1775 - American Husbandry

American Husbandry : Containing an Account of the Soil, Climate, Production and Agriculture, of the British Colonies in North America. Volume 1. London, 1775.p. 94 CHAP. IX.
NEW YORK. Climate of New York -- Soil -- Productions -- Husbandry -- Curious accounts of a new settlement -- Present state of the inhabitants -- Exports.
           
THE colony of New York lies between latitude 41 and 44, which tho' partly the same parallel as New England, yet is it attended with a different climate in some respects; but in every circumstance superior, since there are productions that will not thrive in New England, which do admirably here; not owing to the greater heat (for New England is as hot as New York) but to a better and more salubrious air.  ***

p. 95     The soil of the province is in general very good; on the coast it is sandy but backwards, they have noble tracks of rich black mold, red loam, and friable clays . . . ; at some miles from the sea, the country swells into fine hills and ridges, which are all covered with forest trees, and the soil on many of these is rich and deep, an advantage not common in poor countries.  The river Hudson which is navigable to Albany (p. 96) and of such a breadth and depth as to carry large sloops, with its branches on both sides, intersect the whole country, and render it both pleasant and convenient.  The banks of this great river have a prodigious variety; in some places there are gently swelling hills, covered with plantations and farms; in others towering mountains spread over with thick forests: here you have nothing but abrupt rocks of vast magnitude, which seem shivered in two to let the river pass the immense clefts; there you see cultivate vales, bounded by hanging forests, and the distant view completed by the Blue Mountains raising their heads above the clouds.  In the midst of this variety of scenery, of such grand and expressive character the river Hudson flows, equal in many places to the Thames at London, and in some much broader.  The shores of the American rivers are too often a line of swamps and marshes; that of the Hudson is not without them, but in general it passes through a fine, high, dry, and bold country, which is equally beautiful and wholesome.
           
In general the soil of this province exceeds that of New England. . . .  (p. 97) The productions of New York are the same in general as those of New England, with an exception of some fruits that will not thrive in the latter country; but almost every article is of a superior quality: this is very striking in wheat, of which they raise in New England [sic], as I have observed, but little that is good, whereas in New York their wheat is equal to any in America, or indeed in the world, and they export immense quantities of it; whereas New England can hardly supply her own consumption.
           
They sow their wheat in autumn, with better success than in spring: this custom they pursue even about Albany, in the northern parts of the province, where the winters are very severe.  The ice there in the river Hudson is commonly three or four feet thick.  ***  The ice commonly dissolves at that place about the end of March, or the beginning of April.  On the 16th of November the yachts are (p. 98)  ***
           
Wheat in many parts of the province yields a larger produce than is common in England: upon good lands about Albany, where the climate is the coldest in the country, they sow two bushels and better upon one acre, and reap from 20 to 40: the latter quantity however is not often had; but from 20 to 30 bushels are common, and this with such bad husbandry as would not yield the like in England, and much less in Scotland.  This is owing to the freshness of the soil.  ***
           
Rye is a common crop upon the inferior lands, and the sort they produce is pretty good, though not equal to the rye of England.  The crops of it are not so great in (p. 99) produce as those of wheat on the better lands.
           
Maize is sown generally throughout the province, and they get vast crops of it.  They chuse the loose, hollow loams, and sandy lands for it, not reckoning the stiff or clayey ones will do at all for it: half a bushel will seed two acres, and yield a hundred bushels in return. . . .  Maize, from the greatness of the produce, may easily be supposed a rich article of culture, and especially in a province that has so fine an inland navigation through it as New York.  It is also of great advantage in affording a vast produce of food for cattle in the winter, which in this country is a matter of great consequence, where they are obliged to keep all their cattle housed till the end of March. . . .
           
Barley is much sown in all the southern parts of the province; and the crops they sometimes get of it are very great, but the (p. 100)  grain is not of a quality equal to that of Europe.  They make much malt and brew large quantities of beer from it at New York, which serves the home consumption, and affords some also for exportation.  Pease are a common article of culture here, and though uncertain in their produce, yet are they reckoned very profitable; and the straw is valued as winter food.  Thirty bushels per acre they consider as a large crop, but sometimes they get scarcely a third of that.  Oats they sow in common, and the products are generally large; sixty bushels an acre have been known on land of but moderate fertility.  Buckwheat is every where sown, and few crops are supposed to pay the farmer better, at the same time that they find it does very little prejudice to the ground, in which it resembles pease.
           
Potatoes are not common in New England, but in New York many are planted; and jupon the black, loose, fresh woodland they get very great crops, nor does any pay them better if so well, for at the city of New York there is a constant and ready market for them; I have been assured that from five to eight hundred bushels have been often gained on an acre.
           
There are many very rich meadows and (p. 101) pastures in all parts of the province; and upon the brooks and rivers, the watered ones (for they are well acquainted with that branch of husbandry) are mown twice and yield large crops of hay.  In their marshes they get large crops also, but it is a coarse bad sort; not however to a degree, as to make cattle refuse it, on the contrary, the farmers find it of great use in the winter support of their lean cattle, young stock, and cows.
           
The timber of this province consists of oak, ash, beech, chesnut, cedar, walnut, cypress, hickory, sassafras, and the pine; nor is there any perceptible difference in their value of the wood here and in New England; though it declines, for ship building when you get further south; with some exceptions however, for there are other species of trees even in the most southern colonies that are equal to any for that purpose.  New York not being near so much settled as New England, timber is much more plentiful, so that the planters and new settles make great profit by their lumber.  Upon most of the streams that fall into the river Hudson, there are many saw mills for the mere purpose of sawing boards, planks and other sorts of lumber, (p. 102) which goes down in immense quantities to New York, from whence it is shipped for the West Indies.  We shall by and by see that this is a very great article in the profit of every planter.  Among all the woods of this province, are found immense numbers of vines of several species, and quite different from those of Europe, some of the grapes resembling currants rather than ours.  Wine has been, and is commonly made of them, but of a sort too bad to become an article of export.
           
Hemp is cultivated in all parts of the province, but not to a greater amount than their own consumption: flax is however a great article in the exports; it succeeds extremely well, and pays the farmer a considerable profit.  Linseed oil is another article of export, the seed for which is raised by the planters; but more is exported unmanufactured.  Turnips also are grown in large quantities, and by some planters upon a system much improved of late years.  The fruits in this province are much superior to those in New England; and they have some, as peaches and nectarines, which will not thrive there.  Immense quantities of melons, and water melons are cultivated in the fields near New York, where they come to (p. 103) as great perfection as in Spain and Italy; nor can it well be conceived how much of these fruits and peaches, &c. all ranks of people eat here, and without receiving any ill consequence from the practice.  This is an agreeableness far superior to any thing we have in England; and, indeed, the same superiority runs through all their fruits, and several articles of the kitchen garden, which are here raised without trouble, and in profusion.  Every planter and even the smallest farmers have all an orchard near their house of some acres, by means of which they command a great quantity of cyder, and export apples by ship loads to the West Indies.  Nor it this an improper place to observe that the rivers of this province and the sea upon the coast are richly furnished with excellent fish; oysters and lobsters are no where in greater plenty than in New York.  I am of opinion they are more plentiful than at any other place on the globe; for very many poor families have no other substance than oysters and bread.  Nor is this the only instance of the natural plenty that distinguishes this country: the woods are full of game, and wild turkies are very plentiful; in these particulars New York much exceeds New England.
            American Husbandry : Containing an Account of the Soil, Climate, Production and Agriculture, of the British Colonies in North America. Volume 1. London, 1775.
1775-00-00 -- American husbandry -- the soil, climate, production and agriculture, of the British colonies. Vol. 1