105 
Notes and Observations on the Botany, Weather, &c., of the United 
States, made during a tour in that country in 1846 and 1847. By 
Wm. ARNOLD BromFiep, M.D.. F.L.S., &e. 
(Continued from page 20.) 
In proceeding up the river, to the scenery on which no words can 
do justice, the chief difference in the nature and aspect of vegetation 
was the gradual and increasing frequency of Pines and other Coniferze 
amongst the hardwood trees, as we advanced northwards. The species 
was chiefly the Hemlock Spruce (Pinus Canadensis), and its prevalence 
might be as much owing to the increasing rocky nature of the soil as 
to the higher latitude attained. I did mot then land at Albany, the 
capital of the State of New York, deferring my visit to that city till my 
return southwards from Canada, The town has an imposing aspect from 
the Hudson, but disappoints expectation on a nearer acquaintance. I 
found, on landing at Troy, five miles above Albany, an extraordinary 
decrease in the temperature from what it had been the day before; it 
now felt quite cool and autumnal, and the next morning absolutely 
chilly. Here the Catalpa, Ailanthus, and Broussonetia give place to 
trees of a hardier kind along the *side-walks" in the streets; the 
Horse-chestnut, Elm (Ulmus Americana), and Maple (Acer saccha- 
rinum and A. dasycarpum), being the usual substitutes. The only 
Weeping Willow I remarked, would have been thought but an indif- 
ferent specimen of its kind at New York; the soil around Troy seems, 
however, so poor as, independently of climate, to account for the dimi- 
nished stature of the trees, and whilst vegetation was fresh and vigorous 
along the lower course of the Hudson, here it was quite burnt up for 
want of moisture. Troy is a large, handsome, and thriving place, and on 
the manufacture of “ Trojan Stoves," and the productions of its nume- 
rous founderies, rest the chief claims to celebrity of this modern Ilium. 
Sept. 10th.—Left Troy, for the west, by an excellent railroad to 
Buffalo, through Utica, Syracuse, Auburn, Geneva, Rochester, and 
Attica, with a thousand other places known and unknown to fame, 
formerly supposed to be separated by wide intervals of land and sea, 
speaking divers tongues, but now ascertained by the light of re- 
publican geography, to be all within an easy day's journey of one 
another, and English the only language, at present, spoken in any of the 
most renowned cities of classical antiquity, which this happy ag 
has resuscitated and made quite accessible to modern travellers. 
long line of railway (325 miles) is in the hands of different acai 
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