A LESSON OF TO-DAY. 191 



plow deeply, fertilize bountifully, and cultivate 

 thoroughly, need not fear them, as fields of Hay and 

 Oats already harvested, nd of Corn and Potatoes 

 now hastening to maturity in almost every township 

 of the suffering region, abundantly attest. I doubt 

 that more luxuriant crops of Corn, Tobacco, or 

 Onions, were ever grown on the bottom-lands of the 

 Connecticut Yalley than may be seen there to-day, 

 with failures all about them, and under drouth so 

 fierce that Blackberries and Whortleberries are 

 withered when half grown ; even the bushes in some 

 cases perishing for lack of moisture. 



My last trip took me along the banks of the upper 

 Hudson, through the rugged county of "Warren, N. Y. 

 The narrow, irregular intervale of this mountain 

 stream appear to have been cultivated for the last 

 fifty or sixty years by a hardy race, who look mainly 

 to the timber of the wild region north of them for a 

 subsistence. In such a district, whatever ministers 

 to the sustenance of man or beast bears a high price ; 

 and Corn, Rye, Oats, Buck-wheat, Apples and Grass, 

 are grown wherever the soil is not too rugged or too 

 sterile for culture. I presume half a crop of Hay has 

 been secured throughout this valley, with perhaps a 

 full crop of Rye where Rye was sown ; but of Oats the 

 yield will be considerably less than that, while of 

 Corn and Buckwheat it will range from ten bushels 

 per acre down to nothing. When Ij last Summer, 

 passed through spacious field after field of Corn in 

 Virginia that would not mature a single ear, I spoke 



