scattered
and lies on either side of the middle part of Seneca
Lake, reaching over to Komulus. These several dis-
tricts are not connected by grape plantings. The
land consists of the steep slopes along the deep val-
leys, the slopes being most pronounced in the first
two districts. Topography and elevation appear to
bring about the conditions favorable for the grape in
this region. The Keuka-Canandaigua districts have
a longer and warmer season than the Chautauqua and
fruit matures two weeks earlier and is largely out of
the way before the latter crop comes into market.
The rainfall is higher and the air more moist, as a
result of which the vines are more subject to mildew
than in the Chautauqua region. The soils of the
Seneca district are much tlie same in series as in
the Chautauqua belt, Dunkirk, but the crop is grown
more on heavy soils of the Ontario series. In the
other two regions the soils are of the Lordstown and
Wooster series, probably mostly of the former of silt
loam texture and very stony. These latter forma-
tions are relatively thin and friable, which, together
with tlie lay of the slopes, doubtless combines to give
the large supply of heat favorable to the crop. The
best parts of the Central Lakes districts are planted
solid to grapes to the exclusion of other crops.
The Hudson district has been designated as the
birthplace of American viticulture. Here are the
190 RURAL NEW YORK
oldest winery, the oldest vineyard, the first distribu-
ting point and the greatest number of varieties.
Many of these have been originated the^'e and some
of them have been the basis of the best American
sorts. Finally, there has been centered there a corps
of viticulturalists whose names will long be perpet-
uated by horticulturists because of their many and
varied contributions to the industry, chief among
whom were the several generations of the family of
Downings whose nurseries were at Newburg.
Like other fruits grown in this region, the grape
follows closely the shores of the river from Newburg
northward. It is a narrow irregular tract of stony
mountainous country, with pockets of stony, sandy
and silty soils of the Hudson and Dutchess series.
Above Poughkeepsie and reaching across the river
into lower Columbia County, steep but tillable slopes
are commonly planted to grapes. The east slope is
usually the warmer and on account of the direction
of the prevailing westerly winds most protected from
the wind.
The fourth or Niagara district lies in the angle
between the Niagara Eiver and the steep bluff over-
looking Lake Ontario. It does not reach much east
of Lockport and follows rather closely the foot and
lower slope of this mountainous escarpment, on the
stony and gravelly soils of the old lake beach. In
these respects it is similar to the Chautauqua region.
This district is far less prominent than the other
three in extent of grape production.
The number of bearing vines in the several dis-
;2;
5
>
a>
V
AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES 191
tricts in 1910 were : Chautauqua 17,100,000, Central
Lakes 11,000,000, Hudson Valley 2,500,000 and
Niagara 500,000. With the exception of the Chau-
tauqua district, there has been a decrease in num-
ber of vines; here there has been a substantial in-
crease but not in yield of grapes to correspond. It
has been suggested by Morrison tliat the increased
planting on unfavorable soils is responsible for this
decrease in average yield.
In the Chautauqua district, the distribution of
other varieties of grape than Concord is reported by
Hedrick to be : Niagara 3 per cent, Wordens 2 per
cent, Moors Early and Catawba each 1 per cent,
other varieties, chiefly Delawares, 3 per cent. The
only marked variation is in the Niagara district where
the variety of the same name is grown almost ex-
clusively.
The ufilization of the grape has changed consid-
erably and varies with the different districts. In the
pioneer days nearly all the fruit was used for making
wine. Table use of grapes increased until in 1890
it is stated that four-fifths of the product of New
York and Pennsylvania were so consumed. Nearly
all the Hudson and Niagara crops are still so utilized.
The production of wine has never been an especially
large factor in the grape-growing industry. How-
ever, the manufacture of sparkling wine or cham-
pagne has been important in the Keuka Lake sec-
tion where 75 per cent of the product is made.
This has been called the American champagne dis-
trict and is on the same isothermal line as the
193 RURAL NEW YORK
fiunous Champagne region of France. L. J. Vance,
editor of the American Wine Press, concludes that
in recent years one-fourth of the grapes in the State
were used for the production of wine and juice.
However, wine has been produced commercially in all
of the grape-growing centers.
The production of unfermented juice is increasing.
In the Chautauqua region it is made entirely from the
blue Concord variety. More than 3,000,000 gallons
of juice are manufactured annually there, and pro-
duction is increasing.
NURSERIES AND FLOWERS
In association with the large production of fruit
in the State, there has been from early years a corre-
spondingly large development of the nursery busi-
ness. The oldest and most famous of these was the
Prince Nursery at Flushing, Long Island, estab-
lished in 1725. Four men of as many generations
of the Prince family were proprietors of this
nursery in succession, and were for many years lead-
ing authorities on important groups of American
fruits and flowers, and authors of noteworthy cata-
logues and treatises, including one on the vine.
Their nursery is said to represent the beginning of
commercial fruit-culture in America. In 1793, their
nursery and large collection of varieties became the
Linnean Botanical Garden. It has now been long
disbanded.
The Downing Nurseries, established at Newburg
and supervised by several members of the Downing
AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES 193
family, have occupied an important place in horti-
cultural annals similar to those of the Princes on
Long Island. In 1841, Andrew Jackson Downing,
who is said to have been the first great American
landscape-gardener, published his book on " The
Theory of Landscape Gardening and Cottage Resi-
dences." Three generations of the Downing family
of Newburg were notably prominent in the nursery
business and in the development of fruit-culture.
The Eochester-Geneva-Dansville nursery district in
western Xew York, probably the largest in the coun-
try, had its primary beginning when Patrick Barry
went from the Prince Nursery on Long Island to
Rochester in 1840. Of course, there were nurseries
in that western district before the coming of
Barry. Lincoln Fay, second son of Elijah Fay, had
the first grape nursery in the present grape belt at
Fredonia, another important nursery center, espe-
cially for vines and small-fruits.
Monroe County is now the leading center of the
nursery industry in acreage. Rochester is the center
of production. In that region occur large areas of
fine sandy and silt loam soil favorable for the busi-
ness, which naturally joins with the large fruit inter-
est, of which that city is also the center. There are
outlying centers eastward in southern Wayne County
and in Onondaga County, westward as far as Lock-
port, southeast at Geneva and prominent areas at
Dansville and Batavia. Dansville in the Canaseraga
Valley in southern Livingston County is the largest
shipping center. The Dansville nurseries were es-
194 RURAL NEW YORK
tablished by persons from Wyoming County, Penn-
sylvania, who began planting apple seeds about 1796.
The Dunkirk sandy and fine sandy, and especially
the silt loam and the Ontario fine sandy loam are
used for nursery purposes, except at Dansville where
the alluvial Genesee silt loam is employed. At this
point, tremendous storage and shipping facilities have
been developed.
Flowers and plants are grown more intensively
than any other crop. In New York the average acre
value for the main groups of farm products is as
follows: Farm forests $3.50, cereals $16.50, fruits
$35.00, vegetables $51.00, nursery $320.00, flowers
and plants $1725.00. These average figures appear
disproportionate. It must be remembered that in
most lines of production the average is far below
what a progressive grower would call fair returns.
This is due to the large number of farms that are
unsuited to the crop or are poorly managed. The
lower the acre value of the crop and the more exten-
sive the nature of its production, the more does this
disproportion between average and good returns ap-
pear. Doubtless, some such law is responsible for
the remarkably good showing of flowers and plants,
a large part of which are grown in glass houses.
The production of flowers and plants lies close to
the larger cities. It represents a heavy capitaliza-
tion in equipment and labor. As the center of large
cities, New York has the greatest acreage which
totaled 2,979 acres and was valued at $2,750,000.
The acreage doubled in the ten years preceding 1909.
AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES 195
The glass-house farms for flowers are supplemented
by open field areas for the propagation of certain
types of plants. The industry is subdivided along
the lines of types of flowers produced as the other
forms of crop production are subdivided. Eoses,
carnations, gladiolas, peonies, violets, orchids, and
others become the particular sphere of individual
growers.
SPECIAL CROPS
Hops were once widely grown and important.
For the last twenty years the production has been
decreasing, due to the development of disease, espe-
cially mildew, and to competition from other parts
of the country, particularly the Pacific Coast states.
From the beginning of the growth of hops in Madison
County in 1816, when James D. Cooledge marketed
a bale in New York City, the area expanded until in
1880 it amounted to nearly 40,000 acres. Since that
date it has been decreasing, first slowly but in the
last fifteen years at a rapid rate until now it is less
than a fifth of what it was formerly. In 1909,
12,000 acres were reported. In the height of their
production hops were grown throughout the middle
of the State and in the extreme northern part.
The chief area of production has always been along
the southern side of the Mohawk Valley. Here the
hop dry houses, frame structures with a wind-vein
ventilating hood on the roof, most of them now
abandoned, are a conspicuous feature of the farm
building group. The other important center of pro-
196 RURAL NEW YORK
duction was in the northern part of Franklin County,
around Malone. A small amount has been grown in
Livingston and northern Steuben counties. (See
Figs. 19, 34.)
The distribution of hops and particularly their
successful growth has been restricted to calcareous
soils and a moderately high summer rainfall. The
Ontario and Honeoye series, and to some extent the
Mohawk soils have carried its chief development.
The yield is from 800 to 1500 pounds, the average
being near the lower figure. In Oregon, the leading
state in the production of hops, the yield averages
1000 pounds or more and in California it is over
1400 pounds.
Teasel is better known as a common roadside weed
in the noTtheastern quarter of the country. By
transfer from England by William Snook a different
variety became a farm crop in western Onondaga
County in 1840. The town of Skaneateles is the
center of its production and it is distributed over an
area of perhaps a hundred square miles. The cal-
careous Ontario and Dunkirk soils of that region are
used for teasel production. The crop is grown for
the seed cones, the delicate hooked ends of the scales
of which are used to raise the nap on cloth. A good
yield is 100,000 cones to the acre. Like other special
crops, this one is decreasing in acreage. A mechani-
cal appliance for raising the knap on cloth has been
devised with which the teasel cones must compete.
Tobacco is a commercial crop in two regions, — first
a territory twenty-five miles in diameter centering
AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES 197
in northwestern Onondaga County, and second in
tlie Susquehanna-Chemung Kiver valleys from
Binghamton to west of Elmira. These regions had a
total acreage in 1909 of 4,109 acres. Since that date
the production has decreased considerably especially
in the southern district. This is merely part of a
decrease in the acreage of the crop that has been go-
ing on for forty years. It was formerly grown much
more widely than at present and many counties
through the lower elevations in the State reported an
appreciable acreage in earlier years. Dutchess
County still produced thirty-one acres in 1909.
Tobacco seems to have been gro\m by the Indians.
It became a commercial crop northwest of Syracuse
about 1845. (See Figs. 22, 25.)
The soils upon which tobacco is produced are the
gravelly, sandy, fine sandy loam and silt types of the
Dunkirk series in the Syracuse district, and on the
corresponding textures of the Chenango series in
the Elmira section. The yield is from 800 to 1200
pounds to the acre. The production of the crop in
New York State has never reached the high state of
development that has been attained in other tobacco-
producing centers, such as the Sumatra wrapper
region near Quincey, Florida, and in the middle
Connecticut Valley, or the cigar binder regions of
Miami County, Ohio, and Janesville, Wisconsin.
Ginseng is grown in small areas in several regions,
particularly through the middle of the State south
of Syracuse. The most important localities are at
Eose Hill and Scott, between Skaneateles and
198 RURAL NEW YORK
Covtland. Its production is a very intensive busi-
ness since an acre of mature roots well developed may
be worth $10,000. The dried roots sell at $8 to $12
a pound. It is a medicinal root used by Orientals
and ro(|nires three to five years for the roots to reach
marketable size. A silty to fine sandy loam, moist
and cool and moderately fertile, gives best results.
An excess of lime carbonate promotes destructive
diseases. While the soil must be moist, good drain-
age is essential for rapid vegetative growth. The
Lordstown and Chenango silt loams are excellent
types of soil for the crop. New York leads in its
production.
Willows of the osier type for basket-making are a
farm crop at several points in the western part of
the State. The most important center is in south-
ern Wayne County, where it was brought in by Dutch
settlers. The crop is grown on moist, rich and mod-
erately heavy soils. Lake and alluvial soils of the
series common to that region are used.
Peppermint for its oil was formerly cultivated on
the muck and swamp soils of Wayne County where
onions and cabbage now find a large place. At one
time that region was the center of the world's pro-
duction, but it has now been transferred to the Clyde
marshes of Allegan County, Michigan.
The sugar bush or hard maple orchard is still an
important factor in the receipts of many New York
farms. The tree is one of the most representative
and cosmopolitan in the State, being common in
every county outside the heart of the Adirondack
AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES 199
Mountains and the thickly settled and thoroughly
cultivated districts. It does not thrive on thin,
light or very sour soils, but eliminating these ex-
tremes it seems to be very tolerant of variations in
soil. It is considered to indicate strong durable
soil.
Over twenty-five thousand farms, or nearly 13
per cent of the total number, reported a total of
nearly 5,000,000 maple trees in 1909. Vermont has
for some time led in the production of maple sugar
and Ohio in sirup, but in the total of both, New
York ranks first.
The largest producing counties are those of the
southern plateau region. It appears to be a mar-
ginal industry that stands midway between intensive
farm practice and abandonment to straight forest
purposes. The sugar grove is most common where
the farm woodlot is a large factor on the farm, where
there is a considerable amount of waste land, not
steep and rough, but stony and difficult to till or
remote from the homestead.
CHAPTER VI
ANIMAL INDUSTRIES OF NEW YORK
The first Dutch settlers brought over many kinds
of live-stock. In 1623, Peter Earstin Heft intro-
duced the first cattle into New York, and in 1625
three boat-loads of stock were imported to New
Amsterdam and included horses, cattle, sheep, swine,
also seeds and plows. The presumption is that the
cattle carried the Friesian blood. In those early-
days, cattle were irhportant for draft purposes, as well
as for meat and milk. As late as 1850 there was
nearly half as many oxen on farms as horses.
Horses were very much of a luxury among the
pioneers when the ox could plow the field, draw the
wagon, furnish meat, and finally provide leather for
the shoes and boots for the household. Sheep were
important to supply the wool that was carded and
spun in the home into yam, from which the winter
clothing was largely made.
The animal industries have for many years held a
leading place among the agricultural activities of
the State. In the last sixty-five years, there has been
very little change in the total intensity of animal
production. Excluding poultry, in which there has
been a large increase, the number of mature animal
units is very little larger now than it was in 1850.
200
ANIMAL IXDISTRIES
301
The ratio of animal units to the total number of
acres in farms and to the total area of improved land
has been remarkably constant. This ratio was 6.7
acres to the animal in 1850 and 6.55 acres to the ani-
mal in 1915. In 1880 it was 7.3 acres and in 1900,
6.3 acres. The total number of animal units for suc-
cessive periods, excluding poultry, is shown in the
following table:
Table VI. — Number of Animal Units Exclu-
sive OF Poultry on Farms from 1850 to 1915
Number of
Acres
Number of
Year
live-stock
in
acres per
units
farms
animal unit
1850
2,840,000
19,115,000
6.7
1860
2,910,000
20,975,000
7.2
1870
2,933,000
22,191,000
7.5
1880
3,305,000
23,781,000
7.2
1890
3,194,000
21,961,000
6.9
1900
3,607,000
22,648,000
6.3
1910
3,280,000
22,030,000
6.7
191.5
3,368,000
22,000,000
6.5
In these figures, seven sheep and five hogs are es-
timated to be equal to one mature cow or horse.
Xo allowance is made for young horses and cattle
which are assumed to maintain a constant ratio to the
total number in that class.
Some fluctuation is observable in the total num-
ber of animal units. The census year of 1900, for
example, is a high point and at that time the num-
ber of acres to an animal, 6.3, was the lowest it has
been at any time in the period under consideration.
202 RURAIj new YORK
This fact when studied in connection with the gen-
eral supply and price of crops illustrates a general
law to which the production of live-stock roughly
conforms. Live-stock constitutes a reserve food
supply, being a means of storing food and of con-
verting it into new forms that increase the total
consumption. Consequently, when the supply of
food crops is large and the price relatively low, the
total number of animals is increased and more crops
are fed.
More persons can be maintained by the direct con-
sumption of crops than on the animal products from
the same amount of crops. In other words, live-
stock are destructive of food values whenever those
foods could be consumed by man. It has been found
by investigation that 100 pounds of nutriment when
fed to animals yields 15.6 pounds of nutriment in pork,
2.8 pounds in beef, and 2.6 pounds in mutton, while
in milk it will yield 18 pounds, cheese 9.4, butter
5.4, and in eggs 5.1 pounds. On the other hand,
when the crops are of such a nature that they are un-
suited to human consumption but can be eaten by
animals, they are thereby converted into food and
other products suitable for human consumption.
The persistence with which live-stock is kept on
the farms of New York indicates that there is some
fundamental reason underlying the practice. It has
already been pointed out in the chapter on crops that
New York is not eminent in the production of grain
crops that are used as food for animals. Compared
with the middle western states, fruits and vegetables
ANIMAL INDUSTRIES 303
have a much larger place in the census figures of
New York than corn and oats and wheat. It might
be expected that the number of live-stock would re-
spond more closely, especially since the region of
large grain production in the United States is the
great Mississijipi Valley which is remote from the
large eastern cities to which animals are more easily
shipped than the crops on which they are fed.
The live-stock intensity is higher in New York
than in the United States as a whole. It is 6.7
acres to an animal unit compared with 8.2 acres in
the United States in 1910 and this is only slightly be-
low the intensity in such an eminent producing state
as Illinois, and is above that in the great corn-grow-
ing state of Kansas. The number of acres in farms
to an animal unit in several of the middle western
states is as follows : Ohio, 6.1, Wisconsin, 5.5, Kan-
sas, 8.7, Illinois, 6.4, Iowa, 4.4, and Montana, 6.0
The crops on which the rather large number of
live-stock in New York are chiefly dependent are
hay and pasture. Nearly one-half or 9,800.000
acres of the area in farms is devoted to those crops.
Nearly one-half of that area or 4,100,000 acres is in
hay and the remainder or nearly 5,700,000 in pas-
ture. "Woodland pasture is here estimated at one-
half value. Five-eighths of the pasture area or 60
per cent is of a sort that cannot be tilled. New York
has a large area of land that is best suited to the pro-
duction of a low grade of forage that can be utilized
)by live-stock and that would otherwise be unsuited for
human use. The adaptation of the State to the pro-
204 RURAL NEW YORK
duction of hay, the capacity to grow corn for silage
for winter feeding, and enough grain to make at least
a beginning on the concentrate problem, together with
the heavy demand for dairy products by the adjacent
large cities, give the key to the prominence of live-
stock.
The pastures are notably good, due to the high
summer rainfall. This is reflected in the cost of
pasture an animal. G. F. Warren has collected
figures showing that N"ew York has the cheapest pas-
ture land of the United States with the exception
of the South. In all those regions where pasture
land is abundant, the middle and southern parts of
the State, the cost for pasture ranges from fifty cents
to one dollar a month to an animal unit. The com-
parative figures as collected by Warren in 1910 are
as follows:
Table VII. — Cost of Pasture
Cost of pasture
a month
New York $0.50
North Atlantic States 0.90
Corn Belt 1.35
Middle West outside of the Corn Belt 1.05
Blue Grass region 1.55
Southern States 0.30
Arid region 0.50
Western irrigated or moist land 0.65
Of the concentrated feeds used, a large part is
purchased from outside the State. In the exclu-
sively dairy region of Delaware County, a careful
record on one hundred and fifty-seven representative
ANIMAL INDUSTRIES 205
farms for two years indicated that as high as 98 per
cent of the grain is purchased. This is undoubtedly
considerably higher than the average. The general
effort on the part of farmers is to grow more protein
in the form of leguminous hays, and to some ex-
tent roots, thereby reducing the amount of grain
that must be purchased.
While the total number of animal units has been
fairly constant, there has been a large shift in the
relative number of the different types of live-stock.
Cows have regularly increased in number throughout
the last sixty-seven years. Other cattle have fluctu-
ated considerably. Horses reached a maximum in
1890 and have been decreasing since that time with
the exception of the last two or three years when
there seems to have been some return of interest in
their production. This may be due, however, to the
increase in the acreage of tilled crops which require
more horse power. Sheep reached their maximum
in 1845 with a secondary maximum in 1900 since
which date they have rapidly decreased until in 1917
their number, about 600,000, was only 10 per cent
of that in 1845 and 35 per cent of that in 1900.
Swine have decreased irregularly from their high
point in numbers in 1840. At that date there was
nearly 2,000,000 swine of all ages in the State. They
had fallen off somewhat by 1860 and heavily by 1870,
the post war period, after which they increased to
1890 when the number was 843,000. Since that year
they have undergone a general decrease. In 1910
there were 660,000 swine, while in 1917 there were
■Se 7 OOO 'OOO '0/.:/0 SU/A//7 A'/ ^SSS//'S> <7/v»' ^JLiJ./7e
ajuko/er/v/ sy su/a^o a// svyw/Afi^ i^/^bi/Jo i/3ei^/?A/ ryjicu.
206
tJXJ
ANIMAL INDUSTRIES 307
less than 500,000. The decrease in the number of
hogs is largely if not quite offset by the increase in
poultry, the number of which has been growing reg-
ularly since 1880. (See Figs. 28, 29.)
It is to be expected that both the numbers and the
prevailing types of live-stock in New York, located
in the midst of the largest population on the Ameri-
can continent, should very accurately reflect the ad-
justment between such elements as the demand for
perishable animal products, the use of waste foods
of the farm and city, the relative supply of animal
foods in the country, and the crops New York can
produce to advantage. This adjustment, together
with the relative efficiency of the different animals
in utilizing foods, especially rough and waste foods,
must constantly be kept in mind in studying the
live-stock industries. Stock of all kinds are to a
large extent scavengers, using the crops and waste
material that man could not consume. This is the
economic basis on which they must be handled, not
only as to food but also as to labor.
In one class of animals only does New York stand
first in numbers. This is in dairy cows, of which in
1910 there were 1,509,594; in 1915 there were
1,539,000. Wisconsin and Iowa are in second and
third places respectively. In the total value of all
live-stock. New York ranks eighth. The State is also
eighth in the value of all cattle but ninth in total
number.
New York is fourteenth in the number of horses.
In number of sheep and swine, the rank is so low as
208
RURAL NEW YORK
to merit very little consideration in the total pro-
duct of the country. In number of poultry, the
State ranked tenth, and in eggs produced, eighth,
indicating that more attention is devoted to egg
f riv' ;■" =-
I DOT= SlOO.OOO^i;^^
fe^
I DOT = 1.00 0 "^rt^^v
Fig. 29. Maps of the value, numbers, and distribvition of
the specified types of domestic animals in 1910. a. value
of all domestic animals on farms; b. neat cattle; c. dairy
cows; d. horses and mules.
production than to fowls for meat. In this latter
industry, the middle western states have the advan-
tage. In the number of colonies of bees, the rank is
eighth. Corresponding to the large number of dairy
cows, the State ranks first in the amount of milk
produced and in its total value. On the other hand,
in the products made from milk, butter and cheese.
ANIMAL INDUSTRIES 309
New York has no particular prominence. It is
twenty-second in the production of butter and fifth
in cheese. This illustrates the demand b}- the large
cities for raw milk which prevents its use for man-
ufacturing purposes. (See chapter on manufac-
tures.)
ANIMAL HUSBAXDEY AND SOIL FERTILITY
In addition to the value of animals and animal
products as human food and equipment and their
use as conservators of otherwise waste human food ma-
terial, still another viewpoint is frequently advanced
in favor of live-stock husbandry. Animals produce
manure as a bv-product and in every intensively
farmed region this is assigned high value to maintain
and improve the productive capacity of the soil.
The three and a quarter million animal units in the
State will produce manure at tlie rate of approxi-
mately 38,000,000 gross tons, or 7,500,000 tons of dry
matter in manure a year. The distribution of this
material among the different animals is about as given
in the following
table :
Table VIII
. — Manure Produced
BY Farm
Animals
Number
N'^-ber To- ^^^^
animal manure fresh
units ^° ^^ manure
'^""^ animal
Tons
dry
Tons
of
matter
dry
animals
to an
manure
animal
Horse 900,000
850,000 10 8,500,000
2.5
2,125,000
Cattle .... 2,500,000
2,100,000 13 27,300,000
2.2
4,620,000
Sheep .... 900,000
135,000 6.5 877,000
2.2
297,000
Swine .... 660,000
100,000 7.5 750,000
2.2
220.000
Poultry . .10,700,000
107,000 5. 535,000
2.2
235,000
3,292,000 37,962,000 7,497,000
210 RURAL NEW YORK
This production would be sufficient for an appli-
cation of four and a half tons of fresh manure or
nearly one ton of dry matter in manure to each acre
of specified crops grown in the State. It is suf-
ficient for an application of one-half that amount for
each acre of improved land. This should be a large
factor in maintaining the soil. It is worth on the
average at least $2.50 a ton on the land and for
some crops it is worth much more. It, therefore,
has a value greater than the annual budget of the
State. But that value is not realized for there is
a tremendous loss in handling. It is safe to figure
on a loss of one-half the material under the ordinary
methods of handling and it may run to two-thirds
or three-fourths so that the actual supply of manure
to the acre of cropped land is very low, or about one
ton a year, or five tons gross or one ton of dry mat-
ter, once in five years. While this is a help it is
not sufficient, standing alone, to maintain the soil.
It is important for the public at large to recognize
that while animal husbandry is an aid in maintain-
ing the soil, it is far from adequate even under the
best methods of management. For each ton of dry
matter in manure, the animal must have consumed
about two and a haif to three tons of dry matter. If
one-half of the dry matter in the manure is lost in
handling, for each ton in manure returned to the soil
the animal must have consumed from five to six tons.
From these facts it must be apparent how inade-
quate is animal husbandry to maintain all the soil
ANIMAL INDUSTRIES 211
that is cropped. It should also appear that crop as
well as live-stock farming can be made to build up
the soil, providing care is taken to return to the soil
part of the crop that might be fed to stock. It is
just as feasible to maintain the land by straight
crop husbandry as when it is combined with animal
husbandry. It may be cheaper to grow crops on
one acre and haul them to another acre for manurial
purposes than to feed low grade or unproductive
stock and return only the manure.
These facts give added importance to the use of
green crops for manure and to the conservation of the
crop residues, the stu1)ble, roots and waste found on
every farm. It is not infrequently true that a poorly
managed live-stock farm is losing productive capac-
ity faster than a well managed cash crop farm. If
animals are kept, they should be of such high pro-
ducing capacity that they make a profit on the food
consumed and the labor and facilities bestowed on
them. When one must rely for profit on the manure
produced, it is likely to be better to sell cash crops.
These facts and the relative price of crop and animal
products are some of the things that must be taken
into account in a long-range view of the business of
agricultural organization, animal husbandry and soil
maintenance in any state.
The more varied the products of a state such as
New York, the more complicated is the business of
farming successfully. The live-stock adjustment in
New York is a very complicated and difficult one if
212 RURAL NEW YORK
the largest present profit and the longest practicable
degree of permanence of the productive capacity of
the soil are both to be attained.
CATTLE AND DAIRYING (See Figs. 28, 29)
The dairy cow from her numbers and the value
of her products commands first place among all farm
products in New York. It has already been pointed
out that the trend in live-stock has been for many
years toward tlie dairy cow because she is very well
suited to utilize the large amount of roughage on
the farm and to improve the use of farm labor dur-
ing the rather long winter period. The confinement
to regular hours and continuous daily care involved
in dairying has without doubt hampered the atten-
tion given to all forms of community activities and
doubtless could be traced in their effect on the
school, the church and the drift of young people
from the farm. There has not been the same state-
wide interest on the part of dairymen in gathering
in public meetings for their improvement that is man-
ifested among the growers of fruit, for example.
The million and a half dairy cows are mostly
concentrated in three main regions : first, in a broad
band through the State from north to south reaching
from the St. Lawrence Valley; second, around the
eastern end of Lake Ontario, and southward be-
tween Syracuse and Utica, through the Chenango
and Susquehanna Valley regions to the southern
boundary; third, in the extreme southwestern three
or four counties of the State. The most intense con-
AyiMAL nOLSTRIES 213
centration of dairy cattle is between and a little
south of Syracuse and Utica. This is the region
in which alfalfa is most successfully grown, where
the rainfall and snowfall are high and where there
are excellent pastures.
From these three main centers of dairying, the
number of cows to a square mile decreases very ap-
preciably. Dairying is the dominant industry all
through the ^lobawk Valley and outside of the fruit-
producing district of the Hudson Valley. The gen-
eral decrease in the intensity of dairying in the
Hudson Valley region is due to the small pro-
portion of tillable land and the thin, stony and
unproductive character of much of the remaining
area. Orange County in the lower part of the
State has for many years been a prominent center
of milk production. It was into that region that the
city of New York first reached for market milk when
it had exhausted the territory tributary by short haul.
The first special milk train was run from Orange
County over the Erie Eailroad in 1847.
The keeping of cows is the dominant business
along the Canadian line, through the Champlain
Valley, and over all the rough hilly sections of the
eastern Hudson Valley region. On Long Island,
where the population is rapidly increasing, the price
of milk is always abnormally high. A fair number
of cows has been kept there in the past but is now
rapidly decreasing. Dairying is now very largely
confined to the southern prong of the eastern end of
the island in the region of Freehold and South
•il4 RURAL NEW YORK
KixmpUm. Most of the island is iiiisiiited to produc-
ing t'orao;e economically and its geographical situation
plai'cs a heavy embargo on the importation of con-
centrated feed because it must pass through the heav-
ily congested traffic region of New York City.
In the centers of most intensive fruit-production,
the south shore of Lake Ontario, the grape-belt, the
Seneca-Keuka Lakes region and in the Hudson Val-
ley fruit area, the cow has a secondary place. The
aggregate area of these regions is relatively small.
In the Genesee Valley, dairying is about coordinate
with cash crops and with sheep. But even here the
cow maintains a place of very considerable im-
portance.
The year-round demand for market milk with the
consequent higher price, the opportunity to use the
stored roughage of the farm and the possibility of
better utilizing labor, liavc combined to make winter
dairying the general practice. The silo has been no
small factor in the transition from almost exclusive
summer dairying. By winter dairying is meant the
practice of arranging for the cows to freshen in fall in-
stead of in the spring. In summer dairying the cows
received very little concentrated feed. A very large
flow of milk was -ecured in spring and a fair supply
during the summer and fall months, produced by the
pasture alone. The cows were wintered almost ex-
clusively on roughage and consequently they gave
very little milk in that period. Under this system
the cost of producing milk was the lowest possible
for the labor and feed employed. By the winter
ANIMAL INDii^TRlElS 215
dairying method much of the labor is shifted from
summer to winter and a large flow of milk is main-
tained throughout the winter. This flow is revived
when pasture comes on in the spring, so that a much
more continuous flow of milk is maintained than
under the old " cheese-factory " system.
A few farmers, especially those making the highest
grade of milk and cream on tillable land, are inclined
to reduce the pasture area and to depend almost ex-
clusively on summer silos and soiling crops. There
is no question but that on tillable land a larger
amount of nutriment may be secured by this method
than by the use of pasture. It should be noticed that
tliis system departs from the chief foundation on
which dairying rests, the use by means of the cow
of the cheap pasture that is not tillable. It, there-
fore, entails a higher cost of production.
There is an increasing tendency to supplement the
late summer and fall pasture that is frequently short,
by the use of silage. The silo has come to be very
generally regarded as essential to economical winter
dairying and the larger part of commercial
dairy farms are now equipped with that structure.
In 1917, 40 per cent or 63,000 farms had silos.
Corn produces more nutriment to the acre than any
other tilled crop grown on the farm, a large part of
which is in the stalk, which is difficult to masticate
when the fodder is matured and dried. Not only
is there loss thereby but tbe storage of tlie material in
shocks in the field or in bays in the barn entails the
probability of further loss. When the crop is pre-
216 RURAL NEW YORK
served in the silo, however, not only is its feeding
value nearly all preserved, but it pives tlie effect of
" succulence " in the ration which is so essential to the
largest flow of milk.
Another outgrowth of the dairy industry is the
equipment of a larger proportion of the dairy farms
with commodious and warm barns where the cows are
comfortable in winter and where the feeding and
milking can be carried on conveniently. Some of
these barns, particularly on the farms devoted to the
production of certified milk, have been developed to
a very high grade of sanitation and labor-saving
efficiency. This influence of the dairy toward better
buildings is aided by the general custom in the State
of storing a large part of the season's crops under
cover in the barn, due to the moist summer climate.
The first type of cattle to attain prominence was
the Shorthorn, first imported in 1791 to 1796, by
Mr. Heaton. In 1817, two bulls, Marquis and Mos-
cow, were brought into the Genesee Valley and were
the first animals carrying pedigrees. This strain in-
creased in favor and in 1873 was the occasion of one
of the most notable sales of pure blooded cattle ever
held. In that year Messrs. Wolcott and Campbell, at
New York Mills, near Utica, sold 109 head of cat-
tle that brought an average price of $3,504, and
among them was the Eighth Duchess of Geneva,
which sold for $40,600, the highest price ever paid for
a cow or bull until very recently when as high as
$125,000 has been given for animals of the Hol-
stein breed also developed in New York State. As
ANIMAL IXDU8TRTES 217
the large eastern cities grew and butter, cheese and
milk came into larger demand and the opening up of
the Middle West transferred the production of meat
animals to that region, the type of cattle m New York
changed from tlie beef to the milk strain. The dom-
inant dairy breed, the Holstein, first brought in by
the early Dutch, began to attract popular attention
about 1867 to 1875 when there were large importa-
tions from Holland. In the earlier days the Devon
cattle were introduced into Westchester County and
met with much fa\'or. Dutch belted cattle were first
imported to America by D. H. Haight, of Goshen,
in 1838.
The last available detailed summary of the rela-
tive numbers of pure blooded animals of the different
breeds was in 1910. At that time, so far as the
recorded lierds go, 2.9 per cent of all dairy animals
were of pure breeding. Undoubtedly, many pure
blooded animals were not recorded. In 1918 a rough
census of dairy cows showed that approximately 6
per cent were of pure breeding. The total is un-
(piestionably still much below 10 per cent. The total
number of pure blooded animals reported in 1910 was
44,423. Of this number, the Holstein formed 72.2
per cent, the Jerseys 14.5, the Guernseys 6.5, and the
Ayrsliires 4.6, thereby leaving only 2.2 per cent to
be distributed among the other breeds. The average
number of pure blooded cattle to an owner was 12.1,
being largest for the Jersey owners, 18 animals; for
the Guernseys owners, it was 12.2 animals and for the
Holstein 11.4. On the other hand, observation in-
218 RURAL NEW YORK
dicated that the large herds of the State are dom-
inantly made iip of tlie blood of the " black and
white " cows.
The comriiercial size of dairy herds is commonly
from twelve to forty cows. There are, of course,
many who keep a smaller number to which they look
as an important source of income. A few dairies
maintain as many as one hundred head of cows and
several as liigh as two hundred head as one unit.
The center for pure breeding of the Holstein is in
Madison County. Around this is grouped a half
dozen counties of similar prominence in the industry.
Solomon Hoxie, a pioneer importer of Holstein, who
established the first advance registry record in any
breed in 1894, resided at Peterboro in Madison
County. This region, with Syracuse as the chief
market center, has become widely known among
breeders as a source of Holstein stock and many not-
able auctions of this breed have been held there.
There is also a large number of Holstein breeders
in the counties of Jefferson and St. Lawrence in the
St. Lawrence Valley.
The Jersey breed is not so much concentrated.
Several counties, Westchester, Suffolk, Otsego, Dela-
ware and Allegany, have about equal prominence.
The Guernsey is best developed in Cayuga, Saratoga
and Washington counties. The Ayrshire is coming
into prominence in the rougher portions of the State
where rustling for pasture is essential. Allegany has
the largest number of pure animals of this breed,
with 'St. Lawrence County second. The other three
ANIMAL IXDUSTRIES 319
breeds, being more delicate in constitution and habits,
are better suited to easier grazing conditions.
The Holstein cow has doubtless attained the pres-
ent large numbers due to the practice of paying a
flat price for milk. She is a large animal and a
tremendous milk-producing machine. Holsteins
hold most of the world's records both for the total
amount of milk and of butter produced in a year,
and a large proportion of those records have been
made in New York State. The milk, although low
in fat, is high in other solids, which is probably the
basis of the designation of the breed as the cheese
cows. The butter is very mild in flavor and of ex-
cellent keeping quality although, like the milk, of
an unpopular pale natural color, due to the lack of
the rich golden tint that characterizes the product
of the Channel breeds. Perhaps another significant
fact is the vigor of the animals of this breed, both
young and old, and, therefore, the ease with which
they may be reared and maintained. The Channel
breeds have been relatively more popular than the
Holstein with the wealthy man and the cow fancier.
The average production of milk to the cow for all
cows in the State is approximately 4500 pounds or
a little over 400 gallons. When it is remembered
that over 30,000 pounds of milk have been pro-
duced by a cow in a year and that many animals in
commercial herds yield from 12,000 to 18,000 pounds
of milk, it is apparent how low is this average.
Further, since abundant figures show that it requires
a production of 4500 to 5000 pounds to pay for the
220 RURAL NEW YORK
cost of keeping a cow for a year, it is evident that
many animals are being kept at a loss if a fair charge
were made for all items of expense. One-fourth of
all cows in tlie State are kept at a loss ; one-half Just
pay their way and one-fourth return a profit.
The shifts in the numbers of dairy cattle follow
the demands of the large urban populations for milk
and its products. The milk is used for four main
purposes. The proportion required in each group
is: raw or market milk and cream for direct human
consumption, 40. G per cent; for the manufacture of
hutter, 34.2 per cent ; for the manufacture of cheese,
20.8 per cent; and for condensed and evaporated
milk, 4.4 per cent. These figures are for 1910.
The most important change in these proportions is
toward an increase in market and condensed milk,
and corresponding reductions in the production of
butter and cheese. In the ten years preceding 1910,
the production of butter decreased 40.0 per cent and
that of cheese 18.7 per cent. The heaviest reduction
was in the farm-made products. The large urban
population in and near the State, especially concen-
trated in New York City, accounts for this shift in
the utilization of milk and tlie tendency to increase
the number of cows. Milk has long been the cheap-
est animal nutriment and that most economically
produced. There is, therefore, a sound basis behind
the trend toward cows among farm animals as com-
pared with beef cattle, pork and mutton.
Cattle other than the dairy type are kept in small
ANIMAL lyOUSTRIES 221
numbers. Very few animals are now fed specifically
for beef purposes and little attention is given to
breeding animals of the beef type. Such feeding of
cattle for beef as is practiced is associated with the
cash crop systems of farming and, therefore, is best
developed in the grain and hay regions of western
'Mew York below 1000 feet elevation. Probably the
Genesee Valley has much the larger part of the total
number. Such animals belong in the region farther
west in the United States. Even those few farmers
who make a practice of feeding beef animals usually
go either to the Buffalo stock-yards or to market
centers furtJier west to purchase western range ani-
mals in the rough, to be finished on New York pas-
ture and roughage. In the last register of pure-
bred stock, 1910, only eighty breeders are recorded
who owned a total of 892 pure blooded beef animals.
Five breeds are reported in this number, nearly
seven-eighths being of the Shorthorn type.
The slow-moving picturesque work oxen so inti-
mately associated with pioneer history and whose
numbers were formerly an important item in the list
of cattle, disappeared from the census returns in 1900.
In 1850, there were reported 178,809 work cattle,
and in 1890 only 37.293. Their disappearance from
the census returns does not mean that work oxen have
entirely disappeared from the State. Draft animals
of tliis type are not uneoiinnonly seen and may be
found in nearly every section of the more remote
farming districts.
232 RURAL NEW YORK
HORSES (See Figs. 28, 29)
The light harness type of horse is the only one
m the production of which the State has attained
much prominence, and here the record is notable.
New York was one of the earliest metropolitan cities
of the country and produced the wealth and the leis-
ure in those pre-motor days that were utilized in the
fancy coach turnout and the " four-in-hand." It
is also expressed in the thoroughbred and finally in
the standard bred or trotter which has been so popu-
lar in America. The foundation stock of the light
harness horse was imported Arabian blood. On the
roads on Long Island, some of the earliest races were
held. The old Jamaica road or Jericho Turnpike is
perhaps the most notable in these annals. The orig-
inal home of the trotter is Orange County at Goshen
where Hambletonian 10, a grandson of the imported
Arabian stallion Bellfounder (Messenger) was
foaled in 1849 and died in 1876. His monument
stands at Chester. He was by far the greatest sire of
famous trotting stock the country has produced.
Other notable horses have been originated. At Stony
Ford in the same county is a monument to Green
Mountain Maid, known as the Greatest Mother of
Trotters. Membrino Chief was foaled across the
Hudson Eiver in Dutchess County in 1844, and
Ethan Allen, a notable sire in the Morgan strain and
son of Justin Morgan, was also foaled in the Hudson
Valley. Goshen, in Orange County, was known as
the " Lexington of the North." The Puritan atti-
ANIMAL INDUSTRIES 223
tude toward horse racing is reflected in the fact that
as early as 1802 horse racing and trotting was pro-
hibited by law. In 1821 this law was amended to
permit trotting and running races in Queens County.
Most of New York has a rough topography, the
roads as well as the fields often being steep. Light
active animals of endurance are considered by many
farmers to succeed better in general farm use than
do heavy horses. The heavy horse, adapted to deep
pastures, rich feed, and slow movement, is better
suited to relatively level tlian to broken hilly coun-
try. The earlier glamor of the speed horse led to
the extensive use of sires of the roadster rather than
the draft type, on the ordinary light mares of the
rural districts. Consequently, the prevailing type of
horse in New York is a rather light animal showing
much of the blood of the speedway, of the coach and
the chase. It has been estimated that 75 per cent
of the horses in the country are of a size between
1000 and 1400 pounds. They are a medium sized
dual-purpose animal that can do a fair day's work
on the farm, and that can keep up a fair gait over
the road with a small load or attached to a light
*o
wagon.
The New York farm, perhaps largely because of
its hills, and also its history, is still in the era of
small fields and small implements. The single bot-
tom plow and the light binder and mower predomi-
nate rather than the big broad-cutting tools.
Whether the automobile and the improved roads will
effect a larger trend toward the heavier draft type
224 RURAL AEW YORK
of horses remains to be seen. It seems likely that
there will be an increase in the proportion of the
heavier horse that is preeminently adapted to heavy
draft purposes. It is clear that the heavier horses
are increasing in favor. But in those parts of the
State composed of steep fields and roads, a fairly
light type of horse is likely to continue in favor.
On the other hand, the farm tractor of which there
were 3000 in 1917, and rapidly increasing, is likely
further to cut into the demand for heavy horses.
New York is a horse-consuming rather than a
horse-producing state. In 1910 there were on farms
in the State 591,008 horses of which 562,310 were
mature animals. There were approximately 303,000
horses not on farms, that is, in use in towns and cities.
This makes a rough total of about 900,000 horses.
The number of horses on farms decreased in each of
the last two ten-year periods from a maximum num-
ber in 1890, when there were 713,384. It is esti-
mated that the average horse in the city is good for
five to six years, while the average horse in the coun-
try will give twelve to thirteen years of service.
These figures mean an annual consumption of about
60,000 horses in each group or a total of 120,000 that
are used up each year.
The annual production of horses in New York in
1910 was only 25,083 animals, or less than half
enough to supply the rural needs. Dealers have esti-
mated that as high as 95,000 horses are imported an-
nually. The business of dealing in horses is, there-
fore, large and some very large concerns have been
CO a* "^ "^
2^ 55
5 •:: bo
r^ i ^ -r
5 o a;
£ • 5 = i I
,;• > .---s^
AyiMAL IXDUSTRIES 225
developed in Xew York and Buffalo, which are the
chief centers of exchange. It is stated that one con-
cern in Xew York City has handled from 35,000 to
40,000 horses annually. That the production of
horses has decreased is indicated by the fact that in
1890, the year of the largest number of horses, the
production was nearly twice that of 1910, while the
total number of horses on farms was only 17 per
cent greater.
The distribution of horses follows closely the im-
proved land and averages fifteen acres of land in
specified crops for each mature horse. The propor-
tion varies with the intensity of the farm practices.
In all those regions primarily devoted to dairv-ing,
there is one horse for each twenty-six to thirty-five
acres of improved land. In the counties near large
cities, it is one horse for eighteen to twenty-five acres
and in Xassau County, largely devoted to market-
gardening, there is one horse for each 11.3 acres of
improved land, or 5.8 acres of land in specified crops.
The increase in the number of horses on farms
since the census of 1910 is doubtless traceable to the
tendency to increase the intensity of farm operations.
The draft breed of horses in most favor is the
Percheron. His clean limbs, intelligent and alert,
active movements in many ways adapt him to condi-
tions as they exist in the better farming sections of
the State. In 1910, an incomplete register of pure-
blood stock showed forty-eight breeders of draft
horses. They were distributed among 281 owners.
The largest number of breeders was in Allegany and
226 RURAL -NEW YORK
Steuben counties. The largest single lot of pure-
blood animals was in Ontario County. Syracuse has
for many years been a center to which Percheron
horses were imported from France.
Next to the Percheron in prominence is the Belgian
horse. The Clydesdale is increasing in favor be-
cause of his long pastern and his consequent better
performance and durability on the road. All the
other heavy breeds have some fanciers.
Among light horses, the persistence of interest in
speed and fancy-driving is shown by the fact that
out of 198 breeders who owned 1505 pure-blood ani-
mals in 1910, there were 21 owners and 284 horses
of the thoroughbred class, 28 owners and 188 ani-
mals of the American Trotter, and 13 owners and 65
animals of the Morgan strain.
Among coach horses, the Hackney has been the
most popular breed, with the French Coach and the
German Coach in a poor second and third position as
regards pure breeding on the farm. However, in the
metropolitan cities, the Coach horses, the Saddle
Horse and the Hunter have claimed most attention.
The great horse shows that were held annually in
New York for many years in Madison Square Garden
were the Mecca to which horse fanciers the country
over made annual pilgrimage and these shows have
also been social events of no small proportions.
While the light harness classes have claimed most
attention before audiences free to indulge their
whims, the heavy harness horses and heavy draft
turn-outs have long received the attention of con-
ANIMAL INDUSTRIES 237
cerns in the city using man}- heavy horses for truck-
ing and other heavy hauling. For these reasons also,
the shows were of interest to highly specialized breed-
ers and importers in all lines of the horse industry.
With the advent of the automobile and the annual
automobile show in N"ew York, the attention given
to horse shows has been much displaced. As a result
of the large introduction of motor cars, it appears
from general observation that there has been a very
considerable decline in interest in horses of all classes
since the last census of pure-blood animals was
taken. The popular opinion that the automobile
truck and tractor will replace the horse, however, is
erroneous. Certain work will be performed by the
gas engine, relieving the horse from these particular
lines; but the increase of acreage and yield following
the employment of mechanical power will make more
work of other kinds for horses. There is no way yet
foreseen whereby the farm horse can be displaced.
He may be taken off the road, but he is still the most
available power for much of the work of agriculture.
MULES (See Figs. 28, 29)
Mules have never been very popular in ISTew York.
In 1880 there were a thousand more individuals on
farms than in 1910. In the last federal census year,
there were 3,490 mules on farms and 4,052 in other
employment, both of which figures represent an in-
crease from the preceding census. The increase on
farms, 88 per cent, was four times that in cities.
Farmers who have had experience with mules are
228 RURAL SIKW YORK
very partial to them as they are safer than horses in
the hands of poor horsemen who are common among
present day farm laborers. The production of mules
is small. This is indicated by the fact tliat there
were only 193 yearlings on farms in 1910. These
figures should be noted in connection with the num-
ber of asses and burrows kept in the State. This was
284, probably nearly all of tlie former type, the num-
ber of burrows being almost negligible.
SHEEP (See Figs. 30, 31)
There has been a nearly continuous and regular
decrease in the number of sheep on the farms of the
State since 1840. Only in the census year of 1900
was there an increase in number over the preceding
ten-year period, probaldy in response to the general de-
mand for wool and the low cost of feed. The follow-
ing table gives the number of sheep kept and the
amount of wool produced by periods since 1840.
About two-thirds of tliese are mature animals, and
the remainder are lambs.
Table IX. Number of Sheep and Amount of
Wool Produced Since 1840
Number of
sheep
Wool
pounds
Number of
sheep
Wool
pounds
1840
1850
1860
1870
1880
5,118,777
3,453,241
2,617,855
2,181,587
1,715,180
10,071,000
9,454, OCO
10,599,000
8,827,000
1890
1900
1910
1917
1,528,979
1,747,062
933,775
587,132
6,715.000
6,674,000
4,235,000
The production of wool to an animal, estimating
two-thirds of the total number as mature animals
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230 RURAL NEW YORK
producing a fleece, varied considerably during that
period. In 1850, it was 4.4 pounds. It increased
regularly to 7.7 pounds in 1880 and then decreased
to 5.7 pounds in 1900, but in 1910 it was only 6.8
pounds an animal on the same basis of calculation.
Based on the actual number of fleeces reported which
was 573,611, the average weight was 7.4 pounds in
1910 and 6.4 in 1900. The most notable point about
these figures is the large increase in average size of
fleece over that in 1850. It has been suggested that
the decrease in the size of the fleece about 1900 may
be due to a considerable change in the type of sheep
kept. In the earlier years, they were dominantly
the fine wool breeds having much oil in the fleece.
In later years the coarser wooled sheep prevail.
The dominant cause of the heavy decline in the
number of sheep has undoubtedly been their large in-
crease in the middle states and on the western ranges,
the so-called short grass region. Another cause has
been the development of the sheep industry in such
new countries as Australia and Argentina. As a re-
sult, the price of mutton and wool was very low.
A mature sheep sold in 1893 for as low as 75
cents. The price of mutton in 1895 was 3.1 cents
a pound. Dairying has paid in New York relatively
better than sheep, due to the excellent local market
for milk. Added to this combination of conditions
has been the serious menace from dogs that for many
years have been permitted to multiply and run free
with scarcely any restraint or regulation and which
have cost the sheep industry millions of dollars in
ANIMAL INDUSTRIES 231
actual animals destroyed and injured. Figures col-
lected from county and town records in 1913 indi-
cated that at least 1500 sheep had been killed by dogs
and paid for by the towns in that year. It is more
accurately estimated at six times that number of
animals, counting the animals unreported and the
ultimate loss in vigor, from attacks, so that the true
figures should be 9000 sheep, not to mention the far
V- n IOOT = 2.600\
I DOT = 2.600 ^v^^;;^ (£:>^
Fig. 31. Maps bhowing a. nirmber and distribution of
sheep; b. swine in 1910.
greater damage to the flock from fatigue and fright.
Provision is now made in the State law for compensa-
tion covering this latter type of damage to the flock.
The larger demand for mutton and wool, and the
failure of competing regions to develop in proportion
to that demand, have led to an increase in the price
both of mutton and wool that is rapidly changing
conditions in favor of sheep-raising in New York,
wherever the cow does not fit the system of farm
management or the markets.
So far as farm conditions alone are concerned, New
York has much land that is especially suited to the
232 RLRAL NEW YORK
production of sheep. They are adapted to the rough
and more or less waste land over which they may
graze and collect the low-grade herbage. They are
useful to clean up weeds and much brush. They
will also utilize much by-product material not so
well adapted to consumption by cattle. They re-
quire less shelter than dairy cows. Many farms in
the more remote districts near the border line of
abandonment will provide ample buildings suitable
for sheep-raising with very little change. Elimina-
tion of fences and the opening up of larger ranges
in those regions are both desirable and practicable.
Wben these grazing areas are combined with those
of better soil on the level part of the upland and in
the valleys to provide winter feed, an excellent situa-
tion is afforded for the development of the sheep in-
dustry with a minimum requirement of labor.
Sheep and cows are not raised in large numbers
in the same region. Sheep are seldom found on
commercial dairy farms. The two main regions of
sheep-raising are: the Genesee Valley and Ontario
Lake Shore section, the bean-growing area; and the
eastern Hudson and the Champlain Valley districts.
The Hudson Valley is somewhat extended westward
into the lower Mohawk Valley.
In the Genesee Valley region, in addition to the
general roughage and pasture, the bean straw is espe-
cially well adapted for consumption by sheep.
Sheep also fit better than cows into the organization
of the fruit and cash crop farm. Nearly 40 per cent
of all sheep in the State in 1910 were in the eight
ANIMAL INDUSTRIES 233
counties comprised in this district with the main val-
ley of the Genesee Eiver as the center of production.
The former large development of the industry of
sheep-raising in New York was not confined to these
districts. Sheep were kept in large numbers -in every
county. One may surmise that this wide distribu-
tion had some relation to the fact that the spinning
and weaving of woolen garments were then a home
art and that the wool came from the farm flock.
The introduction of pure-breed sheep began about
the same time as that of Shorthorn cattle, 1790-1795.
The first Merino sheep were two ewes and a ram im-
ported to Boston by William Foster in 1793 and by
him presented to a friend in the Pawling Valley,
Dutchess County. Not knowing their value, they
were killed for meat. Eobert Livingston introduced
four head of pure blood Merino sheep into the Hudson
Valley in 1801 that had a very large influence on the
sheep in that locality. The Southdown was brought
into Fayette, Lewis County, by Dr. Rose in 1803.
Other first American introductions were the Cots-
wold, by C. Dunn near xVlbany in 1823, and the
Cheviots at Delhi by Robert Young in 1838. In the
first part of that century, New York offered a pre-
mium of $50 to any person bringing a Merino ram
into a county. About the same time the State agreed
to loan $5000 to any person who would establish a
woolen factory, and a premium of $150 was offered
for the best two yards of woolen cloth. In 1828,
tariff protection on wool was demanded.
An incomplete register of sheep in New York
234 RURAL NEW YORK
records fifteen breeds with two or more owners of
each breed. Out of 42U breeders of pure blooded
sheep who owned 13,893 animals in IDIU, the Shrop-
shire leads with 13? owners and 5725 animals. The
State is- regarded as peculiarly suited to the Shroj)-
shire. The three Downs breeds were represented by
111 owners and 28TG animals, of which 1421 were
Hampshires, 709 Oxfords, and 746 Southdowns.
The Merinos stand next in importance with 35 owners
and 2470 animals, while the Dorsets had 41 owners
but only 1034 animals.
Such authorities on sheep husbandry as the late
Joseph E. Wing recommend for New York the
keeping of sheep, by which he means the production
of wool rather than of mutton. At the same time,
other authorities have emphasized the market facili-
ties of the State for mutton and especially for lamb.
The commodious warm barns available on many
farms, together with the need for animals to consume
roughage and to provide winter employment where
dairying is not practiced, favor a moderate develop-
ment of the industry of winter or hot-house lamb
production. H. A. Hopper says that " the maximum
returns under eastern conditions will be secured from
sheep giving as heavy a fleece of good staple wool
as is consistent with the economical production of the
mutton type demanded by the market. In other
words, the dual typo of sheep that is able to produce
a fair sized fleece and at the same time develop a
good quality of meat at a fair cost, is the one best
suited to conditions in New York."
ANIMAL INDUSTRIES 235
Flocks of grade animals rather than pure bloods
seem best for the average farmer. They need to be
hardy and good rustlers. For this purpose, a founda-
tion of Merino crossed on Down or Dorset breed is
suggested by those experienced in sheep husbandry.
GOATS
Goats, the number of which was 3475 in 1910, are
widely and rather uniformly distributed throughout
the State. There are a few milch goats. For several
years a herd of fifteen was kept by the State Experi-
ment Station at Geneva and a study made of the cost
of production of goat's milk and of its food proper-
ties. The average yearly production of ten animals
during three years was 800 pounds of milk. The
range was from 307 to 1845 pounds. The average
food cost of the milk was four cents a quart which
should be compared with 0.93 cent a quart in a herd
of twenty-five Jerseys during the same period. This
was in the years 1910-1912 inclusive. The total
solids during the summer months was about 11.5 per
cent. The percentage of fat was about 3.6, but in
both respects a large variation was noticed for indi-
vidual animals. No appreciable difference from
cow's milk in composition was found. As a food for
infants it has one advantage due to the finer curd it
forms which makes it more easily digested than cow's
milk. On this showing of efficiency there is no prom-
ise that goats will be a substitute for cows except in
the few circumstances where the latter can not be kept.
236 RURAL NEW YORK
SWINE (See Figs. 30, 31)
There has been much less fluctuation in the number
of swine kept in the State than in sheep. In 1850
there was one swine for every 3.5 sheep ; in 1910 there
was one for each 1.4 sheep. There has been a marked
decline in the number of swine as shown by the fol-
lowing table, which gives the numbers by census
periods from 1850 forward :
Table X. Number of Swine from 1850 to 1917
1850 1,018,252 1890 843,342
1860 910,178 1900 670,639
1870 518,251 1910 660,179
1880 751,907 1917 435,908*
• Fifty-six counties only reported.
Of the total number in 1910, a little more than
half, or 55 per cent, were mature animals, while
for sheep the proportion of mature animals was 65
per cent.
Hogs in New York are preeminently the scavenger
animals. As has been pointed out, they make gain
in weight more efficiently than any other type of live-
stock. The average distribution is one animal for
each three rural inhabitants, and ranged from one
for each 1.3 persons in Nassau and 1.4 persons in
Cayuga county to one for each 3.5 persons in Madi-
son and one for each 3.6 persons in Chenango County.
Hogs are not kept in New York to consume crops
that could be sold for cash as is the custom in the
corn-belt. In Illinois, tliere is an average of eight-
ANIMAL IXDU8TRIES 237
een swine to a farm, and in Iowa thirty-five. In
New York the average is less than two to a farm.
It is interesting to note that swine are least numerous
in the leading dairy sections, especially the market
milk regions.
It is evident that in New York hogs are kept pri-
marily to provide pork for the home larder. Their
nearest competitor as a scavenger has long been
poultry. Up to the census of 1910, the actual in-
tensity of swine-raising was greater than that of
poultry. About that year, the number of poultry
became equal to or slightly larger than that of swine.
The intensity was then approximately one-half ani-
mal unit to a farm. With the average number of
swine at two to a farm, the average number of ani-
mals one year old or over is only about one. There
is much less than one brood sow to a farm and conse-
quently the litter of each sow is likely to be a distribu-
tion among several farms.
The region of largest swine-production is along
the south shore of the Great Lakes and eastward
through the Mohawk Valley. There seems to be no
reason to expect any large increase in the number of
swine. They are urged by some fanciers for produc-
tion on green forage and pasture. But other animals,
such as the dairy cow, can use this material more
efficiently. Warren has shown by calculations from
the relative price of crops and of pork that there is
an effective price tariff in favor of hog-production in
the corn-growing states amounting to one-third to
one-fourth of the market value of the animal.
338 RURAL NEW YORK
Breeds of swine, unlike sheep, have been largely
developed in America. Three breeds have been
originated here, one of which has taken a leading
place. The Duroc-Jersey was developed by Colonel
F. D. Curtis, of Kirby Homestead, in Saratoga
County, about 1823, and he also originated the Curtis
strain of the Victoria breed in 1850. The Cheshire
pig was developed in Jefferson County in 1835. Tlie
leading breed in the State has generally been the
Berkshire, an English stock of which there was an
important introduction near Albany by Sidney Howes
in 1832.
Thirteen breeds of swine are represented in the
State. Of these, seven have considerable numbers.
However, the Berkshires distance all others in popu-
larity. Out of a partial register in 1910 of 431
breeders and 5102 animals, 225 breeders and 2903
animals were of the Berkshire breed. The Chester
Whites, Cheshires, .Yorksliires, Poland-Chinas, and
Duroc-Jerseys ranked in numbers in the order named.
The activity, vigor, prolificacy, early maturity and
fine quality of the meat of the Berkshires admirably
adapt them to the average farm of the State.
POULTRY (See Figs. 30, 32)
The hen vies with the pig as the preferred farm
gleaner and scavenger. In the census of 1910, for
the first time, the animal unit strength of hens ex-
ceeded that of hogs. In this calculation, one hundred
cbickens and five mature hogs are rated as one animal
unit. Each animal is found on the average farm to
ANIMAL INDUSTRIES 239
the extent of about one-half animal unit, the pig
now falling considerably under that figure. In
former years the pig has run up to a strength of six-
tenths of a unit to a farm and in that same year.
I DOT = 10.000
Fig. 32. Number and distribution of poultry
in 1910.
1890, the hen had a strength of only three-tenths of
a unit to a farm.
The number of poultry has been increasing regu-
larly and rather rapidly. The figures for the last
three census periods are given in the following table :
Table XI. JSTumber of Poultry, 1880 to 1917
1880 6,448,886 1910 10,265,934
1890 8,421,067 1917 11,252,000
1900 8,964,736
The rank of the State in poultry production for
meat, is not high, being tenth in 1910. In egg pro-
duction, however, the rank was eighth. This is well
shown by the numl)er of eggs produced by a hen :
in N"ew York it was seven dozen, in Illinois 4.7 dozen,
Iowa 5.3, in Missouri 5.8 dozen and in Ohio 5,5.
240 RURAL NEW YORK
These are the leading poultry-producing states.
Iowa, the leader, and Illinois in second j)lace each have
more than twice as many chickens as New York and
a larger number to a farm. The 50 to a farm in New
York: must be compared with 45 in the United States
as a whole, 108 in Iowa, 81 in Illinois, 75 in Missouri,
and 64 in Ohio. Poultry, like pigs, follow cheap
feed in their main distribution ; therefore, the largest
numbers have been in the corn-growing region. It
is evident that the farm flock is the big factor in
the poultry business in New York. Every farm has
a few hens just as nearly every farm has a pig or two.
The hen is a side line on the farm usually left to be
cared for by the women and children who frequently
derive their " pin money " from a little extra atten-
tion to the flock. The number of small commercial
plants is multiplying and it is a favorite business of
the " back-to-the-lander " and the " commuter."
This is illustrated by the distribution of chickens
in the State. In general, like that of pigs, it is in
about the same proportion as the rural population.
They are most numerous along the Great Lakes and
through the Mohawk and Hudson valleys, thinning
out in the more sparsely settled sections of hilly or
rough country. However, there is a disproportionate
increase in the number of chickens in the southeast-
ern part of the State. It is the only type of food-
producing live-stock in considerable numbers on Long
Island. Many persons have come out from the cities
and started a small poultry business. It has been
said that there are more failures in poultry produc-
ANIMAL IXDUSTRIE8 241
tion than in any other line of agriculture, probably-
due to the number of novices that have enframed in
the business. It is also a complicated business, many
persons who have successfully kept a few hens hav-
ing failed in larger enterprises of the same sort. A
few hens kept on the farm as a side line very well
care for themselves with little attention. I^atural
forces protect them and provide their feed. In
larger flocks, however, this is not the case. On the
other hand, many farmers who have begun to record
the cost of keeping different farm animals and have
counted the returns, have found that the hens were
the only type of stock that were paying.
Xew York City in particular, and in fact all the
cities in the region to a large extent, demand white
eggs. They pay a premium for " chalk white " eggs,
that ranges from two or three cents in April to
twelve or fifteen cents in Xovember over brown
eggs. Boston is the market for brown eggs. Conse-
quently, hens that lay white eggs are far the most
common in ISTew York State. This means the Med-
iterranean breeds with the White Leghorns far in the
lead. This is particularly true wherever attention
is given to the commercial aspects of poultry-keeping.
Available data indicate that over two-thirds of all
birds are of the White Leghorn strain. On the other
hand, on many farms where both eggs and meat for
borne use are desired, one of the heavier breeds that
lay brown eggs is kept.
Much attention is given in the schools of the State
both of secondary and college grade to improving
243 RURAL NEW YORK
farm poultry, and especially its egg-laying capacity.
At the State College of Agriculture at Ithaca, a
White Leghorn hen has laid as many as 327 eggs in a
year and as many as 1229 in a lifetime of six years.
These records are not equal to the best that have been
made in other states where the record is 329 in one
year.
It is evident that there is still much opportunity
for improvement by breeding, selection and care.
The latest development in the poultry business is the
introduction of artificial light for a period in the
morning and evening which result quite uniformly in
a larger production of eggs, especially in the winter
months.
Turkeys, ducks, geese and guinea fowls are of
minor importance. A farm in Niagara County de-
voted to duck-raising produces more than 50,000 ma-
ture birds in a year and there are several large
duck farms in the lower southeastern part of the
State and especially on eastern Long Island. In the
vicinity of Eastport, single ranches fatten as many as
100,000 ducks in a year.
Turkeys, once a common part of the poultry on
every farm, are now very scarce. They are found
only on the farms in the more remote districts where
they can have a free range.
In 1910 the total number of turkeys, ducks and
geese was only 300,^ 55 and the State ranked fifteenth.
This was much less than half the number in the
leading states. Being essentially meat birds and re-
quiring even more special attention than chickens,
ANIMAL INDUSTRIES 243
they have been dropping away in numbers in New
York and have followed the meat end of the chicken
business into the middle western states.
BEES AND HONEY
Wheeler Dennison Wright in a bulletin of the State
Department of Agriculture published in 1913 says:
" Beekeeping on a commercial scale is far from being
a royal road to wealth as pictured by some, but re-
quires as much labor, diligence and attention to de-
tails as many other lines of business. ... In a small
way, beekeeping is quite popular as a recreation for
persons of sedentar}' ha])its. also as a light employ-
ment for invalids. The Empire State ranks high
in the production of surplus honey, and numbers its
beekeeping specialists by the hundreds. Its honey
yielding flora is extensive and diversified."
A considerable number of beekeepers have colonies
of forty to one hundred stands scattered about the
region of their operations at intervals of three to
four miles or more. According to the census of 1910,
there were 156,360 colonies in the State. The rank
of New York was sixth, having advanced from eighth
place in 1900. In spite of this advance in rank, there
were not as many colonies in the State by 30,000 as
in 1900, so that other states must have, experienced
a heavy decline in number.
The production of honey was 3,191,733 pounds and
of wax 43,198. In the former the State held second
rank, being exceeded only by California which is re-
ported to produce three times the amount made in
244 RURAL ^EW YORK
New York, Apparently, the general standard of
honey production in New York as well as in the
United States at large, is low as compared with
Calirornia where the yield of honey was 50 pounds to
a colony a year, while it was 20 pounds in New York
and 16 pounds as tlie average for the country. A
woman beekeeper in the State who luid 170 colonics
reports the production of 11,500 pounds of comb
honey and 2,200 pounds of extracted honey in one
season. This is at the rate of 80 pounds a colony.
Bees are very widely and quite evenly distriljuted
through the populated sections of the State. Like
pigs and poultr}^, they follow the distribution of
rural population. They are the supreme gleaners, re-
trieving himian nutriment in an amount and by in-
dustry that cannot fail to be the marvel of the aver-
age person. Contrary to the former two types of
animals, there appears to be a greater concentration
in the more remote farming districts rather than in
the suburban sections.
Bees are fostered by State and County beekeepers'
associations and have the protection of the State laws.
One is not permitted under the State law to
keep colonies infected with the disease known as
foul- or black-brood. Further, fruit-growers are pro-
hibited from spraying with poisonous or otherwise
injurious sprays when the fruit is in full bloom be-
cause of the injury done to bees.
CHAPTER VII
MARKETS AND MARKETING
The disposition of a commodity, whether it be ap-
ples or automobiles, manual labor or mental product,
depends on two fundamental elements : there must
be a place of need, and a means of putting the com-
modity in touch with the need. These underlying
facts are not to be confused with the large mass of
details that may affect the character or the volume
of the need, or with the means for bringing the sup-
ply of a particular thing to the place where it is to
be used.
In the discussion of marketing problems in New
York, it will be well to keep in mind these general
distinctions as a means of separation between the
underlying facts and the numerous details of greater
or less importance that may need to be adjusted to
secure satisfactory market conditions. The underly-
ing factors are natural and are not much affected by
individual effort. The details of use, of grade, of
market customs, of methods of transport and hand-
ling may readily be changed and adjusted. The
fundamental facts are the nature of the products and
the manner of their use.
The commodities of agriculture are tbings to eat,
to wear and to use, mostly in an elemental way.
245
246 . RURAL NEW YORK
Therefore, they touch the whole people and in a study
of market facilities, account may first be taken of the
adjacent population to be served. In this respect,
New York farmers stand in a peculiar, in fact in a
specially advantageous, position. They are close to
the largest population of any similar area on the
western hemisphere.
The states and provinces touching New York and
including its own area have an aggregate population
of thirty million. A circle described around Syra-
cuse as a center and with a radius of five hundred
miles would include not only this population but
would add most of tliat of the states of Ohio, West
Virginia, Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, Rhode Is-
land, New Hampshire and Maine, with a total popu-
lation of about fifty million or nearly one-half of that
on the North American continent. Syracuse has
been aptly termed the hub city, and New York is
truly a hub State to the population and industry of
the northeast country. Of this population, the
largest proportion of any division of the continent is
engaged in other than agricultural pursuits. The
region is essentially an urban one. It also has the
largest proportion of the population engaged in man-
ufacturing of any division. Adjacent on the south
is the great mining region of Pennsylvania. Within
this eastern district there are twenty cities with a
population of one hundred thousand or more. All
these facts go to make up the consuming capacity of
that division of the country for the things of the farm.
Of this population, approximately 70 per cent is
NEW YORK STATE
0 20 30 40 ^O
Fig. 33. General map of New York State shovg
f drainage systems, counties, and chief cities.
MARKETS AND MARKETING 247
strictly urban according to the method of distinction
of the census, and to that proportion may be added
fairly a further 10 per cent to cover persons living
in towns and village under two thousand five hundred
population. This reveals about 80 per cent or four-
fifths of the population as urban and therefore en-
gaged in other than agricultural pursuits and entirely
dependent on the products of the farms.
The population of New York State as a whole is
wealthy. The region is the center of wealth of the
continent. Added to this is the tremendous transient
population of business and pleasure, and of whose
presence the immense hotel capacity of the larger
cities is evidence. These are the big facts with ref-
erence to the consumption capacity of the population
within convenient reach of the farmer located in New
York, and this proximity should constitute a natural
subsidy to him in marketing farm produce.
In addition to the population that may be said to
be at the door of the New York farmer, there is the
further large mass that may more readily l)e reached
by him than by the farmers of any other part of the
country, — the foreign centers of population reached
directly by ships that clear from the large maritime
cities within this five hundred mile zone. All Eu-
rope is at his door as a result of modern mean-i of
transportation and the preservation of perishable
farm products.
New York, the chief American port and one of
the three largest shipping ports in the world, is a
little over thirty-five hundred miles from Liverpool
248 RURAL MJW YORK
and London. Added to tliis are the ports of Boston
and Philadelphia that are among- tlie first five in the
country. In 1910 the freight tonnage that cleared
from jVew York for foreign ports was approximately
(;52,O()0,000 and the imports amounted to 9;)(;,000,-
000 tons. From one-third to one-half of all the for-
eign trade of the United States passes through the
port of New York. The cost of freight a gross ton
of staple commodities from New York to Liverpool
before the war was from two to four dollars, which
was equivalent to the average railway freight for a
distance of three to four hundred miles, say from
New York to Buffalo. There are, of course, many
differences in the make-up of transportation charges
by ocean freight and by rail, but these figures will
serve as a general basis of comparison and indicate
the way in which local, in the sense of home, markets
are expanded by facilities for foreign shipment.
The consuming capacity of this territory is im-
mense and it only remains properly to direct it and
provide the means for efficiently and economically
reaching the market. This involves among other
things the means of transportation and communica-
tion.
TRANSPORTATION AND MARKETS
The transportation facilities may be divided into
three groups: highways, railroads, and waterways.
The first determines the access to the local shipping
point. The latter two are the means of reaching the
more remote centers. These different agencies co-
MARKETS AND MARKETING 249
operate with each other in facilitating transportation.
New York State has SoSO miles of steam railroad
and about 5000 miles of electric railroad, a large part
of which, of course, is in cities. The proportion of
this latter that may be assigned to rural districts
may be placed roughly at one-fiftli or 1000 miles.
Assuming that 550 miles of the steam road is in cit-
ies, the net mileage of railroads in the country dis-
tricts of the State is 8000 or about one for eacli five
square miles of area or one mile for each 1000 acres
of specified crops.
Unfortunately, this mileage is not uniformly dis-
tributed and in several places there are double and
triple lines approximately parallel and near each
otlier, which correspondingly reduces the railway
service to other communities. The greatest thor-
oughfare of rail traffic in the country is the course up
the Hudson Valley and west through the Mohawk
Valley, over the Ontario plain to Buffalo and thence
to Cleveland and the west. Another important line
of travel lies across the southern part of the State
leading up from New York througli the Delaware
and Susquehanna Eiver valleys and thence up the
Chemung Valley and over the divide into the
Allegheny Valley on a course to the Middle
West.
The hilly topography, together with the peculiar
deep through-valleys that have been developed in all
the more elevated parts of the State, have been re-
sponsible for this concentration of the main lines of
transportation in the valleys. The cross valleys that
250 RURAL A^EW YORK
interlace with these main ones are also occupied by
railroads in many cases. A network of lines s])reads
over the productive parts of the Stale in a fairly uni-
form system within the limits of these valleys.
A consequence of this general arrangement of the
railroads in the valleys is the remoteness of those
areas that lie on the hills whose practical distance
from shipping stations is frequently made much
greater Ijy the steepness of the grades that must be
overcome in reaching the station.
The course the railroads are obliged to follow also
influences the routes of travel and transport
and may make them roundabout. Tliis interferes
with the free exchange of shipments between rail-
roads to secure direct transit. The deflection of lines
of travel due to topography is not as large as in
Pennsylvania but it is far larger than in states like
Ohio or Illinois. All this is reflected in the taritfs
which, until recently readjusted under federal super-
vision, were widely different in various parts of the
State.
Examination of any good map of New York will
show the location of the railroads. The electric
roads, which are a recent development, are being
pieced together to form important through systems
of transportation. With the exception of a short gap
of thirty miles, it is now possible to travel by electric
road from the western boundary of the State over the
Erie plain to Buffalo, then to Rochester by way of a
succession of important towns on the edge of the
Ontario plain, thence to Syracuse, Utica and Albany.
MARKETS AND MARKETING 251
The gap occurs from Little Falls to Fonda in the
Mohawk Valley. At Albany one may travel north-
ward to Glens Falls by two routes, and southward as
far as Hudson. Several important spurs of electric
road lead off north and south from this general line,
for example at Syracuse to Oswego and Auburn, and
at Herkimer to Oneonta. All this line is broken into
a series of pieces by separate ownership without joint
traffic arrangements, so that it is serviceable only for
local rather than long distance shipment. It is used
primarily to get from the rural districts to the near-
est large cities. Hence the name inter-urban. This
electric service is frequently affiliated with city lines
or with steam roads.
In the southern part of tlie State, there are several
pieces of inter-urban electric railroad. The more ex-
tensive of these center at Goshen, Elmira, Olean and
Jamestown.
Inland water transportation is provided on the
Hudson Eiver as far north as Albany and a large
amount of local produce is shipped by this means to
New York. The Barge Canal system, represented by
the Erie Canal with 339 miles, the Champlain Canal
61 miles, the Oswego Canal 23 miles and tbe Cayuga-
Seneca Canal 23 miles, with a total length of 446
miles, is in such a state of incompleteness that its
service as a means of shipping agricultural produce
can only be guessed. In its length will be some of
the largest canal structures in the world including the
highest single lift lock, namely 401/^ feet, at Little
252 RURAL l^'EW YORK
Falls. The most notable series of locks is at Water-
ford near Troy where the five locks have a combined
lift of 1G9 feet. Another unique feature is the mov-
able dams to regulate the level of water in the Mo-
hawk Eiver, The total cost of this system of canals
is $150,000,000, borne by the State ^f New York.
If the Hudson Kiver below Troy is included with the
canal system, a strij) of country within two miles of
the waterway on either side includes 731/2 per cent
of the population of the State and within twenty miles
is 87 per cent of the population. Naturally, the
slower transit makes the canal suited to only the less
perishable staple crops that may move slowly to
market. The hundred and fifty million dollars that
will ultimately be expended on these canals and their
terminals to enlarge tliem to power barge capacity
with a depth of twelve feet and a width of seventy-
five feet, will make a system of waterways that will
be especially serviceable in the transfer of heavy
products from the West through the Great Ijakes.
But its value for the movement of farm produce is
problematic. The big disadvantage of transportation
througl) the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Eiver
by way of the Welland Canal between Erie and On-
tario lakes is the fact that the upper course of the
river is closed by ice from October to May.
The rates and operation of railroads within the
State come under the supervision of the Public Serv-
ice Commission, which exercises a potent influence to
secure reasonable service. By investigation of de-
lays and improper practices, this Commission has ad-
MARKETS AND MARKETING 253
justed many complaints of shippers of agricultural
produce, although, of course, it cannot make regula-
tions or provide facilities that are not reasonably
warranted by the freight to be handled.
Less than a quarter of tlie products of the farm
are ever carried by railroad or other long-distance
method of transport. They are hauled to the adja-
cent towns and cities and are used locally. They are
liauled on the highways. The first movement from
the farm is over the country roads and the cost of
transportation from tlie farm to the station or to the
local point of consumption may easily be as much as
the freight cost to a remote market because of the
small load that can bo carried. The character of the
rural highways plays a large part in the marketing of
produce, and also in returning supplies to the farm.
The average haul of farm products to market l)y
wagon was found by a special investigation by the
United States Department of Agriculture to be seven
and three-tenths miles. The average cost a ton to get
to market for eleven important crops was one dollar
and ninety cents. The cost a ton for a mile of
transportation was twenty-six cents. The cost of
railroad freight a ton mile was at tlie same time from
one to two cents. Both figures would be much higher
at this date. These facts emphasize the importance
of rural highways in the problem of getting produce
to market. The length of haul, the cost a ton and the
cost to the ton-mile in N"ew York as determined by
the United States Department of Agriculture in 1907
were as follows :
354
Table XII.
RURAL NEW YORK
Cost of Hauling Farm Products
TO Market
Commoditj-
Average
distance
to
market
Average
cost per
ton
Average
cost
per
ton-mile
Value
per
ton
Apples
7.4
.3.9
9.2
8.6
6.0
6.6
10.6
7.8
7.1
7.0
5.9
$1.80
1.60
2.20
2 40
1.60
1.60
2.80
1.60
1.80
1.40
1.80
24.3
41.
24.
28.
27.
24.
26.
20.
2.5.
20.
30.
$34
Beans
66
Buckwheat
Corn
40
25
Fruits
Hay
Hops
Oats
75
15
240
25
Potatoes
Vegetables
Wheat
20
30
33
From these figures it is evident that the cost of
moving farm produce on the average country road in
New York is about twelve to fifteen times as great as
on railroad.
The mileage of public roads in the State is 80,000
or one and six-tenths miles to a square mile of total
area and one mile for each 100 acres of specified
crops. About a third of the State can be set aside as
rough wooded country with very poor road service
and needing very little, so that the mileage of road
a square mile of improved area is two and a half
miles. Of the total mileage, 50,000 or 62 per cent
is rated as improved and about 17,000 miles is macad-
amized.
In 1898, New York adopted a system of highway
improvement under an arrangement by which the
MARKETS AND MARKETING 255
State pays 50 per cent of the cost of such improve-
ment, the county 35 per cent and the town or village
the remainder. The roads that receive this improve-
ment are laid out in state, county and town systems,
the first heing designed as trunk highways for
through travel, the second division constitute the
main local highwaj's, while the third comprises the
local highways of secondary importance. The State
has authorized a hond issue of one hundred million
dollars to pay its portion of the cost of this improve-
ment and tlie expenditure of the second half of the
appropriation is well progressed. The construction
is accomplished in sections from year to year by
designation of the local authorities, the county boards
of supervisors, in conference with the state highway
department, the apportionment being divided in pro-
portion to the total mileage of highway. A resi-
dent highway engineer is maintained in each county
to supervise and inspect the construction which is
done under contract. The local maintenance of
country roads is under the money rather than the old
service system which latter method has proved very
inefficient.
The automobile has been a large factor in promot-
ing the improvement of highways in New York, as in
all other parts of the country. It is having a large
influence on the rural community because of the en-
larged range of travel it confers on its owner. The
rural population is rapidly making use of the auto-
mobile as a means of freight transport, as well as
for personal travel and trade. The automobile may
256 RURAL NEW YORK
be considered at least to double the favored zone
around a shipping or market center. Motor trucks
have been installed by some of the larger and more
progressive farmers, and freight, express and passen-
ger routes have been established between local centers
over a circuit of thirty to one hundred miles, at many
places in the State. This means of transport af-
fords an efficient and economical method of extend-
ing the range of established transportation service
to rural communities. Such a line is elastic and need
not pass each day over the same route but may cover
various routes on different days. Companies are now
establislied to operate these rural automobile lines
at different centers as tbe traffic may warrant. These
lines should be encouraged as serving the convenience
of rural districts just as the bus and carting lines
serve the city dweller and are one of the factors that
will aid in making rural life more acceptable.
The teleplione has found a large place in rural life
and has relieved niueh of the isolation. In every part
of the State, every progressive farmer is supplied
with telephone service either by the larger companies
or by local cooperative concerns that have a working
relation with the large exchanges. In 1914 there
were reported to be 2,790,060 miles of telephone wire
and 970,449 telephones. This is at the rate of one
mile of wire for each three persons and 102 tele-
phones to a thousand of population. The propor-
tion in Pennsylvania was 79, in Illinois 139, and in
California 168. Of course, a large proportion of
these telephones were in cities but the rural popula-
MARKETS AND MARKETING 257
tion is fully awake to their advantages and are mak-
ing an even larger relative use of them than the city
resident.
SPECIAL MARKETING AGENCIES
One of the governmental aids to marketing is
the requirement that all commission merchants and
milk dealers be licensed by the State Department of
Farms and Markets in order that their reliability
may be assured somewhat. To this provision has
been added, in the case of commission dealers in
farm products, a fidelity bond of $3000 to guarantee
proper remittance for produce sold. There is also
provision that the books of a dealer must be kept
so as clearly to show the produce received and the
disposition made of it, with prices, so that the owner
may be assured of honest dealing and the dishonest
agent weeded from the great mass of honest ones.
There is provision for prompt report of sales on
consignment, within forty-eight hours of the con-
summation of sale. In 1915 there were 253 licensed
milk dealers and licensed and bonded commission
dealers distributed in the larger cities as follows : New
York, Buffalo, Eocliester, Syracuse, Albany, Bingham-
ton, Elmira and Olean.
The State has established standards of weight,
measure and purity, and in some cases of packages
to insure fair dealing and correct understanding be-
tween the different agencies that handle farm prod-
ucts. Vinegar must contain 4 per cent acid and
2 per cent of solids. Milk must have 3 per cent
258 RURAL 2V£W YORK
fat and III/2 of other solids; butter must not contain
more than 10 per cent of water. Standard measures
of volume are established and provision is made that
products may be bought by weight if so required.
Closed packages must be marked correctly with the
net weight. Milk bottles are regulated to show the
name of the owner and the grade of milk on the cap.
Grades are defined for milk and for apples. The
standard apple barrel is defined to have a capacity
of 100 quarts. The form for labeling many com-
modities is specified. All these things are in the
direction of standardization and honest dealing, and
aid in the rapid and direct movement of products
at a more stable price.
In 1914 a further step was taken by the State in
the establishment of a department or office of foods
and markets, later made a division of the Depart-
ment of Farms and Markets, which is charged with
the investigation of market conditions and the dis-
semination of market information, and is authorized
to establish public auction markets in the several cen-
ters of distribution and to aid in the organization of
farm producers. The idea is that a public auction
market under the supervision of the State would be
an open court to which producers and buyers may
come and at which a fair, open and direct sale price
may be established. Not only is this for the mutual
benefit of the parties involved but the prices so estab-
lished when taken with the established grades set
a standard by which sales by private agencies may be
measured. This auction market under State super-
MARKETS AND MARKETING 259
vision was first opened in ISTew York City in the fall
of 1915. Preliminary to this, the first sales, which
dealt with apples, were held in orchards in several
parts of the State where the frnit in several adjacent
orchards was catalogued in one list for the guidance
of buyers. By the extension of these auction mar-
kets, by means of a thorough system of bulletins on
market conditions, distribution of products and
prices from day to day, and with perhaps additional
storage facilities to supplement that in private hands,
it may be hoped to stal)ilize prices, make them more
satisfactory to producer and consumer and insure a
better distril)ution of tbe products of the farm. To
bring the producer and consumer nearer together,
some progress has been made in establishing munici-
pal markets in the larger cities. Extensive investi-
gations have been made of the model municipal
market quarters and storage facilities provided by a
number of European cities. As a result, there has
been strong advocacy of the further extension of this
system of municipal aid in the larger cities of the
State. The universal interest of the population in
the supply, quantity and price of agricultural prod-
ucts is the justification for such public aid and
cooperation. In New York City there are public
markets where all kinds of produce are sold from the
wagon or stall of the producer to the dealer and to the
consumer. These markets are poorly equipped and
managed and are inadequate to the problem in hand.
A municipal committee has been studying the situa-
tion and has brought in recommendations looking to
260 RURAL XEW YORK
the construction of more adequate buildings with
storage, at the expense of the city and under its super-
vision. The cost of such plant would largely be met
by charge for selling space in the market.
The city of Kochester has expended $400,000 on
an agricultural market building and provides addi-
tional space for producer-consumer trade from the
wagon. In the building, space is largely occupied by
the small dealer or huckster who purchases part or all
of his supplies and maintains a regular stand. The
market serves as a general exchange for the sale of
produce at wholesale, as well as retail.
In Buffalo there are three public retail markets
where the producer and huckster have stalls or stands
and regularly meet the consumers on the three or
more market days of each week. The markets are
for both retail and wholesale business.
Some of the smaller cities have established producer-
consumer markets. Curb markets are most common,
being merely a section of street set aside for this
purpose. Others have private stalls. In the latter,
both open and closed booths are provided and are
rented at a small sum a day or a fixed period de-
pending in part on the size of the stock to be handled.
Cities having the former type of market are Olean,
Jamestown, Elmira, Auburn, Ithaca and Troy.
These public markets form a link in the system of
distribution but can not be relied on to solve market-
ing problems. They serve as a clearing-house for
local produce where the consumers and some buyers
may meet the producers. By means of this central
MARKETS AND MARKETING 261
meeting place and by the elimination of some deliv-
ery charges, prices may be reduced. In practice the
operation of these markets is still crude, since the
business is a day to day one. There is no adequate
information service and no provision for storage ex-
cept as it may be secured through intermediate
dealers. The system of business is rather crude and
extremes of supply and demand are not uncommon.
The producer's end is a trying one and frequently
the volume is so small that the actual cost a unit may
be high. The seasonal variation in the products of
a single producer, except in vegetables, makes it dif-
ficult to maintain continuity of attendance by the
farmer which is further increased by the pressure of
other lines of work at home at some seasons. The
range from which producers are drawn is relatively
small and the public market of this sort can not
serve more than a small part of the needs of the
larger cities. The public market touches only one or
two of the elements of a sound marketing system,
personal contact between producer and consumer and
a sort of local clearing-house arrangement. The
nature of the business is such as to be particularly
serviceable to the poorer classes who are free to attend
and who find grades of produce adapted to their
pocket-book that would not be available in such
quantity if they had to go througli the hands of a
series of dealers.
The principle of concentration and volume has not
been applied directly to much of the farm produce bus-
iness by which means the cost of handling is most
2&Z RURAL NEW YORK
readily reduced and by whicli the other elements, such
as continuity, advertising and general market knowl-
edge, arc best secured. These liave not been touched
by state or municipal provisions except as some begin-
nings have been made to encourage cooperation in
marketing.
The second means of securing higher marketing
eflficiency, that of private organization of the pro-
ducers of a line or group of commodities, may next
be considered. These have been slow to develop and
liave not reached any very large or widespread pro-
portions, but significant beginnings have been made.
In all lines the larger and more aggressive pro-
ducers have sought to establish direct relations with
consumers and efficient distributors in the centers of
population. Sometimes, stores have been established,
such as milk stores. This has been most practicable
for, the special or higher grades of product such as
certified milk. The best known example in recent
years of the efforts of the producers of a single com-
modity to organize adequately to handle and to se-
cure a fair price for their product is represented by
the Dairymen's League. Stimulated by the success
of the so-called milk strike for better prices in
Chicago in the spring of 1916, and backed by
abundant figures collected by a variety of State in-
stitutions and investigating committees, the League
organization developed to a condition of strength in
the fall of 1916, whereby terms of contract could be
dictated to the milk dealers of New York City.
By subsequent action the principle of collective bar-
MARKETS AND il ARRETING 263
gaining between the producer and distributor of
milk has l)een established. The dairymen of many
counties were led to withdraw their supply of raw
milk and divert it into other channels such as the
manufacture of butter and cheese for a sufficient time
to show that they meant business. More recently the
League has l)een forced to take steps to care for the
surplus of milk at certain seasons and to equalize the
price to ])i'oducers. These two movements, the
Chicago and the Xew York milk strikes, are un-
doubtedly epoch making in the example they afford
of the benefit of united action among farmers when
backed by a just cause.
The quantity of milk and other dairy products
consumed by ^Tew York City is so large that it
must be drawn from a region reaching out hundreds
of miles into the country. Eaw and prepared milk
is brought from nearly every part of the State by
special milk express trains. They run regularly from
the middle of the State and give service as far
north as the Canadiail line in the St. Lawrence and
Champlain valleys. All along the route are milk
gathering stations where the product is assembled
and prepared for shipment. Some is put in bottles
but the greater part goes in forty-quart cans. The
manufactured products of milk, butter and cheese,
are made up either in privately or cooperatively owned
factories. These cooperative organizations have sel-
dom extended beyond a single plant but there are
instances in which a series of such plants is operated
under a cooperative or corporate arrangement.
264 RURAL NEW YORK
A large outlet for milk in many sections of the
State where dairying prevails is the milk conden-
saries and the evaporated milk plants. The former
have many large and prosperous plants, but they
represent no particular advantage to the individual
farmer in determining the price of his product based
on cost of production. These manufacturing lines
are closely linked with the sale of raw milk for direct
consumption. In some of the smaller cities, the
retail milk trade is being concentrated and in
Ithaca a considerable section of it has been linked
with ice and ice-cream manufacture, a modern bot-
tling plant and also a condensing plant. From
here the product of a number of dairies is distributed
by wagons, each of which is assigned a full, compact
and well balanced route. The manufacturing end
serves to care for the surplus of raw milk. The busi-
ness is managed on a corporate basis and is owned
and controlled largely by the farmers supplying milk.
Another pliase of cooperative marketing is repre-
sented by joint sales of pure-bred live-stock. The
Liverpool sales near Syracuse have been famous for
the amount and high grade of stock handled. By
this concentration the owners are able to secure the
attendance of a lai'ger number of buyers and to secure
more extensive advertising, together with the general
advantages of such sales. Other communities hold
joint stock sales at a convenient farm with similar
advantages. In one instance, Tompkins County, a
county breeders' association has been organized that
publishes an informational and sales paper to pro-
MARKETS AND MARKETISG 265
mote the sale of the stock of the breeders in the
county and a secretary is paid to pilot buyers to the
different farms having stock to sell and to arrange
joint sales.
Produce-handling companies comprised of growers
have been organized at several places to concentrate,
grade and pack their produce, and. find a suitable mar-
ket for the same by means of a paid manager and
packing force. The South Shore Growers and Ship-
pers Association, southwest of Buffalo with head-
quarters at Silver Creek, is an example of this sort
of combination of farmers for selling vegetables and
small-fruits. Another is the Tompkins County
Farmers Company at Ithaca. Still another impor-
tant concern is the Eastern Fruit and Produce Ex-
change of Kochester, which was organized primarily
to handle fruit in western New York. This corpor-
ation, which is owned and officered by producers, is
affiliated with a national sales agency with represen-
tatives in different cities and doing a business in a
large variety of agricultural products. Produce is
handled only for affiliated members, which privilege
is secured by the ownership of stock. Local ex-
changes are established in the various centers of pro-
duction. In an increasing number of places, the
local exchanges are establishing central grading and
packing-houses to put the produce in a more satis-
factory market condition. For example, there were
organized in Niagara County in 1918 four central
packing-houses for fruit. These selling agencies
266 RURAL A'ETF y07?7v
keep in closer touch with marketing produce condi-
tions than is possible to the average individual; the
large volume and variety of produce permit a regular
trade to be established and the organization brings
the producer and consumer nearer together and on
a more equitable economic footing than is possible
to individuals working alone. With similar begin-
nings, the fruit-growers of Nova Scotia and Onta-
rio, Canada, have made large progress. There, the
central packing-house has become established and
sales agencies have been developed made up of more
than forty of these local concerns and handling as
much as 460,000 barrels of fruit under a single label.
Still another phase of the distribution is the
county farm bureaus. These institutions, financed
primarily at public expense and supervised by State
agencies, do not and should not take a direct part in
the sale of products or the purchase of supplies.
But being locally established and in touch with the
producers of a county, they serve as the clearing-
house for information about farm produce and enable
different regions conveniently and directly to get in
touch for business purposes. For example, the
northern counties of the State produce an excellent
quality of potato that is especially suitable for seed
for the early crop on Long Island, and by means of
the farm bureau officers these two interests have
been brought into touch with each other. As it be-
comes better known, the farm bureau is increasingly
being made a means of information touching farm
MARKETS AND MARKETING 267
produce and exchange. They also furnish leadership
in organization movements as was well illustrated in
the New York milk strike.
The other side of the rural trade is represented by
the purchase of supplies for the farmer. Of these he
is a heavy user and the annual volume of business
in these lines is tremendous. Feeds, fertilizer,
machinery, twine, household supplies, seeds, lumber,
hardware, and a 'great many other things are used
by the farmer. Normally he is a small business
man, and, therefore, buys in relatively small lots,
often on credit and at a high price. The concentra-
tion of his buying, as well as of his selling, brings
profitable results. Farmers have been inclined to
combine to purchase supplies and there are several
buying organizations of farmers where there is one
for selling. Perhaps the steps to action appear more
simple and the profits more immediate and direct.
The agency that has done the largest business in
this line is the Grange. The function of purchasing
supplies for its members has from the inception of the
organization been a prominent one. This has been
effective only in the local centers and was without
other help. Sometimes stores are operated and in a
large number of the local granges supplies have long
been purchased on collective order handled by a
member. Frequently this was handled by a member
without compensation which entailed an unfair bur-
den, and is conducive of a general looseness in doing
business, and may result in its early discontinuance.
2G8 RURAL NEW YORK
Cash trade has been the rule. Many enterprises of
this sort have perished from want of efficient manage-
ment and lack of any overhead support.
As a type of another group of purchasing agencies
may be mentioned the Bedford Farmers' Cooperative
Association of Mt. Kisco in Westchester County.
This is incorporated under the provisions of the
general corporation law of the State and has a capital
stock of $25,000, It maintains a paid manager and
its business is divided into six lines or departments.
The development of the several functions of this as-
sociation very well illustrates the general progress of
purchase, marketing and self-help agencies. The
expansion of the marketing facilities is one of the
last things usually taken up by farmers, yet it is
the most vital part of their problem. The purchase of
supplies is very much secondary in importance to
the effective marketing of products.
Another notable cooperative organization is the
Jewish Farmers Association whose activities for its
members are not confined to New York State. The
latest and most ambitious enterprise for handling
farm produce and supplies is an organization known
as the Cooperative Grange League Federation Ex-
change, Incorporated. This is purely a business or-
ganization on a state-wide basis. It is an outgrowth
of interest in commercial enterprises on behalf of the
farmer in three distinct state organizations, namely,
the Grange, the Federation of Farm Bureaus, and the
Dairymen's League. In addition to an overhead
state exchange, it is endeavoring to develop local com-
MARKETS AND MARKETING 269
munity organizations with warehousing facilities, in
order best to serve the farmers' interests.
A little farther removed from the farm but still
directly related to it is the organization of coopera-
tive consumers associations for the purchase of foods
and other supplies for the home and household.
These organizations form convenient units for deal-
ing directly with farmers' marketing exchanges in the
purchase of farm products and are a promising de-
velopment in the marketing situation. They, with
the produce exchanges, form efficient centers on the
two sides of the producing and consuming business
on the basis of which the intermediate machinery for
more efficient interchange may be built.
Two other factors in marketing are storage
facilities and credit. In 1911, there is reported to
have been condemned in the markets in New York
City 73,785 pounds of eggs, 35,755 pounds of fish
and 200,000 pounds of poultry. Storage develops at
two places primarily, at the centers of production
and at the centers of consumption. In New York
the various products are cared for by local, usually
private, storages, warehouses and elevator cold storage
plants at the local shipping stations. In the fruit
region in western New York, there are large refriger-
ation and common storage plants at the main fruit-
producing stations, mostly on the New York Central
lines. Most of this is said to be owned or controlled
by dealers. The storage facilities in the larger cities
are gauged to meet the requirements of the mini-
mum amount of produce and the highest practicable
270 RURAL NEW YORK
price. Adequate storage facilities of a kind adapted
to the product are a fundamental essential of effi-
cient marketing in this day of year-long consumption
of the staple products of the farm.
The credit factor is closely allied and the storage
and marketing conditions reflect the credit status
of the average farmer. Having a short margin of
cash funds on which to produce his products, they are
in most instances marketed as soon as they are
matured. The wave of market-movement follows
strongly that of production in all the staple prod-
ucts. This ni lis tlie farmer is selling his crop
to cover labor and supply bills that have been con-
tracted, also on a poor credit basis and, therefore, at
a high cost. One of the irritating outgrowths of
this system is the car shortage in rail transportation
that frequently takes an added toll from the farmers'
returns and which would be reduced by a longer sea-
son for movement.
CHAPTER VIII
RURAL MANUFACTURES OF NEW YORK
Rural manufacture includes all those manufactur-
ing operations conducted under distinctly farm condi-
tions. In the pioneer days in America, a large part of
the manufacturing was thus undertaken on the farm
and in the home. Not only simple food products
and preserves were made there, but the cloth for the
family wardrobe was manufactured from the wool
and flax grown on the farm which was carded, spun
into yarn and woven, colored and made up in the
home. The corn and wheat were ground in the farm
mill, which was frequently a custom mill. Lumber
was taken from the farm woodlot and sawed in the
neighborhood mill for the buildings. The rural fam-
ily, and especially the rural community, was largely
self-sufficient in the manufacture of the things needed
by its members.
With the progress of society, including the devel-
opment of machines and power and the possibility
of the concentration of labor in large establishments,
there has come about the vast changes in manufactur-
ing processes ar, they touch the farm and the farm
home. A large part of these operations have been
transferred from the farm to the city and drawn to-
gether in larger and still larger units. This change
271
272 RURAL ^'EW YORK
is strikingly illustrated in the slaughtering and meat-
packing industry. In early times, meat was almost
exclusively prepared and preserved on the farm, and
the social " bee " was a common adjunct. Now the
business is mainly concentrated in a few large pack-
ing centers, such as Chicago, Kansas City and
Buffalo. Butter, instead of being made on the farm,
is now largely manufactured in creameries or butter
factories that handle milk by the thousands instead
of by the tens of pounds.
As a result of these changes, it is not possible to
draw a sharp line of distinction between urban and
rural manufactures. The distinction is one of size
rather than character. Some industries are still in
the transitional stage and have both a distinctly rural
and an urban aspect. Vinegar-making is one of
these. It is still made on the farm from cider ex-
tracted at the local custom mill, but it is also manu-
factured in city factories far from the rounds of the
farm. Even in New York City vinegar is made,
whether from apples does not appear. Indeed most
forms of manufacture began on the farm and cer-
tainly in close contact with tlie home, and grew be-
yond its limits with the changed facilities of new
times.
The history of these manufactures is a fascinating
chapter in human development and there is strong
temptation to trace some of the features of it. The
history is not peculiar to New York, however, and
space will not allow the digression. The reader will
know in a general way what the changes are like.
RURAL MANUFACTURES 273
The " drying " of fruit is an illustration. In the
early days the fruits were dried about the kitchen
stove on sieves and wooden lattice-shelves. The trays
Vvere set out-of-doors in sunny weather. Often the
halves and quarters of apples were run on strings by
means of a darning-needle, and the strings were hung
about the stove and ceiling; the sanitary results are
left to the imagination of the reader. In regions
of long absence of rain, as in California, the sun-
drying of fruit soon came to be a common and good
commercial practice. Later came the " evaporated "
fruit, when the prepared product was placed in a
tower or specially constructed building (an "evap-
orator") in which the moisture was driven off by
furnace-heat or steam-heat. Vegetables and many
other products are now preserved by " dessicating "
and " dehydrating," in which the mechanical
processes are still further perfected. All these classes
of industries have developed strongly in New York,
The days of " home-spun " are past, and the farmer
now buys most of his supplies where other persons
buy them. The traveling craftsman has gone. The
farmer raises his products for sale rather than merely
to supply his own needs, and he is a heavy buyer as
well as a producer. Something of the picturesque-
ness of country life has left it with the passing of
the local tannery, grist-mill, wagon-shop, broom-
shop, barrel-factory, hand-loom, shoemaker's-shop
and cabinet-shop, but the rural people may the better
concentrate themselves on production.
Attention in this chapter will not be confined to
274 RURAL NEW YORK
purely rural manufactures but will survey briefly
those forms of manufacture, whether rural or urban,
that directly use the products of the farm and put it
into some new or more convenient form to use. It
will be noted so far as possible the extent to which
these industries have been transferred from the rural
district to the larger centers.
It should be noted that New York is the leading
manufacturing state and is situated near the center
of the main industrial region of the country. This
follows naturally from the concentration of popula-
tion. In 1909 about one-sixth of the total value of
manufactured products in the United States was
supplied by New York with a total value of $3,300,-
000,000. The figures that follow are generally for
the last census year of 1909. The value added to
the product by manufacturing operations in New
York was about $1,500,000,000 or $1,350 for each
worker. Of this amount, the workers receive $625 ;
$125 may be assigned for interest, leaving $500 to a
worker, distributed to other interests. Herein lies
one of the problems of distribution which will re-
ceive increasing attention in the ensuing years.
There should, of course, be a legitimate margin
for the agencies of manufacture Imt it is questionable
whether an adequate basis for gauging that margin
has been applied. Clothing, food-stuffs and timber
products are the largest items in manufacturing en-
terprises. This is of significance in its relation to
agriculture since it constitutes an expansion of the
local market as represented by population and local
RURAL MA^^VFACTURES 275
and seasonal consumption. With the exception of
Pennsylvania, New York State has the largest diver-
sity of manufacturers. Out of 264 classifications
used in the thirteenth census, 243 were represented
in New York.
The materials of manufacture are the products of
the farm, the forest, the stream, the mine and the
quarry and somewhat of the sea. The development of
manufacture in the region represents largely the per-
sistence of early established industries, together with
the transfer of others as a result of changed natural
advantages. Tobacco manufacture exemplifies the
former. Now widely disseminated, it shows rela-
tion ,to the former large production of tobacco in cer-
tain parts of the State. In the case of meats and
the meat-packing industry, there is recognizable the
tendency to transfer towards the centers of popula-
tion from the districts of production.
Dairy manufactures were once a conspicuous
feature of the farm operations. Butter and cheese
were made on the farm and certain regions became
widely known for their product, especially western
New York and the district around the eastern end
of Lake Ontario. The total production of milk in
the State in 1909 was 2,400,000,000 quarts or 60,-
000,000 forty-quart cans. This number of cans
would fill 240,000 forty-foot cars, enough to reach
from New York to Chicago in a solid line. They
would make 12,000 trains of twenty cars each or an
average of thirty-three a day to move the milk daily
produced in the State. Seven-eighths of the milk
276 RURAL NEW YORK
was sold as such. However, a considerable part of
the total milk goes into manufactured products.
Dairy manufacture is still distinctly rural but it is
undertaken in central factories rather than on the
farm. A little more than one-third of this amount is
manufactured in butter, cheese and condensed milk
in factories off the farm. There is relatively little
butter made on the farm. The manufacture of
cheese especially has been transferred from the farm
to the factory. In addition, other forms of dairy
manufacture have been introduced, such as condensed
and evaporated milk and casein. In 1909 there were
1,553 factories handling milk. Of these, 426 were
engaged primarily in the manufacture of butter,
1,090 in cheese and 36 in the manufacture of con-
densed and evaporated milk. Their products repre-
sented the following proportions of the total dairy
manufacturing industry : butter 41, cheese 36.6, and
condensed milk 23.4 per cent.
The distribution of the factories making these
products follows closely that of dairy cows, but in
the main it is pushed off to the more remote districts
where market milk is not sold. The sale of raw
milk for direct consumption has been rapidly in-
creasing for twenty-five years. New York City now
consumes about 22,000,000 cans (forty quarts) of
milk annually, equivalent to about 180 to an in-
habitant. To meet this tremendous demand, the
milk-handling facilities have reached out in all di-
rections hundreds of miles along the railroads until
milk is now shipped to New York City from the
RURAL MANUFACTVKES 377
remotest corners of the State, from far into western
ISTew York, from the St. Lawrence Valley, from the
upper Champlain and even from over the Canadian
boundary. Milk express trains run into the city
daily on all the important railroads. Naturally this
drift to New York City is deflected around the
smaller towns and cities which in their turn are
reaching further and further for their supply of
raw milk and contribute to the general trend away
from the manufacture of milk products.
Coincident witli this large development of the
business in raw milk and cream, there has been a
tightening of the sanitary standards under which
milk may be made and handled. Such regulations
now cover inspection of the barns and cattle, tests of
the cattle for tuberculosis, grading of milk, provi-
sions for cooling and pasteurization, for types of
containers and regulations regarding cleanliness.
This is reflected in the market grade of milk.
A further development in the dairy business is the
production of certified milk, particularly for infants
and invalids. The regulations are particularly
strict and the price must be correspondingly higher
than for ordinary milk. The beginning of the cer-
tified milk business was about 1900, In 1910,
twenty-nine farms produced certified milk to the
amount of 16,500 quarts a day.
The total production of milk has decreased about
33 per cent in the ten years from 1899. Since' 1910
it has increased slightly. While the sale of market
milk has increased 18 per cent, the production of
278 RURAL NEW YORK
butter has decreased nearly 40 per cent which is
part of a continuous decrease for thirty-five years
from 1880 when the maximum ])roduction occurred.
The manufacture of clieese has decreased 60 per cent
in ten years which is part of a continuous decrease
for sixty-five years from 1850. This antedated the
development of machines and equipment for the man-
ufacture of butter in factories, chief of which was
the milk separator that was inveaited in 1879 and
came into general use in the eighties. Butter and
cheese are less perishable than raw milk and cream
and their production is relatively more economical
in regions remote from market, where stock feed is
cheapest. Market milk must be produced as close
as possible to the center of consumption.
The total production of butter in 1909 was 69,-
358,918 pounds, valued at $13,500,000. The rank
of New York was eighth, Wisconsin leading as also
in the production of cheese. Of this amount, 66 per
cent was made in factories and 34 per cent in farm
dairies.
The first creamery or butter factory in America
was operated at Campbell Hall, Orange County, in
1856. That county was the first important dairy
center and " Goslien butter " was a standard mar-
ket grade in the middle of the last century. In
1914 there were 576 creameries in the State, Minne-
sota leading in the United States with 848 factories
and Wisconsin second with 812.
Among tlie very earliest American factories of
milk separators and other dairy supplies was one at
RURAL MANUFACTURES 279
Little Falls. The Babcock milk test, named after
its inventor, had an early connection with New York
through the fact that Dr. Babcock, its inventor, was
born and trained in tlie State and later worked at the
Agricultural Experiment Station at Geneva.
The production of cheese has gone much further
than that of butter in the transfer from the farm
to the factory. Over 99 per cent of the cheese in 1910
was made in factories. The total production was
105,584,947 pounds, valued at $14,250,000 in 1909.
The making of cheese is likely to continue to decline.
The distribution of cheese factories is much more
bunched than is the creameries. In 1914 there were
995 factories, placing the State second in rank in
number. New York is also second in total produc-
tion of cheese. Wisconsin is first with 1720 fac-
tories.
The two centers of cheese production, of nearly
equal size, are the five southwest counties and a broad
belt reaching southward from the Canadian line in
the St. Lawrence Valley to near the southern bound-
ary of the State by way of the Chenango and the
TJnadilla valleys. There are very few cheese fac-
tories outside of those regions. The two largest mar-
ket centers for cheese are W-atertown, in Jefferson
County, and Cuba in Allegany County.
To the uninformed, the word cheese usually means
the common American Cheddar or hard cheese.
The history of the development of this product is
very thoroughly wrapped up with the history of dairy-
ing in New York. The rise of the industry was based
280 RURAL NEW YORK
on the difficulty of making butter in the hot weather
of summer and is coupled with the practice of sum-
mer dairying. Tlie development of the industry
reaches back to 1804 when Colonel Jared Thayer, of
the town of Norway, Herkimer County, made cheese
from the milk of a herd of twenty cows. Many de-
tails of manufacture and curing had to be overcome,
as suitable rennet, proper heating, cutting and grind-
ing the curd, size of cheese, the relation of butter-
fat to yield, and finally of factory as compared with
farm manufacture.
The need for a larger and more uniform cheese
made it necessary to handle a larger quantity of milk
in one lot than the average herd provides. This
gave rise to cooperation among farmers to increase
the bulk of milk. About 1851, Jesse Williams, of
Oneida County, combined the milk from his sons'
farms with his own. This was the germ of the coop-
erative factory system destined to have so large a
rise. In 1879, New York produced 56.5 per cent
of all the cheese in the United States and 33 per
cent in 1910.
While the bulk of the cheese is of the American
Cheddar type, it is surprising how many kinds of
cheese are made. With many of these forms the
ordinary person has no acquaintance since they are
not staple market products. The last available sum-
mary of these was in 1908 when nineteen different
kinds are reported and the production of several
others is indicated. In Table XIII is given a list of
these and the amount of each kind produced:
RURAL MANUFACTURES 281
Table XII I. — Kinds and Amount of Cheese Pro-
duced IN New York in 1908
1. American Cheddar 77,821,109 pounds
2. Skim 10,725,699 pounds
3. Pineapple 255,778 pounds
4. Limburger 6,187,801 pounds
5. Domestic Swiss 968,952 pounds
6. Kosher 213,959 pounds
7. D'Isigny 978,454 pounds
8. Neufchatel 1,905,263 pounds
9. Framage de Brie 172,660 pounds
10. Squore Cream 1,147,442 pounds
11. Imitation English Dairy 337,310 pounds
12. Weiner ". 4,800 pounds
13. Sage 180,589 pounds
14. Munster 671,881 pounds
15. Pot 7,639,364 pounds
16. Italian 1,459,144 pounds
17. Pressed 439,092 pounds
18. Casciocavalio 354,421 pounds
19. Various other kinds 782,686 pounds
In the manufacture of cheese of the special or
fancy grades in particular, there seems to be an op-
portunity to supply a most desirable food product
and to expand the demand and correspondingly im-
prove the price of all milk. A taste for these special
brands of cheese can be very readily cultivated.
Of condensed milk New York produced 130,500,-
000 pounds worth $9,500,000, and ranked first. Of
casein the State manufactured over 6,500,000 pounds,
worth nearly $500,000 and again had first rank.
The production of condensed milk was equivalent
to about 12 per cent of the total milk in the
State, and nearly 30 per cent of the total amount in
the country. The factories are widely distributed in
282 RURAL ^'EW YORK
the dairy regions, particularly in those parts remote
from the larger cities, and usually in connection with
plants that make a business of sliipping raw milk.
Nearly three-fourths was sweetened and one-fourth
unsweetened. The plants recpiire rather expensive
equipments and are generally established in fairly
large units. For the production of milk powder
there were in 1918 eight plants in the State which
increased in 1919 to twenty. In 1918 they produced
2,398,849 pounds of whole milk, 524,873 pounds
cream and 11,531,487 pounds of skimmed-milk.
Farmers still butcher some animals and sell the
carcasses. In 1909 this constituted only 8 per cent
of the total value of animals slaughtered in the State.
There is also a little butchering of animals purchased
by retail dealers in their region, but the aggregate of
this business is relatively small.
The preparation of cured meat has largely moved
from the farm to the city factory. The value of
animals slaughtered on farms amounted to $9,927,-
000 in 1909, which was $50 a farm or approxi-
mately the value of two fat pigs, or a small beef. It
is evident that this would be consumed largely on
the farm, leaving very little for sale in the cities.
The total value of meat slaughtered and packed in
the State was $127,130,000, not including that killed
on farms or by retail butchers. This figure places
New York third in the list of states, with Illinois and
Kansas, first and second. The former handles con-
siderably more than the sum of the other two states.
These figures illustrate very well the concentration of
RURAL MAlfVFACTVRES 283
finished animals in the larger centers of population
for slaughter. The value of animal products exclu-
sive of the dairy is out of all proportion to the num-
ber of meat animals in the State. Undoubtedly, the
figures represent the marketing of farm products in
this convenient form because of the advantages of
shipment. In Xew York the bulk of the slaughter-
ing and meat-packing industry is in Buffalo and New
York City which had in 1909 an aggregate value of
$121,290,000, which is 95 per cent of the total.
Over 80 per cent of the persons engaged in the indus-
try were in those two cities. Curiously enough nearly
four-fifths of this industry in the two cities is re-
ported from New York City. In both cities this
production represents a material increase in the last
ten-year period in spite of the general decrease in
meat cattle in the State. The three minor cities of
Eochester, Utica and Albany together had an aggre-
gate value of only $591,000.
The distribution of the values of the main products
of the slaughtering industry is as follows :
Table XIV. — Values of Meats
Fresh beef $41,428,480
Fresh veal 4,310,483
Fresh mutton 9,539,554
Fresh pork 12,665,175
Salted pork 2,086,225
Hams 7,053,027
Shoulders and sides 8,064,812
Lard 5,814,101
Hides 7,105,591
Sheep pelts 1,389,471
$100,062,919
284 RURAL NEW YORK
This represents the production of 238 plants that
employed 6,110 persons and added about $16,962,-
000 to the total. The economy in large centralized
plants is especially well exemplified in the meat-pack-
ing industry. The possibility for the utilization of
by-products has been realized. A large branch of
tlie fertilizer industry has grown out of it. The
manufacture of soap, glue and oils, the utilization of
hides, bones, horns, hair and every conceivable part
of the animal is made possible in these large estab-
lishments. Formerly they were wasted or poorly
utilized in the small packing-house.
The local tannery used to be a feature of every
considerable community, but now it is often difficult
to find a local buyer of hides. New York stands
fifty in the leather and tanning industry with a
value of $27,642,000. This is an increase of 16 per
cent for the preceding ten-year period in compari-
son with an increase of 56 per cent in the slaughter-
ing and meat-packing industry. The value of the
untreated hides produced in the State was $8,500,-
000. The production of hides doubled in the ten-
year period preceding 1909, probably representing
considerable importation of foreign hides.
New York produces nearly 23 per cent of the soap
of the country, nearly all in New York City and
Buffalo in alliance with the meat-packing industry.
Sixty per cent of the value of gloves in the United
States is produced in New York, largely localized in
a small region in the Mohawk Valley where the
town of Gloversville marks its center. This industry
S-i
'S
o
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o
'S.
!>
5
RURAL MAyUFACTURES 285
has a distinctly lural aspect since a considerable part
is piece work done at home in farming districts.
Of boots and slioes, the ^tate produces about 10
per cent of the country's product with the region
of Binghamton and the city of Rochester preeminent
in the business.
There are fifteen fertilizer plants in the State, most
of which are based on the utilization of animal wastes
and they are closely allied with the meat-packing and
rendering estal)lishments. To these waste products
are added the phosphate and potash materials to
make a complete fertilizer. The larger plants are
equipped to treat the raw phosphate rock with acid.
These fifteen plants with a capital of a little over
$3,500,000 produced goods to tlie value of $4,250,-
000 in 1909. Tbe concentration in this business, as
in others, is illustrated by the fact that in 1899 there
were thirty-two plants with a capital of over $1,500,-
000, but with a product worth only $3,100,100 with-
out any decided change in the value of materials.
The bulk of the plants is in Buffalo and New York
but small ones are at Xewburg, Albany, Fulton, Utica,
Syracuse and Rochester, with minor plants at other
points concerned with special materials, such as wood-
ashes and wool waste.
The prominence of New York in the lumber industry
has already been noted in the discussion of forest re-
sources. For several decades tlie State has been de-
creasing in the production of lumber. Tliis decrease
amounted to T2.4 per cent in the last ton-year census
period. At the same time, the leading varieties of
286 RURAL NEW YORK
lumber cut have changed and the poorer qualities have
attained relatively greater importance. Hemlock
leads, with spruce and white pine next in order. In
spite of the large decrease in timber products, the
planing mills contribute 65.9 per cent of the product
in the countr}^ from 674 plants. New York furnished
20.7 per cent of the product of saw-mill and logging
plants with 1,389 establishments and 200 packing-box
factories contributed 13.4 per cent of the business of
that industr3^ The customs and portable saw-mill
adapted to cut-up farm tracts of timber is still a
common sight, there being 211 establishments.
They employ only 452 persons and have a capital of
less than $500,000, their product being valued at less
than $250,000.
The cooperage business still has a distinctly rural
aspect, there being many small plants in the' apple-
producing region. Many of them operate only in
the fruit season. Here, also, the tendency is to trans-
fer the industry to the larger concerns and machine-
made barrels are taking the place of the hand-made
ones. The bulk of the cooperage product is made in
the larger cities, New York with thirty-five plants
contributing 45 per cent, Rochester 9 and Buffalo
8 per cent. The total value of the product, including
some secondary forms of wood work, was $7,500,000.
Doubtless a large part of these packages was required
for the products of manufacture such as sugar in
New York and flour in Rochester. There were 364
cooperage and other wood-working plants in the
State employing an average of nine persons each.
RURAL MANUFACTURES 387
Elm and ash were the local woods used for fruit and
flour barrels, while the gums for tlie heads must be
imported from the South. Oak for casks may still
be secured locally.
Xew York produced only 15 per cent of the
wood pulp made in the United States. This came
almost entirely from spruce. The twenty-one plants
engaged exclusively in this industry and the fifty-
one factories that made paper in addition, produced
314,000 tons, valued at a little less than $10,000,-
000. The State uses great quantities of paper of all
grades, about one-fifth of which is- made up locally
but largely from imported materials. The mills are
mostly around the base of the Adirondack Mountains
where water power is available for reducing the wood
to pulp. Every important city in that territory con-
tributes to this industry and plants are located on
the most important waterways leading from the
mountains.
In baskets, rattan and willow ware, New York,
with 30 per cent of the workers and 37 per cent of
the plants, produces 60 per cent of the value of the
products in the country. There were 169 establish-
ments for this purpose. The statistics do not per-
mit an estimate of the use of loca?l materials, particu-
larly hickory, ash and willow. The preeminence of
the State in growing willows in the Wayne County
district undoubtedly contributes something to this
line of manufacturing and gives it a local rural
aspect.
One of the most distinctly rural manufactured prod-
288 RURAL NEW YORK /
ucts is maple sirup and sugar. The sugar-house, with
its ventilating cupola, is usually a small frame struc-
ture where the sap is collected and evaporated to sirup
or sugar. It is interesting to note that there was a
substantial increti-se in the production of maple
sirup and sugar in the United States in 1909 over
that in 1899. The same statement applies to New
York, which also prodiiced more maple sugar and
sinip in 1918 than in 1910. In 1918, the produc-
tion was 3,732 pounds of sugar and 1,755,000 gal-
lons of sirup. New York leads in the production
with Vermont a close second, and the two states pro-
duce 75 per cent of that made in the United States.
Sirup and sugar-making is the first activity on the
farm in the spring, beginning when clear warm days
and sharp frosty nights set the sap running and the
buds begin to spring.
Cider and vinegar are largely rural manufactures
of which the State produced $2,250,000 worth, or
over 60 per cent of the total of the country. Vine-
gar is becoming more and more a centralized in-
stead of a secondary farm product, as was once the
case. Cider remains essentially local, made in cus-
tom mills scattered wherever apples are grown. As
cider for direct consumption, it is not suited to dis.tant
transportation. Nearly 5,250,000 gallons of cider
are reported from farms in 1909, an increase of
nearly 1,000,000 over the preceding decade. Twenty-
five per cent of all farms reported cider as a product.
Much of the custom-made cider returns to the fann
and passes' on into vinegar under the simplest possi-
RURAL MANUFACTURES 289
ble manipulation. While some of this is sold, it is
available in such small quantities and of such vari-
able quality that dealers and grocers prefer the fac-
tory-made, standardized product, the grade of which
comes under the inspection of the State. To extend
the use of apples the United States Department of
Agri-culture has devised a product known as apple
juice suitable as an unfermented beverage, which is
rapidly attaining a place of prominence. The incep-
tion of prohibition has given a strong impetus to the
m'anufacture of pasteurized cider. In 1909, 277
plants were engaged in the manufacture of vinegar
and cider. Of these four were in ISTew York City
but their product represented only 6 per cent of the
total value.
The fermented product of the grape, wine and its
derivations, has been decreasing in production for a
period of years" but the unfermented product, grape-
juice, has offset this decrease. The Westfield fac-
tory, which was the pioneer in this business, has been
followed by many others, including factories in the
grape-producing section of the Hudson Valley oppo-
site Poughkeepsie. The development of the unfer-
mented juice industry began in Chautauqua County
about fifteen years ago and over 3,000,000 gallons are
now produced annually in that district and repre-
sent a substantial outlet for fresh grapes. Spark-
ling wine, commonly known as champagne, has con-
tinued until very recently to be produced in all the
important grape-growing centers. Seventy-five per
cent of the champagne in the country has been pro-
21)0 RURAL NEW YORK
duced in New York and with grapo-juicc has been
estimated to consume a quarter of the gross tonnage
of fruit.
Dried and canned fruits are also an important ex-
tension of the fruit industry. Including vegetahles,
New York is the ranking state in these products.
Seven hundred and ninety plants produced $19,000,-
000 worth or 23 per cent of the total. The mate-
rials used for this purpose and valued at $11,500,000
represented nearly one-third of the value of such
fruits in the State. California leads in the produc-
tion of dried fruits. Of preserves and pickles the
State yields $7,000,000 in value, equivalent to ISi/o
per cent of the total for the country.
Vegetables are canned in plants of medium to large
size distributed for the most part in rural districts in
the vegetable-producing region of central New York,
particularly the territory from south of Utica to near
Batavia. Peas, corn and beans in this order of
value make up the bulk of the product. In the same
region, where cabbage is most largely produced, the
manufacture of krout is also centered, particularly
from near Syracuse to Batavia.
An even wider range of fruits is canned, embrac-
ing in the order of value, apples, berries, cherries,
pears, peaches and plums. Apples make up more
than a third of the total. These plants are gen-
erally in close proximity to the producing centers for
those fruits.
In dried fruits, apples constitute 90 per cent of
the value and represent the chief means outside of
RURAL MANUFACTURES 291
eider and vinegar of utilizing the poorer grades of
fruit. The plants are closely identified with tlie
apple orchards and are generally located in the
smaller towns. The remaining percentage is made
up of small-fruits, chiefly raspberries, which centers
in Yates County on the west side of Seneca Lake.
The preserving industry, on the other hand, is de-
veloped in larger cities, particularly in New York
City.
New York State ranks first in the quantity of corn,
buckwheat and oats ground, third in that of wheat
and rye, and sixth in barley. TJiere were 983 mills
in 1909 of which 270 were engaged in milling wheat,
and of these 105 produced less than 1000 barrels
during the year ; 86 produced from 1000 to 5000 bar-
rels; 49 from 5000 to 20,000 barrels; 19 from 20,-
000 to 100,000 barrels; and 11 plants produced over
100,000 barrels. These figures give some idea of the
concentration of milling in extensive plants in large
cities, particularly Bufi:alo and Eochester.
Milling illustrates the relation of manufacturing
to production and special industries. New York
leads all others in buckwheat and this grain is
ground to flour in a larger number of small mills
than is possessi?d by any otber state. Tbese often use
small water power, particularly in the southern tier
counties. Corn and oats from tlie Mississippi Val-
ley region are purchased to serve" as feed for the large
dairy and live-stock industry of New York for which
purpose, tlicy are extensively ground together in these
smaller mills. New York was once the leading
293 RURAL NEW YORK
wheat-producing state and Eochester the chief wheat
market and milling center. With the change in the
producing center, Buffalo has gained the position as
a shipping terminal.
With tlie saw-mill, the grist-mill was among tlie
earliest rural factories, the abundant water power of
the State being favorable for both. Both the first
grist-mill and the first saw-mill operated in America
were established in the new settlement of Xew Am-
sterdam on Manhattan Island soon after it was
founded by the Dutch in 1623.
The smaller mills have more and more felt the
shift in conditions and the competition of the larger
mills, and many of them have been abandoned.
Any summary of the possibilities of agriculture
in New York, assuming the basis of soils and climate,
must take account of the development of manufac-
tures based on the products of the farm. While
the tendency will always be to prefer sale for imme-
diate consumption, the manufacturing processes con-
tinually expand the range and period of consumption
and, together with improved storage facilities, tend
more and more to expand the season so that the
products of the farm are conveniently available the
year round and at a more uniform and stable price
both to producer and consumer than would otherwise
be possible.
CHAPTER IX
THE ADMINISTRATIVE AND REGULATORY ORGAN-
IZATIONS OF NEW YORK
Government increasingly touches the individual
as the development of the State progresses. While
in some respects it places restrictions on his actions
and movements, at the same time it gives him a
larger measure of freedom and a higher degree of
efficiency. The true function of the State, using
this term in a broad way to represent all govern-
mental organizations, is sometimes lost sight of, and
it is conceived to be a sort of impersonal overlord to
be exploited by some and evaded by others, according
to their individual situation. The one breeds the
mere political heeler and the privileged interests.
The other develops the poacher, the short weighers,
the profiteers, and the intriguers of all sorts.
Government is a combination of institutions to
do for individuals singly and collectively what they
alone can not accomplish so well. This is the real
governmental function to be kept steadily in mind
as the ideal and is the principle that should guide in
testing each new idea in legislation.
Strictly speaking, there is no sharp distinction of
interests between city and country. They are only
a little different in qualitv, and the best interest of
293
291 RURAL XEW YORK
one is in the end for the welfare of tlie other.
Every example of cooperation and of friendly under-
standing between city and country is, therefore, wel-
comed. There is no reason why the farmer, as well
as the merchant and the manufacturer, should not be
a member of chambers of commerce and other com-
mercial organizations centering in the city and be
chosen to public positions of trust and honor if he
has the ability to hold them.
The principle of responsible representative gov-
ernment should give to State or other large units the
administration of the affairs that concern all the in-
dividuals alike, and should reserve to the subdi-
visions those that involve only smaller groups of indi-
viduals. Trouble always arises when either attempts
to override the other.
POLITICAL DIVISIONS AND SYSTEM
OF TAXATION
New York State is subdivided into sixty-one
counties, nine hundred thirty-two toM'nships and
something over twelve thousand school districts
(12,135). These are the main legislative and ad-
ministrative units of the State and are combined in
various ways for special purposes. For example, the
counties are grouped into fort^^-three Congressional
districts, and into fifty-one State Senatorial districts.
In addition there are village and city units that fre-
quently are set off from the minor divisions or over-
spread and supplant them.
Government touches the farmer in establishing
ADMIMHTRATIVE ORGAMZATIONS 395
standards for the measurement of his products, in
regulating the conditions of their production and
sale, in the administration of protective measures
against the enemies of plant and animal life, in the
provision of roads and other transportable facilities,
in the regulation and conservation of the natural re-
sources of the country and in the dissemination of
standard and current information about all these ques-
tions. Thus, a great body of governmental organi-
zations and institutions dealing with agricultural
matters has grown up. All must have funds and
must be supported out of the means of the people
of the State. Taxes are the support thus required
and the methods of raising revenues is of prime con-
cern to all.
The total assessed value of the real property in
New York heads the list of states and amounted in
1912 to about $12,000,000,000. Approximately
$2,000,000,000 is assigned to rural property and in-
cludes with the open country all cities and villages
having a population of less than 2500. In 1912,
the total wealth of the State in all forms of prop-
erty was estimated at about $25,000,000,000, which
was a little more than one-eighth of the total value
of all property in the United States. The revenues
of the State are derived less from a general property
tax than from other and less direct sources of income.
In fact, in 1912 only about one-sixth of the total rev-
enues were derived from a direct tax. The largest
single item in the State's revenues is the inheritance
tax. Other important sources of revenue have been
396 RURAL NEW YORK
liquor licenses, the series of general and special cor-
poration taxes and a number of miscellaneous items,
largest among which are the stock transfer tax, mort-
gage tax and motor vehicle tax. There is no per-
sonal property tax.
There is but one assessment roll for property. For
revenue purposes the assessment is supposed to be at
the full value, by which is meant the amount of
money the property would sell for at a fair, free and
well advertised sale. As a matter of fact, this is not
the case, and in 1912 the assessed value of all real
property was estimated to be approximately two-
thirds of the true value. With respect to farm lands,
the rule generally holds that the better the land the
lower is the assessment relative to the actual selling
value of the land, and the poorer the land the higher
is the assessed value. Probably, this condition is due
to the general lag of one value in following the other.
Farmers in the more remote and poorer regions
where sales are slow often report that land is as-
sessed for more than it would bring at a public
sale.
The average value of farm land including buildings
as determined by the census of 1909 ranged from
less than $10 in thirty-four counties, embracing all
the higher and poorer parts of the State, to more
than $125 near New York City, and $60 to $100 for
the land adjacent to the larger cities and embracing,
in the main, the lower lying valley and plains lands,
the average being made by counties. From a study
of the assessed value of townships that are known to
ADMIMSTRATITE ORGAMZATIOyS 297
be strictly rural, it has been determined that the
poorer farm lands that are on the border of profitable
utility are assessed at a value of $G to $15 an acre
on the average. The bulk of good farm land reason-
ably well situated is assessed at a value of $30 to $80,
while laud assessed at a higher value is more favor-
ably located or devoted to special purposes. The to-
tal tax rate ranges from $1 to $8 a thousand. The
great bulk of the land is assessed at a rate ranging
from $1.50 to $2.25 a thousand.
EUEAL CREDIT FACILITIES
A state law enacted in 1914, that may have con-
siderable value to the farmer, is the arrangement by
which the united credit of a group of individuals
may be pooled for the benefit of persons in the group
that may need financial aid. It has sometimes ap-
peared that the farmer was at a disadvantage in
securing funds and credit to carry on his affairs, and
that these facilities were not available to him with
the same freedom that they may be had by the busi-
ness man in the city. Unqnestionably this condition
has prevailed to a degree, not because there was any
desire to discriminate against the farmer but because
his business has often not been conducted in such a
was as to insure stability in the values back of his
credit. As a matter of fact, the reason for much
of this uncertainty and even the loss that has resulted
has been in the general downward shift in rural
values that has prevailed in eastern states during
tlie last forty years. When to this is added the com-
298 RURAL NEW YORK
plexity of the factors that make up rural vahies and
the lack of standardized and often of an organized
system of business management, the city bankers, un-
familiar witli such conditions, were often warranted
in their anti])athy toward rural loans on anything ex-
■ept the very best farm real estate. The farmers on
clie poorer lands have always experienced these finan-
cial difficulties most acutely. It is a phenomenon as-
sociated with depressing rather than with expanding
values.
Credit unions may now be formed by a group of
individuals under the supervision of the State Super-
intendent of Banks with shares of stock of a par value
not to exceed $25, to liquify and make available the
rural credit facilities. Loans to exceed $50 must
be secured in a manner to meet the approval of the
loan committee. Such a group is in a better position
to deal with the larger banking institutions than is
the average individual. The farmer with his income
often available only at long intervals, and with the
necessity of making long-time investments in equip-
ment and improvement, is especially in need of the
best sort of credit facilities.
Tlie Federal Farm' Loan Bank is now more
vitilized for the provision of cooperative rural credit
than is the Credit Union system. This law was
passed in 1916, and Xew York State is administered
from the regional bank at Springfield, Massachusetts.
Under this plan, a group of farmers may form a fed-
eral farm loan asst)ciation and liecome stockholders in
the stock of the Federal Farm Loan Bank. The min-
ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATIONS 299
imum aggregate amount of loans with which such a
local association may start is $20,000 and this sum
must be divided among at least ten applicants.
Loans may not be placed in an amount exceeding 50
per cent of the appraised value of the property by
which these loans are secured. A loan once placed
is regularly amortized on a basis of 1 per cent a year
out of the gross 6.0 or 6I/2 per cent a year which the
borrower now pays on his loan. Up to March 1,
1920, the total amount of loans in this form in New
York State was $5,048,440.
THE COUNCIL OF FARMS AND MAR^KETS
(See Fig. 34)
The Council of Farms and Markets is administered
broadly by a council of eleven men, of whom ten are
appointed by the Legislature, one to represent each of
the nine judicial districts and one by the Governor
at large. The Commissioner of Markets of the City
of New Yor"k is ex-officio a member of the Council.
This Council came into existence in 1917 as the
successor to the two independent Departments of Ag-
riculture and Foods and Markets which now consti-
tute tlie two divisions under tlie Council. In addi-
tion, there is a Bureau of Accounts and a Legal
Bureau, each of which functions for both divisions of
the Council in matters touching the interpretation
of agricultural laws and regulations, and in the prose-
cution of violations of these requirements. It works
in close cooperation with the office of the Attorney-
General. Each division is administered by a commis-
300
RURAL NEW YORK
sioner chosen by the Council who acts within its
general policies and directions.
COUA/C/L.
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i
Fig. 37. Diasrram showin<;r the nmounts and distrihulion
of federal and state expenditures for agriculture in New
York State.
must have had farm experience. As the facilities for
training in agriculture in the secondary schools de-
velop, the need and the call for such courses in the
330 RURAL XFW YORK
State College may be expected to decrease. The in-
struction given is usually ahove the standard of the
secondary schools because of the maturity and wider
experience of the students.
It is notable that home economics as a branch of
study and as a professional art has generally been
affiliated with training in agriculture and has de-
veloped hand in hand with the recognition of the nat-
ural humanitarian aspects of the rural work. It is,
of course, obvious that home economics is not more
closely related to the home of the farm than to the
home of the merchant or the manufacturer in the
city or to that of the mine worker. The recognition
of the needs of the home-keeper has been a little more
easy and direct on the farm and thus tlie rural situa-
tion is making a contribution to tlie urban.
The demand for intermediate instruction in agri-
culture and home economics has given rise in New
York, as in other states, to a series of hybrid schools,
already referred to, that stand in a sense between
the high-schools and the State College but nearer to
the farmer in operation and function. These are the
six State schools of agriculture distributed over the
State in various affiliations and distinct from the
regular system of education. The first of these to
be cieatcd was the State School of Agriculture af-
filiated with St. Lawrence University, and adminis-
tered by it, at Canton in St. Lawrence County.
Persons prepared to enter high-school are received
here as at all other state scliools and given a course
of training of three years while students having some
EDUCATIOyAL ORGA^lZATIOHi 331
high-school training may finish the course in two
years. In many ways, the instruction resembles that
given in the college as well as that in tlie high-schools.
The work is done in laboratories and on the farm.
The Scliool of Agriculture of Alfred University at
Alfred in Allegany County is very similar in or-
ganization and operation.
The other four State schools differ from those men-
tioned in not being affiliated with any other educa-
tional work, and are special vocational schools. In
the order of their creation, they are located at Morris-
ville in Madison County, Cobleskill in Schoharie
County, Farmingdale on Long Island, and Delhi in
Delaware County. All have farm lands and stock,
in addition to buildings and laboratories for in-
struction. All are authorized to carry on tests and
do educational work beyond Iheir walls in the adja-
cent territory. With the exception of the School at
Canton, there has been some provision in the or-
ganization of the board of control for the coordina-
tion of the work of the school witli the other institu-
tions in the State giving agricultural instruction, by
the ex-oflficio appointment of the Dean of the State
College of Agriculture and the Commissioner of
Agriculture. In 1918 all these schools were put un-
der the immediate supervision of the State Depart-
ment of Education as a part of the secondary school
system of tlic State. If such special schools are to be
estalilished to deal with regional problems, they should
be located with due regard to the particular agricul-
tural interests they ought to serve, with the view to
332 RURAL .Y£W YORK
keeping the number to the lowest practical terms be-
cause of tlic relatively large expenditure required for
their equipment and maintenance.
The teaciiing of domestic science is an integral
part of tlie work of all these schools. No degrees are
conferred by them. They are entirely supported at
State expense and their work is carried on by a di-
rector and the faculty asscml)led by him, except that
in the schools at Canton and Alfred the president
of the University is given some prerogatives.
A State College of Forestry was established at
Syracuse University in 1911, to give instruction in
forestry and forest management and allied branches.
It is administered liy a board of control made up, as
ex-officio members, of the chairman of the Conserva-
tion Commission, the Commissioner of Education
and the Chancellor of Syracuse University, together
with three persons appointed by the Governor and six
appointed l)y the trustees of Syracuse University. It
is, therefore, only indirectly affiliated with the system
of agricultural education in the State. It offers a
five-year professional course leading to a degree of
]\Iaster in Forestry, and a two- or three-year ranger
course, the latter on the one thousand acres of forest
land controlled at Wanakena on Upper Saranac Lake
in the Adirondacks.
Other agencies of college training in agriculture
are a department in Columbia University in New
York City and the David Slocum College of Agri-
culture in Syracuse University. They are designed
EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATION 333
to offer agriculture as a part of the curriculum, pri-
marily as a brauch of applied science along with
other subjects of university instruction. Both
schools are privately supported and have farm lands
and equipment, but the latter is not affiliated with
the College of Forestry at Syracuse. The work in
these colleges leads to a recognized degree at the end
of the prescribed course of study. Their tuition is
that usually charged by such private institutions.
Two other institutions not strictly agricultural in
their work but closely affiliated with it in their prac-
tical aspects are the state schools of veterinary medi-
cine. The first of these is the New York State
Veterinary College at Cornell University established
in 1894 and located in Ithaca. It is one of the co-
ordinate colleges of that institution on a footing with
the College of Agriculture. Its objects are stated in
its organic law to be " to conduct investigations into
the nature, prevention and cure of all diseases of
animals, including such as are communicable to man
and such as cause epizootics among live-stock; to in-
vestigate the economic questions, which will contrib-
ute to the more profitable breeding, rearing and
utilization of animals; to produce reliable standard
preparations of toxins, antitoxins and other prod-
ucts to be used in the diagnosis, prevention and
cure of diseases and in the conduct of sanitary work
by approved modern methods ; and to give instruction
in the normal structure and function of the animal
body, in the pathology, prevention and treatment of
334 RURAL NEW YORK
animal diseases, and in all matters pertaining to
sanitary science as applied to live-stock and correla-
tive to the human family."
Veterinary medicine bears? the same relation to
animal husl)andry as do plant patholo