was a good traveled road constructed from beyond the Delaware River, in Pennsylvania, to Kingston, then Esopus, in Ulster Co., in this State, one hundred miles in length. The road was made while Holland owned this country, which it ceased to do in 1664. Then the objects for which it was originally made were broken up by the transfer and ceased, and the miners who built it probably left the country. This was executed by a company of miners from Holland, who at that period came to Ulster County, wandered along the Valley of the Mamakating to what was then called the Minisink country, extending along the Delaware for thirty or forty miles on each side, in pursuit of the precious metals of some kind. Here they found what they wanted and went to work. Others in their train followed them, located and permanently settled on the choice lowlands of the river banks. This road must have cost the settlers vast labor and expense, when we consider the unsettled condition of the country through which it ran, the few that must have executed the work, the time consumed in doing it, and the limited means in possession. There may possibly have been a scattering settlement along the line of the route, which is very uncertain; but those who constructed it must have resided at the two ends of the road. This highway was continued as a market road to Esopus for many years, and until the Delaware river was made navigable by clearing out Foul Rift, when the trade of the settlement changed from Esopus by the road to Philadelphia by the river. All things considered, this was one of the greatest achievments ever accomplished by early settlers in this or any other country, and was the first road of that length built in the United States, and proves the hardy, persevering and indomitable character of these heroic men.

This road is still known by the name of the old Esopus road. It was probably marked out and partially worked by the mining company, who were afterwards assisted to complete and keep it up by the subsequent settlers.

Long subsequent to the period above stated, and perhaps as early as 1750 or 1760, the following roads seem to have been travelled and worked, and are found districted on the several town records, on the first organization of the towns as early as 1763 :

One ran from Albany to New York, through Montgomery and Goshen, and from there down through the valley of the Ramapo into New Jersey. We pretend to state the general course, only, of these old roads. The valley of the Ramapo was the only avenue of intercourse between Orange and New

York and the eastern portion of New Jersey, up to and during the war of the Revolution. The land transportation of all the munitions of war, at that period, passed through this Valley, as well as the property of individuals: and this circumstance, aided by the vicinity of the impassable and neighboring mountains, may have seduced and stimulated the young ambition of Claudius Smith in his lawless brigand course, knowing that his safety was insured in the dens and caves of the elevated fastnesses around him. This, we believe, was called the old New York road, now the State road. There was another that led from Albany to New York through this County and called the King's road. It parted from the one previously mentioned in the town of Paltz, in Ulster Co., and taking a route along the river ran through Newburgh, New Windsor, Cornwall, and then united with the previous one in the Valley of the Ramapo. These were the only two principal roads which ran through the County from north to south, excepting the one from Goshen to Carpenter's point, and one from Goshen to Florida and Warwick.

From the western part of the County to the North River there were the following:-One ran from the village of Montgomery in a pretty straight direction through Coldenham to Newburgh. The Turnpike is nearly on the track of this road. Another from near the Wallkill, in the town of Montgomery, where old Capt. James McBride lived, through Neelytown and Little Britain to the Square, where it forked, one leading to New Windsor, which was the most ancient,-the other to Newburgh. This was called the old Little Britain road to New Windsor and Newburgh.

There was one leading from Goshen through Hamptonburgh, Blooming Grove, Cornwall and New Windsor to the villages of New Windsor and Newburgh. This road is still in very general use. It passes Heard's, Washingtonville, Salisbury and Bethlehem. This, on the old town records, is called the Goshen road.

One leading from Goshen, passing the Wallkill at the outlet of the Drowned Lands, ran through the town of Minisink to Carpenter's Point on the Delaware, where there was a ferry across to Pennsylvania. The one from Goshen through Florida and Warwick and on to the Valley of the Ramapo, is also quite ancient.

These were the longest and most important of the early roads. There were others perhaps as old, but not so public in their use, one of which we mention. It led from the

western part of the town of Montgomery north into Ulster County along the Shawangunk Kill, and called the Hokeberg road, commonly called Hokebarack. The name is descriptive of the road, which means the hill road. It is constructed on and runs along the top of a continuous range of hills or high lands till it runs them out in Ulster. The name is Dutch. This was the avenue of intercourse between the early Dutch settlers along the Shawangunk Kill, in Ulster, and the settlers in Orange.

AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.

The celebrated Sully made the remark, that Agriculture may be regarded as the breasts from which the State derives its strength and nourishment. It therefore claims a pre-eminent rank with commerce and the manufacturing arts, and is superier to either in point of age and usefulness. They are based upon it-owe their existence to it-and the welfare of society depends on the production and use of its various articles. Nothing can give the same self-satisfaction that labor of some kind affords. It is the salt of the earth, which if it produced spontaneously might be a paradise for angels, but no fit habitation for men; for without labor what could support or adorn society?

The curse of death seems to have been revoked, not only by the promise of eternal life, but to deliver man from the barrenness of the earth, which, in his then condition, was cruel to him. Without temporal death the ground could have produced nothing valuable; it was then foreordained that death and life should follow each other in one mysterious and fructifying circle. Every thing on earth perishes, dies, and returns to the earth, whether animal or vegetable, dissolves and becomes offensive; and the labor of man, in union with the physical laws of the universe, continue to reproduce from all these decayed structures, and keep the earth in perpetual renovation.

The great benefits of agricultural improvements at this day in a civilized nation are too apparent for argument, and the main points to be well and thoroughly considered, arranged and adopted are, what is its present exact state of improvement is it susceptible of further advance towards perfection, and if so, what the surest and most economical means to accomplish the object? We do not intend to enter into any discussion of these points; they have been and are in the special keeping and advisement of the Agricultural Society of the County, which is doing all it reasonably can to inculcate its lessons on the public mind relative to the improvement of our lands, the best modes of culture in every department, the selection of seeds and the growing of stock. The pride and glory of our day are, that Chemistry and kindred

sciences are testing their subtle and efficient powers upon the hitherto hidden nature of the various soils,-analyzing their compositions-developing their injurious and nutricious properties, so as to apply the numerous fertilizers to the best advantage, in all cases to insure the greatest success.

The theory of Agriculture, in our opinion, is based on three great fundamental principles. The first is, the soil ought to be made and kept dry-free from all superfluous moisture. Second, it ought to be kept clean-free from all weeds which injure the crops and exhaust the soil. Third, it ought to be made and kept rich by all the manures available, so that it will yield most abundantly. These principles are few but efficient; and the whole farming interest of the County has it in its power to carry out and effectuate them to a greater extent than it now does. We hold every farmer bound, in justice to the light now being shed upon the subject, to himself and his country, to make the most of his profession, the nature and condition of his lands. This requirement is universal in its demands, and from its rigorous exactions there is no exception. These principles carried out for a few years would brighten up the already glowing face of the country, and in the long run amply compensate for the toil and expense. To this work Orange must come before long, else she will forfeit her present good name and pledges given, be distanced in the glorious agricultural race, and lose the golden prize for which she has entered her name and pledged her skill and enterprise.

We make one remark on the subject of manures. Every plant abstracts from the soil more of one of its properties than of the others, and that is the aliment most essential to the growth and perfection of the plant. The raising of all kinds of crops for a succession of years on the same soil, will exhaust all the properties of the land to some extent, while the growing of one kind only abstracts one property. The great principle in manuring, therefore, is not to manure alike for corn, wheat, oats, potatoes, &c., which has heretofore too generally prevailed, but so as to meet the exhausting nature of the peculiar crop, and restore, in a special manner, that principle to the soil, which has been and is to be largely abstracted. It is on this plan only that exhausted lands, run down by the too frequent production of one particular crop, are to be restored to original fruitfulness and regain their lost aliments. Here we must close our remarks, lest we run out into an essay,-and leave the illustrations of the principles above stated to be tested and fully experimented on by our