The valleys are unusually rich, while the higher table land is freer from frost. Dairying is the main agricultural industry, as much because of the ready markets to be found in the multiplying cities as the special fitness of the land. Vegetables are grown in many parts for the canning factories which are scattered throughout the Mohawk Valley. Fruit growing has, in the more recent years, become a specialty. Apples have from early times done well here, but the newer movement is in the planting of the small fruits.
Manufacturing occupies the attention of the majority.
The settlement of this section of the State was the result of two very different streams of immigration. When Arent Van Corlear first visited the valley in 1661 he was immediately smitten with its charms, and straightway bought from the Indians large tracts of land. These purchases were confirmed by the English Governor, Dongan, in 1684, the Dutch having been displaced from power in New York. There was, however, no effort made to settle these tracts until early in the next century. In 171O, as a result of one of the religious wars of Europe, certain refugees from the Lower Palatinate of Germany fled to England, and from there were sent to the York colony.