Prairies and Barrens of the West. 119 
tious dimensions, and of every figure which the imagination 
can conceive, with here and there a gentle rise of ground, 
decked with a few scattering trees, or a thick cluster of them, 
and bearing a tall coarse grass, which is thin on the rises, but 
on the lower grounds thick and luxuriant ; imagine, also, a rill 
of a reddish colour scarcely meandering through ground a little 
lower than the surrounding plain, and you will have a very 
correct idea of the appearance of these barrens. They are — 
generally (not always) found on what is called, in our west- 
ern dialect, second bottom, and not on a level with any streams 
of magnitude, but rather at their sources. To mention all the 
counties of this State, where these prairies and barrens are 
found, would be too tedious, and illy comport with the object 
which we have in view. We shall therefore content ourselves 
with describing those found in the north half of Fayette coun- 
ty, and the adjoining county of Madison, which may be said to 
be almost entirely one great barren, of more than forty miles 
extent from north to south, and generally half as much in 
breadth from east to west. ‘The great barren in Fayette, Mad- 
‘son, and, we may- add, in. the counties still north of them, is 
on land elevated from fifty to one hundred feet above the level 
of the Scioto river, into which the streams that have their sour- 
es in this tract of country generally run. pe eas 
This.land lies so level, that the waters stand: on it too long 
for grain to thrive equally with grass, unless, indeed, the far- 
Mer. should dig along drain, which. is easily effected by the 
Plough, with a little assistance from. the hoe and: the spade. 
But as nature. seems. to have intended ,this tract of country for 
the raising of cattle instead of grain, the husbandman has lis- 
tened to the suggestion, and in this great barren are foundsome 
thousands of the finest cattle which the State affords. Here the 
» the ox, and swine; feed, thrive, and fatten, with little ex- 
Pense to-their owner; but sheep do not, and never will; thrive 
on prairie grass, or wet grounds. Fruit-trees, the peach, the 
apple, the plum, &c. do very well, when planted on the gently 
“sing grounds, where the hickory or the oak had! once stood. 
Fruit-trees, such as have been named, thrive very well, also, 
on the dry prairies. On the eastern side of the Alleghany 
