86 ROCHESTER. 



excellent customer to the bar-room. On reaching- Rochester, I 

 remarked to the driver, that he seemed to be traversing the same 

 street twice in setting down passengers, and learned that he 

 was afraid to cross a certain bridge, through which one of his 

 horses fell a few days before and broke a leg. Few things in 

 America appear more striking to a Briton than the wretched 

 state of the wooden bridges, a material which he does not 

 associate with strength or durability. We took up our quar 

 ters at the Eagle tavern, the landlord of which was attentive 

 and accommodating. 



The soil from Genesee to Rochester is chiefly clay, bearing 

 excellent wheat, and nineteen-twentieths of the land in crop 

 was producing this grain. I observed a good wheat crop 

 amongst girdled oak-trees, in a field of considerable extent. 

 Girdling is effected by cutting a ring through the bark round 

 the tree, which does not again put forth leaves, by which sun 

 beams and air are admitted to plants on the surface of the earth. 

 This mode of improvement is only followed amongst oaks, the 

 roots of which strike perpendicularly into the earth, and con 

 sequently are favourable to the progress of the plough ; but the 

 trees become more obdurate, and girdling is only excusable in 

 the first operations of a new settler. 



We lost no time in viewing the sights of Rochester, the 

 chief of which is the fall of the Genesee river, ninety-seven 

 feet in height, and celebrated by the ill-fated leap of Sam 

 Patch in 1829. We enjoyed a walk down the banks of the 

 stream on a lovely evening, but the scenery in the neighbour 

 hood of the fall has been injured by the erection of machinery 

 propelled by the water. The flour mills are numerous, and 

 on the most extensive scale, said to be capable of manufactur 

 ing 12,000 bushels of wheat in twenty-four hours. There is 

 an arcade, extolled by the inhabitants, but possessing no at 

 tractions to individuals who have seen those of other countries. 

 Rochester is one of the many places illustrative of the growing 

 wealth and population of the United States, and which some 

 English travellers ridicule for want of antiquity, on the prin 

 ciple a withered old beau affects to despise the freshness and 

 elasticity of youth. The first settlement took place in 1812, 

 and the population is now estimated at about 14,000. The 



