SOLON ROBINSON, 1850 403 



in return loading them with the produce of western 

 farms, and sending them direct to Europe. 



The farmer, while tilling his crops in Wisconsin or Illi- 

 nois, thinks but little that this canal exerts a direct influ- 

 ence in his favor, and tends to enhance the value of every 

 bushel of grain he produces for sale. Yet, such is the 

 fact, and such will ever be the fact with every canal, and 

 railroad, plank road, or improved facility of getting prod- 

 uce from the place of growth, toward the place of con- 

 sumption. Yet farmers, almost everywhere, are reluc- 

 tant or dilatory to lend assistance towards any such im- 

 provement, or even to keep neighborhood or market town 

 roads in decent repair. 



We were about five hours making this forty-mile trip 

 from Lewiston to Hamilton, against a head wind and a 

 very sickish sea. The town lies a mile back from the 

 shore at the head of Burlington Bay, which is entered by 

 a short canal through the neck of land that divides it 

 from the lake. It is said to contain 10,000 inhabitants, 

 has some broad, handsome streets, and substantial stone 

 and brick buildings, and like all new towns, shows some 

 marks of its early Jonah-gourd-like growth. It is located 

 upon a handsome inclined plane, which extends from the 

 water to the base of the mountain range that skirts the 

 lake a mile or two from the shore, which renders many 

 of the farms, though picturesque in appearance, very 

 much broken. I understand a narrow strip of these 

 farms produce peaches, while others totally fail. The 

 land between the mountain and shore appears to be a 

 sandy loam — that upon the sides and on the table land, 

 which spreads out into a broad extent on top of the moun- 

 tain, is a stiff, brown clay, and one of the best soils for 

 wheat in North America. Owing to continued indisposi- 

 tion, while I remained at Hamilton, I was unable to visit 

 many of the neighboring farms. 



The agricultural capabilities of the district around 

 Hamilton, and on westward towards London and upon 

 Grand River, are probably equal to any tract of the same 



