STATEN ISLAND. 15 



cultivated, picturesquely diversified with hill 

 and dale, and covered with villages, villas, and 

 farm-houses ; but I could not discover that 

 the land is under any regular system of agri- 

 culture, or that, with all the advantages it pos- 

 sesses, in the quality of soil and proximity to 

 the New York market, any effort is used to 

 make the most of them. 



Next day I crossed over to Staten Island, 

 distant from New York nine miles. This 

 island, about forty miles in circumference, is 

 like Long Island, beautiful and picturesque. 

 I drove over a considerable part of it, and 

 found large tracts of rich meadow land applied 

 to comparatively little profitable use. They 

 mow a considerable part of the meadows, but 

 I saw very little stock no sheep and such cat- 

 tle as were to be seen were of the most hetero- 

 geneous breeds, bad Lancashires, Scotch, and 

 Welsh, no two bearing the least appearance of 

 consanguinity. Wheat and Indian corn are 

 grown in small patches. The farming imple- 

 ments are of a rude and awkward description ; 

 and, in a word, here is a fine tract of land which, 



