212 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION 



mestic use. Such over-confident opinions regarding 

 the inexhaustible goodness of his soil gradually puts 

 the farmer's industry to sleep, and when, finally, better- 

 ment is necessary many of them had rather move on 

 to take up fresh land than be at the trouble of im- 

 proving the old. 



A few miles from Hummelstown flows the Susque- 

 hannah. Here at Harris's Ferry it is three quarters 

 of a mile wide, but in the summer months so shallow 

 that only canoes can cross ; horses and wagons ford 

 over. In the middle are a few small islands, called 

 Harris's and also Turkey Islands. These, with the 

 steep limestone banks on the farther side, the mount- 

 ains running left and right, and the fine breadth of the 

 stream make all together a beautiful landscape. A 

 shallow ford being at this place, it comes about that 

 most travellers, particularly the Virginia cattle-dealers 

 (and others farther on), bringing up their herds, 

 choose this ford while the water is low, so as to avoid 

 the expense of the ferries above and below, where the 

 river remains deep even in summer. 



On the farther bank an extraordinary ' stag-horn ' 

 sumac (Rhus typhinum) excited our astonishment; its 

 trunk was over 12 ft. high and near a foot in diameter. 

 In the more northern parts they grow smaller and 

 bushier. There is a spring of the finest water near 

 the edge of the river ; it is thought remarkable that this 

 spring is governed by the rise and fall of the river, 

 and stands at a constant level above the surface of the 

 river-water ; there is nothing wonderful in this when 

 it is considered that the spring and the river communi- 

 cate through a bent pipe as it were. This side the 

 Susquehannah the Conedogwynet Creek flows in 

 through a beautiful and deep valley. 



