Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1901-09-17
THROUGH NEW YORK STATE.

One Interested in agriculture will fint
much to engross attention on the triI
across New York from Albany to Buffalo
as well as the Pan-American Exposition
At Schenectady, where the MOhawl
Valley is reached, begins the regions
famous for fertile farms and abundant
harvests.
This season the Mohawk Valley anG
its adjacent hills are as beautiful as the
hand of Nature and the art of man car
make them. The abundant rains have
caused an unusual growth, so that there
is nothing barren or unsightly, while
the trees have that rich, vivid greer
which betOkens abundant moisture
The harvests of both grain and hay have
been abundant, and barns are filled OF
overflow in adjacent stacks.
One special feature is the growth oi
red clover, many thousands of acres OF
which are to be seen in several counties
| in full bloom and filling the air with the
perfume of myriads of blossoms. The
clover crop now in bloom is, of course,
the second one of the season and is
chiefly raised for seed, so that there
should be an abundant supply of clover
seed for next year. But for some other
crops the rainfall has been too heavy.
The corn crop in this State was harmed
proportiOnately as much by the excess
of rain as that of the West was by the
lack of it.
In Oneida County farmer said that
the heavy rains in the spring caused
seeds to rot in the ground when first
planted, and when they were replanted
the ground was so hard after the mOis-
ture dried out that they could not grow
as they should have done. But despite
this there will be fair crops of every
thing, while some crops, like hops and
tobacco, are doing extremely well.
Perhaps the most successful farming
on large scale in the State is that done
by the Oneida Community, which has
succeeded to the business of the original
association since its ideas of community
of interest were abandoned. In a fertile
valley are raised an abundance of garden
vegetables, which are canned with care
and have gained the highest market
prices, so that the trademark of the
corporation has become valuable.
One of the noticeable features of farm
life in many of the central counties of
the State is the free delivery of mails;
but the free mail delivery is not wholly
appreciated by the farmer and his sons.
The men do not like to lose the privilege
which going for the mail involves of
seeing the shops and other places of
resort in town, and of talking over the
news of the day with friends and
neighbors.
A well-to-do farmer thus expressed
himself: when the weather is such
that We are particularly busy on the
farm, or it storms SO hard that We do
not care to drive, it is exceedingly
pleasant to have our mail delivered; but
at other times it would be more agree
able to have it as an excuse for trip
with horse or wheel to the postoffice'"
The counties through the central part
of the State are all canal counties, and
the question of improving the waterway
between the Lakes and the Hudson is
one that has much interest and in re-
gard to which there is a great diversity
of opinion.
The prosperous Wayne County region
near Lake Ontario is the especial apple
growing region of the State, and there
are many thousands of fine orchards.
These bore such a superabundance of
fruit last year that much of it rotted on
the ground, as it was impossible to Sc
cure the labor needed to pick it. This
year there are practically no apples at
all in this region. There seems to be
something especial in the soil of the
Lake Ontario slope of Wayne and ad-
jacent counties which especially pro-
notes the growth and productiveness of
apple trees, and the orchards are an es-
pecially interesting part of the land
scape.
The great growth of weeds in the
highways of the central part of the State
is one of the distinctive features of the
present summer, and especially where
sidepaths have been built for bicycles
have they grown with extreme luxuri-
ance. In many places they almost block
passage, as the wheels keep only mar
row track worn, and when wet from
dew or rain the wheels make it unpleas-
ant for riders.-(W. NJ. P.)