VALLEY OF THE MOHAWK EIVER. 143 



by under drainage, whicli prevents the sun from baking, 

 hardening, and making them compact and non-absor- 

 bent — why drained land is in reality moister in summer, 

 because more porous than the undrained — and why even 

 in our tropical, sun-burned, sugar colonies, thorough- 

 drainage has been found to promote the growth of the 

 cane on stiff clay soils, and to increase the yield of 

 sugar. 



llfh Sept. — On leaving Albany, we climbed a steep 

 gradient of one in eighty, till we reached the upper level 

 of the Hudson Valley. We then crossed about sixteen 

 miles of a rolling country — as a surface of rounded hills 

 and ridges succeeding each other is here graphically 

 called — of pale yellow post-tertiary sand, to Schenectady, 

 a town of eight thousand inhabitants, situated in the 

 valley of the ]\rohawk. This sandy tract forms a part 

 of the pine-barren of which I have spoken, as overlying 

 the post-tertiary clays of the Champlain and Hudson 

 River valleys. 



The Mohawk is a river of considerable size, which 

 falls into the Hudson from the west, nearly opposite to 

 the city of Troy, and about eight miles above Albany. 

 The valley through which it flows, and which the rail- 

 way follows, occupies a distinguished place in the early 

 history of the State of New York. It was the site of 

 many of the earliest settlements in this western country, 

 and the scene of many interesting passages with the 

 native Indians. It is still the first fine valley which 

 attracts the longing regards of the European emigrants, 

 whom the Erie canal and the railroad carry in thousands 

 along the banks of the Mohawk Eiver towards new homes 

 in a still farther west. 



As we rushed up the left bank of the river, the Erie 

 canal accompanied us on a higher level on the right or 

 opposite bank. It was crowded with vessels going and 

 coming, some laden with piles of casks filled already 



