THE MEADOW PARK AT GENESEO 



monument. James Wadswortii, the father 

 of the present family, who survived his 

 brother, and lived to a ripe old age, had 

 the satisfaction of seeing, before his death, 

 the wisest and the most extravagant hopes 

 of his youth realized in the greatness and 

 prosperity of western New-York. 



His own estate, covering many square 

 miles, is an example, rare in this country, 

 of the result of the principle of re-investing 

 upon the land the profits of extensive agri- 

 cultural industry. While other men of 

 wealth sought investments in cities and 

 monied institutions, Mr. WadswortH ad- 

 ded to his great landed estate, and im- 

 proved the value of that which he already 

 possessed. 



The great farmer of Geneseo, at the pre- 

 sent moment, is his son, James S. Wads- 

 worth, Esq. Inheriting all his father's 

 strong love of rural life and agricultural 

 pursuits, he has added to them even more 

 science, system, and completeness in his 

 husbandry, which enables him to combine, 

 with the pleasure of extensive cultivation, 

 an annual profit from his land that would 

 satisfy a reasonable capitalist who moves 

 among stocks and bullion. 



The farmer who, on a single occasion, 

 swelled the contribution of his countrymen 

 to the fund for the relief of a nation per- 

 ishing by famine, by the gift of a thousand 

 bushels of corn^ from his own well filled 

 granary, is as well known and warmly re- 

 membered on the other side of the Atlantic 

 for his philanthropy, as he is at home for 

 his earnest zeal in all enlarged plans for 

 the improvement of the calling or the con- 

 dition of the agriculturist. 



We must, however, nut go into the de- 

 tails of farming, even on the large and 

 interesting scale which this first of occu- 

 pations is pursued in that fertile country. 

 We took up our pen to write a few words 



of admiration of the grand sylvan featttres 

 of Geneseo. These, the farmers are but 

 too often apt to overlook. 



The elder Wadsworth was, undoubtedly, 

 a man of great natural taste. His visit to 

 England, in 1796, may have developed his 

 love for fine trees and parks ; but no per- 

 sor?, not naturally full of admiration for 

 landscape beauty, would have preserved, 

 amid the general wantonness of all early 

 settlers, so much woodland beauty, in a 

 country then a wilderness, unless there 

 were a profound sense of the majesty and 

 beauty of nature in his own heart. 



How shall we give those who have not 

 been at Geneseo an idea of the grandeur 

 and beauty of the great meadow park of 

 the Wadsworth estate ? Let them imagine 

 a broad valley, running north and south, 

 it is bounded on the east and west by 

 ground gently rising to the level of the 

 country. The valley itself is not broken, 

 or undulating, but nearly level, like a great 

 savannah. Through the midst of it mean- 

 ders the gentle, placid Genesee river. 



On the eastern side of this valley, and 

 overlooking it, stands the village of Gene- 

 seo. It is a quiet, New-England-like vil- 

 lage, of a single long street, bordered with 

 trees. At the south end of this avenue 

 you enter the grounds and mansion of the 

 late Mr. Wadsworth. The exterior of the 

 latter is simple and unostentatious ; but its 

 interior breathes an air of the most refined 

 and graceful taste. At the northern end of 

 the village is the entrance gate of the man- 

 sion of James S. Wadsworth, Esq., an 

 admirable specimen of a complete country 

 house. 



Both these mansions, placed nearly on 

 the same level on the eastern slope, com- 

 mand a wide prospect of this valley. 



And what a prospect ! The whole of 

 that part of the valley embraced by the 



