Upon their recommendations he deeded unconditionally to black men in 1846 three hundred small farms in Franklin, Essex, Hamilton, Fulton, Oneida, Delaware, Madison and Ulster counties, giving to each settler beside $10.00 to enable him to visit his farm.[11] With these holdings the blacks would not only have a basis for economic independence but would have sufficient property to meet the special qualifications which New York by the law of 1823 required of Negroes offering to vote.
This experiment, however, was a failure.

It was not successful because of the intractability of the land, the harshness of the climate, and, in a great measure, the inefficiency of the settlers.

They had none of the qualities of farmers.

Furthermore, having been disabled by infirmities and vices they could not as beneficiaries answer the call of the benefactor.
Peterboro, the town opened to Negroes in this section, did maintain a school and served as a station of the Underground Railroad but the agricultural results expected of the enterprise never materialized.

The main difficulty in this case was the impossibility of substituting something foreign for individual enterprise.[12] Progressive Negroes did appear, however, in other parts of the State.