COUNTIES. Acres Bushels Acres Pounds of Bushels lint. l of seed. Acres ! Pounds Bushels Barrels Acres Value of 122 256 178 K ings. ..................................... 26 TABLE B. Digest of Facts by State Assessors for Board of Equalization. Whole number of Price of farm Aggregate valu- Stato Assessors' Stato Assessors' Ag'gate of State Local Assessors' acres taxed as lands per ation of farm valuation of real valuation of the Assossors' valu- valuation of per- estate in villa- real estate of ation of real es- sonal estate for ges and of cor- cities. tate. 1861. porations. Kings ............. 18,740 30,233 14,454,960 6,000,000 $104,022,800 $12,646,100 897,700 TABLE showing population, banking capital, local assessors' valuation of real estate for 1861, and the rate per capita of banking capital ; also of personal estate, and the excess of personal estate per capita over bank capital, as well as the rate per capita of the COUNTIES. Population for Bank capital, Local assessors' Rate per on - Rate per capita of Rate per capita Rate per capita of Rate per capita of 1860 by U.S. Oct. 1, 1861. | valuation of real pita of bank personal estate, of personal es- eqaalized real real estate, ac- estate, as re- capital. as returned by tate over bank- estate, 1862. cording to local assessors' valu- ation, 1861. $12 $353 215 500 92 259 35 236 43, 275 120,000 8,854,957 146 Kings.......... 205 CHAPTER VI. GROUP II: Counties-Boundaries-Topography-Scenery-Wealthy Men Seeking Homes-Su burb of New York-Mineral Resources-Counties Described-Columbia, Dutchess, Putnam, Rensselaer, Washington, Westchester-Area-Population- Aggregate Valuations-Value of Farms per Acre-Average Capital in Farms— Miles of Traffic Routes-- Distribution of Land-In Grass-In Tillage-Quantity of Crops—Value-Straw-Once Wheat Land-Not Now-Crops not what should be-Rye staple Crop-Potatoes-Flax leading Crop- Animals, Do Products-Value-Surplus Vegetable Products—Value-Proportion-Cattle-Agriculture-Affect by Markets--General System Bad-Traffic Routes to Square Miles-Appendix Agricultural Statistics-Tax ValuesFinancial. , GROUP II Counties : Columbia, Dutchess, Putnam, Rensselaer, Washington, West chester-6. This group embraces all the territory of the eastern part of the State which bounds upon the States of Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont, and extends from the Hudson river at the south to near the junction of lake George and lake Champlain in the north, and is bounded on the west nearly the whole distance by the Hudson river. It is not far from 175 miles long by twenty-five broad. It has mountains on the east nearly the whole distance, embracing the Taghkanic range, while it has the highlands and parts of the mountains of the Catskill group, extending across from east to west. In its topography it may be termed a broken and hilly region, at many points running into a mountain tract, susceptible of pasturage and broken cultivation over nearly the whole surface. Along the Hudson river the shores are usually rocky bluffs, sloping inland, but a small portion of the surface can be considered level; yet a large surface is capable of cultivation. The counties are similar in their soil and topography, and are properly embraced in one group, as they have no portion of the State wherewith they properly assimilate. The scenery is excelled in no country for its grandeur, beauty and great variety. The mountains of the other groups, adjoining it to the west, which are ever visible from its hills and plains; its own mountains always beautiful in their outline, and often assuming proportions of magnificence in their aggregate massing; a river unsurpassed for the beauty of the views it presents in its ever changing scenery; an interior diversified by hill and dale, embracing at almost every turn landscapes unrivalled for their richness and beautiful variety. These are its natural charms; but art is everywhere busy in adding to them by the softening influence of wealth and cultivated taste. The rocky headlands which so abundantly mark the course of the river, and give such grand views of river and mountain, of lake and hill and dale, are fast becoming the sites for princely mansions, surrounded with all the acquired beauty that unbounded wealth can supply. The wealthy business men of New York are preparing their future homes in this beautiful region, away from the noise and bustle of active city life, and seeking amid its sylvan scenes for that enjoyment of their declining years, which ever comes to the human heart in the contemplation of the |