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it something to be proud of. I was not there soon enough to see the cattle; but such cart loads of apples, pears, grapes, peaches, quinces, potatoes, tomatoes, turnips, onions, beets, carrots, squashes, pumpkins, corn, butter, cheese, honey, etc., etc., I never before encountered at a county fair. I was assured, by those who had scrutinized both, that the display of fruit was far larger and finer than that made at the recent State fair; and I can well believe it, since I remember few State fairs held elsewhere than at Rochester or Syracuse, whereat it was equaled. I estimate this fair as worth a dollar per acre to all the land in the county, not counting the horse-trots as contributing a single cent. The day (Thursday) came straight from heaven, unmarred by the journey; the attendance was very large, and the enjoyment rational and perfect. Very few farmers spend a day at home so profitably as thousands did or might have done the closing day of that fair.

Watkins has a rare natural attraction in the wooded glen of a millstream which here falls some four hundred feet in less than a mile from the higher level on the west to the valley of the lake. This fall is made by a succession of leaps or cascades into pools or basins of varying depth and magnitude, separated by stretches of swift, bright water, and overhung by the dark evergreens which mainly compose the all-embracing forest, which the sun irradiates but few hours per day. After Trenton, we judge this the finest succession of cataracts in our State. Some of the ampitheatres, worn out of the woods by the plunging waters, are grandly spacious; while for considerable distance a path has been hewn between the precipice and the rushing stream with much difficulty.

FARM CROPS OF 1869.

During the winter of 1868 and 1869, we had an unusual quantity and duration of snow, which fully protected winter wheat and all other fall grain from injury during the winter and spring.

During the spring and first half of summer an unusual quantity of rain fell, and the last half of the season about the usual quantity, with warm fall weather and late frosts.

The winter wheat made an unusual large growth of straw and the berry was plump and fine, making a better yield than had been known the county for several years, and is estimated to have yielded an average of twenty bushels to the acre in the county.

Much barley is grown in this county, and it is considered a very profitable crop. The yield of 1869 was more than an average, and [AG.]

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is estimated to have averaged from thirty-three to thirty-five bushels per acre.

The oat crop was very large, straw very heavy and yielded well, making an average of fifty bushels per acre.

The first half of the season was unfavorable for corn, but the last very good and more than repaired the deficiency of the first, and we never harvested a better crop.

Much attention is now given to the culture of fruit, particularly apples, peaches, plums and grapes.

The apple crop last season was about an average. The bulk of the crop is made up of winter varieties, mostly of the King of Tomp kins County, Baldwin, Northern Spy, Wagener, Greening, Roxbury Russet, Talman Sweet and Hendrick's Sweet.

The largest portion of the apple crop is marketed at Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and the interior cities and coal towns of Pennsylvania.

The apple crop is the most remunerative compared with other departments of agriculture, when we take into consideration the space occupied and the annual cost of producing the crop.

Peaches produce well near the shores or on the slopes toward the Seneca lake. The fruit buds are seldom injured in winter, as the lake, being free from ice the entire winter, protects the fruit buds, which are sensitive, and liable to be injured by extreme cold weather in other localities.

Large quantities of plums are raised in this county, part of which are shipped south and east, and the remainder dried.

The lake slopes in this county are believed to be the most favorable locality for growing and ripening grapes found in the State.

The theory of the success in grape culture is, that the lake, being open all winter (the only waters of the State that do not freeze over), the wood winters safely, the spring season is consequently early, and the direct and reflective rays of the sun, near the waters or on the slopes toward the lake, insure a high temperature during the growing season; and the facts are, that the early varieties grown here are in market in New York sooner than from any other locality in the State.

The vegetable crop was good in every respect. Specimens of sweet potatoes grown in this county were on exhibition at the county fair, of a size almost incredible.

Potatoes, beets, turnips and carrots produced large crops. In short, the farm crops of Schuyler in 1869, were extraordinarily fine and abundant.

There are many good dairies established in the county that furnish excellent butter. Also a number of cheese factories in successful working progress in Schuyler, and more attention is being paid to the manufacture of butter and cheese.

The total receipts from all sources, accruing to the society for the past year (1869), was $2,059.25; total expenditures for same year, $2,085.

A. H. MOORE.

Secretary.

SENECA.

At the annual meeting of Seneca County Agricultural Society, held at Ovid on the 20th day of January, 1870, the following were elected as officers for the ensuing year: President, Josiah Rogers, Waterloo; Secretary, William W. Stacey, Fayette; Treasurer, John D. Coe, Romulus.

The following is an account of the receipts and expenditures:

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The annual fair in October, notwithstanding the weather and other disadvantages, gave almost universal satisfaction, and was a decided success over former years, the receipts being much larger; and the display of animals, farm and garden products, fruits, grain, vegetables, mechanical and agricultural implements, was very fine. The address was delivered by Hon. Horace Greeley, and the reputation of the speaker called out a large crowd.

The crops of the county for the past year were good, the improvements in agricultural implements no doubt adding largely to the suc cess in this direction.

SILAS KINNE,

Secretary.

STEUBEN.

I herewith transmit to you the annual report of the Steuben County Agricultural Society for the year just closing; and in so doing I am able to speak in the most flattering terms of the condition of our society, evinced by the large number of its members, the interest taken in its meetings by both officers and members, and the great success which for the past four years has attended its annual fairs, and other exhibitions. It seems as though our farmers and mechanics have at last realized the benefits which can be derived from lending their hearty support to their county agricultural society. Aside from the distribution of seeds, and books and reports furnished us by the department of agriculture and the valuable transactions of the State society and the American Institute, and other documents kindly furnished us, the work of our society, for the past year, has been directed toward the carrying out of its seventeenth annual exhibition which was held on the society grounds at Bath on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, the 6th, 7th, and 8th of October last. It was with a feeling of great anxiety for its success, that our officers determined to hold a fair this year. The fair of your society at Elmira in an adjoining county, it was felt, must necessarily attract greatly both those of our farmers and other working classes, who support such exhibitions and thus tend to detract from the interest which they would otherwise show in their own fair. But the result proved that our fears were not well founded. Never before since our organization have our grounds been so thronged with exhibitors and visitors as at our last fair. The weather during the three days was all that could have been asked. The number of entries was 1,120, exceeding by nearly 400 the number last year. Among the entries were many from the adjoining counties of Yates, Chemung, Tioga, Livingston and Allegany, and from Pennsylvania, the receipts ($2,102.75) exceeding by nearly $100 those of any previous fair. The exhibition of cattle, Short-horns, Devons, natives and grades, was large and fine; among the blooded Short-horns were two fine bulls, the "Duke of Waterloo," owned and exhibited by J. L. & S. S.

Smith of Bath, and "General Grant," 5673, A. H. B., owned by S. H. Haskin of Avoca, to both of which were awarded premiums. There were many fine animals from the herds of McElwee & Robie of Savona, R. B. Wilkes of Bath, S. H. Haskin of Avoca, J. L. Smith of Bath, Daniel B. Curtis of Campbell, and other well known breeders of our county. Of sheep of all grades the exhibition was large and well selected. From the choice flocks of C. D. Champlin of Urbana, J. Richardson of Bath, and others, were many fine wooled, while Messrs. A. C. & M. Brundage from their large flock of Cotswolds presented many fine animals. Of middle-wooled and fat sheep there was also a good show. Of swine and poultry there were a goodly number of entries. Of horses, mares and colts there was a good exhibition, brought out to a great degree by the very liberal premiums offered in these classes.

Of carriages, wagons, etc., the display was most excellent. But to the crowd, the exhibition of fruits, grain, vegetables, flowers, fancy needle-work, embroidery, canned fruits, domestic wines, millinery, musical instruments, sewing machines, hardware, stoves, harness and countless curiosities, with which agricultural hall was literally jammed, constituted the center of interest.

In the east gallery were very tastefully arranged a large, and valuable collection of stuffed birds, eggs, insects, fishes, etc., and a rare and beautiful collection of ocean shells and corals, which attracted much attention. The west gallery was set apart, for the exhibition of grain and vegetables, and in this department the display was finer than we have ever had; a display which we think the society may well feel proud of. Among the entries worthy of especial notice, were one hundred varieties of potatoes grown and exhibited by General O. F. Marshall, of Wheeler. The other departments of the exhibition, are equally entitled to mention, but it is not proper or possible for me to particularize. The annual address was delivered on the afternoon of the third day by D. D. T. Moore, Esq., the editor of the Rural New Yorker, and was listened to by one of the largest audiences that ever assembled in the county. Mr. Moore, chose as his subject "The Coming Farmer" whom he delineated as the model American citizen of the next century. To our farmers it was particularly instructive and interesting, and was most attentively listened to throughout.

With the "Annual Reunion and Fair Dance," given by the society, on the evening of the third day, in agricultural hall, which was attended by a large and select company the seventeenth annual

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