24 AUTOBIOGRAPHY 



Seneca Lake, was settled almost altogether by emi- 

 grants from New Jersey, of English, Welsh and 

 Irish extraction ; while the next township, Fayette, 

 to the north of us, was filled up with Pennsylvania 

 Dutch people. New Jersey was sandy and at that 

 time not very desirable for farming purposes, and 

 as soon as this lake country became known they 

 flocked westward to it. At the time the Burroughs 

 family left New Jersey the farmers there could no 

 longer raise wheat, and they therefore ate rye 

 bread almost exclusively. In those days wheat 

 could be grown only on new land; yet by 1849, 

 those same Jersey lands had been brought back 

 into wheat by the use of lime and clover. 



It should be noted in passing that the township, 

 Fayette, whose population was largely " low 

 Dutch/' laid less stress upon education and religion 

 than the settlers of Varick; but they were better 

 farmers. They built the first great red " bank " 

 overshot barns and kept large, fat, short- 

 legged horses from which arose our expression: 

 " Like a Dutch horse, largest when lying down." 

 In the first generation the Dutch built large 

 wooden, brick or stone houses, and the women 

 worked hard in the open fields, especially at har- 

 vest time. But later, when the piano or organ, and 



