Back to Homepage New York - Albany Albany - Points of Interest New York - Auburn Auburn - Points of Interest New York - Binghamton Binghamton - Points of Interest New York - Buffalo Buffalo - Points of Interest (Downtown) New York - Buffalo - Points of Interest (Midtown) Buffalo - Points of Interest (Midtown) North Buffalo - Points of Interest (Midtown) East Buffalo - Points of Interest (Midtown) South New York - Elmira Elmira - Points of Interest New York - Ithaca Cornell University - Ithaca, New York Ithaca - Points of Interest New York - New Rochelle New Rochelle - Points of Interest New York - New York City New York City - Points of Interest The New York Public Library Brooklyn Bridge Manhattan West Street and North (Hudson) River Water Front Lower West Side South Street Wall Street District City Hall District Bellevue Hospital Metropolitan Opera House The Empire State Building Downtown to Uptown Brooklyn The Bronx Queens Staten Island New York - Niagara Falls New York - Poughkeepsie Poughkeepsie - Points of Interest New York - Rochester Rochester - Points of Interest New York - Saratoga Springs Saratoga Springs - Points of Interest New York - Schenectady Schenectady - Points of Interest New York - Syracuse Syracuse - Points of Interest New York - Troy Troy - Points of Interest New York - Utica Utica - Points of Interest New York - Yonkers Yonkers - Points of Interest New York - Geology New York - Topography New York - Plant and Animal Life New York - Conservation and Recreation New York - Archeology and Indians New York - History New York - History - After the Revolution The Founding The American City The City of Five Boroughs Immigration New York - Transportation New York - Agriculture New York - Industry New York - Ethnic Groups New York - Folklore New York - Religion

New York - Agriculture Mention of the Empire State calls up a vision of large cities, urban populations, and the smokestacks of industry. New York ranked seventh among the States in the value of its farm products. It led in the cash values of its ducks, cabbage, fluid milk, and onions; was second in the value of its potatoes, apples, cauliflower, maple products, hay, buckwheat, grapes, cherries, and beets; third in the value of its eggs, carrots, and lettuce; and fourth in the value of its pears and celery. In broad outline, the determining factors in the history of agriculture in the State were improvement in transportation, the rise of outside competition, and the growth of the metropolitan market. In the period during and after the Revolution, the Hudson, eastern Mohawk, and Schoharie Valleys were great wheat-growing districts, earning the title 'the granary of the Revolution.' When the Eric Canal and its feeders cut transportation costs, the wheat farmer of the Finger Lakes and the Genesee Valley was able to sell his grain in the eastern markets; and the eastern farmer turned to dairying and raising beef cattle. Accounts of the turnpike era in the development of transportation are enlivened with word pictures of drovers driving herds of beef cattle to slaughterhouses. It is said that Daniel Drew, financial buccaneer of Wall Street, laid the foundation of his one-time huge fortune by selling 'pre-salted' beef on the hoof in the city market. The story goes that Drew ordered that his cattle on the way to market be given no water but plenty of salt; then, just before they were put on sale, they were allowed to drink their fill, thereby improving their appearance and increasing their weight. Drew got top price for both beef and water. This.business maneuver is said to have given rise to the term 'watered stock.' In the latter half of the nineteenth century wheat from the western prairies drove New York State grains out of the market; and farmers of the central and western parts of the State turned to cattle raising and dairying, becoming especially well known for their cheese. The next step resulted from improvements in railroad transportation, especially the introduction of the refrigerated car. Western packed beef and Wisconsin cheese invaded the eastern market, causing the upstate farmer to devote himself largely to supplying fluid milk for the metropolitan market and growing fruits and vegetables. Truck crops, forming the next important agricultural enterprise in the State, are grown intensively on Long Island, in Orange County, and on a wide strip of land just south of the ridge that runs parallel to and a few miles inland from the shore of Lake Ontario. Wayne County, at the eastern end of this area, ranks first among the counties of the Nation in the production of celery. North of this strip of truck land is the famous lakeshore fruit belt. Until the middle of the nineteenth century, potatoes were not widely known in America, were grown in small beds as a garden crop, and were not considered proper food to serve at good tables. In the early 1840's an epidemic of potato blight swept the North American crop. Scientists were baffled. The Reverend Chauncey E. Goodrich of Utica believed that the potato could be rehabilitated by reverting to the seed. He sent to South America, habitat of the plant, for seed, from which he grew a new variety called 'Rough Purple Chile.' From this stock he produced Garnet Chile, the parent in 1861 of the Early Rose. From these two have been developed the 200 or more varieties that now constitute the potato flora of the United States. St.Lawrence County in the north, Cattaraugus; Allegany, and Broome Counties in the Southern Tier, Cortland and Chenango Counties in the central part of the State, and Wyoming County in the west are the principal producers. A large portion of the New York product is exported to Vermont, where it is resold as ' Vermont' maple syrup. Fruit growing is concentrated along Lakes Ontario and Erie, the Finger Lakes, and the Hudson-Champlain Valley. The New York apple crop is second in size to that of Washington. Nearly 60 per cent of the crop is made up of three varieties: Baldwin, McIntosh, and Rhode Island Greening. Until recently the apple crop was marketed in barrels; now most of it is packed in bushel crates. Under depression prices, growers attempted to secure a larger proportion of the consumer's dollar by cutting freight costs through the use of trucks. The 43-per cent decline in the number of apple-bearing trees since 1890 represents a transition from a period when apples were generally grown to supplement the farm food supply, with the surplus for local sale, to the specialized commercial apple production of the present. Until recently orchards were not generally cultivated and were seldom pruned, and insecticides were unknown. Today, largely as the result of State-subsidized study and experiment, the scientific treatment of trees has become an important part of pomology. Peaches have long been an important product of western New York orchards. In 1833 Lewis F. Allen purchased several thousand acres of land on Grand Island in the Niagara River, on which he planted peach trees and grew large crops. Eventually yellows destroyed these orchards; and the fruit industry moved from Grand Island to the mainland of Niagara County, which now produces more than twice as many peaches as any other New York county. From 1825 to 1870 pears were a rarity and sold at as high as SI apiece. Now they are grown generally throughout the State, with western New York producing the largest part of the crop. Grapes, although small in the general total, are an important source of income in Chautauqua County and in the region bordering Keuka Lake. Chautauqua grapes, comprising about half the State crop, are marketed largely as table grapes and as unfermented juice. The growers in the Keuka district produce a large percentage of wine grapes, including the Concord, Catawba, Niagara, and Delaware. Ten wineries in this region produce still wines, which are highly flavored and command a premium in the market. The champagne industry, however, has made this region famous. Hammondsport produces 90 per cent of the 'fermented-in-the-bottle' champagne made in the United States. In 1790 William Prince, nurseryman of Flushing, Long Island, planted the pits of 25 quarts of Green Gage plums, which later produced trees yielding fruit of every color. The Imperial Gage, Red Gage, Prince's Gage, and Washington plum are all descendants. In 1828 the Prince Nursery offered for sale 140 kinds of plums. To this nursery belongs the credit for giving plum growing in America its greatest impetus. No American raspberries, strawberries, currants, or gooseberries were grown in New York before the middle of the nineteenth century. In 1850 H.H.Doolittle of Oaks Corners, Ontario County, found that the black raspberry could easily be propagated from tips. Growing this berry for the evaporator soon developed into a sizable industry concentrated in Wayne and a part of Yates Counties, and reached its height in the 1890's. The marketing of farm products, which plays an important part in the State's agricultural economy, has become highly developed during the past 20 years. New York State farmers lead the country in the co-operative purchase of farm supplies. The State College of Agriculture at Cornell University, together with the experiment station at. Geneva and six other State schools of agriculture, teaches the principles and practices of scientific farming to the oncoming generations of farmers, carries on scientific experimentation, makes local and State-wide surveys, gives winter short courses and provides extension work, conducts special radio programs for farmers, and. prints and distributes pamphlets dealing with a wide variety of agricultural and farm home problems. The aims of all these activities are to encourage soil conservation by crop rotation, the use of fertilizer, and the acquisition of submarginal land by the State; to instruct the farmer how to increase his income by more efficient farm management; to improve rural education and enrich farm life. The field representative of these activities is the county farm agent, employed by county farm bureaus with financial assistance from the State and Federal governments, who acts as clearing house for new developments and experiments, serves the farmer with his expert knowledge, and directs the organized activities of the younger generation, especially the 4-H Clubs. Another and much older device by which the State distributes information to farmers and encourages agricultural progress is the system of State and county fairs. Although an agricultural society was formed in Albany in 1791, the fair did not come into existence in New York until 1816, when the Otsego County Fair was held at Cooperstown. Equally humble were the beginnings of what is now the important State Department of Agriculture and Markets. Influenced by Watson's zealous missionary work for the advancement of agriculture and the approbation which the first county fairs received throughout the State, Governor Clinton in 1809 recommended the establishment of a State agricultural society, a board of agriculture, and a model farm.