264 BERKSHIRE SOCIETY. 



quently has their attention been attracted by the many new 

 and commodious dwellings, by the new and well-filled barns, 

 by plantations of thriving trees, and by numerous, extensive, 

 and well cultivated fields of corn. The contrast between the 

 present appearance of many parts of the county, and that 

 which they exhibited but a few years ago, must strike with 

 admiration every beholder, who has a mind capable of esti- 

 mating the value of useful improvements, and show to all, 

 most conclusively, that the efforts of this society have not been 

 in vain. 



Swamps and quagmires, in which the only vegetable produc- 

 tions were alders and ferns, with a few cat-tails interspersed 

 among them as decorations, are now covered with a carpet of 

 herds grass and clover, and afford exuberant crops of hay. 

 The committee cannot withhold their approbation of the de- 

 termination manifested by the proprietors of these swamps to 

 exterminate the tribes of insects and reptiles, which for aught 

 we know to the contrary, had a life estate thereof from gener- 

 ation to generation, since the day when Noah, with his numer- 

 ous family, emerged from the ark. 



The evidences of a growing taste for the cultivation of the 

 various kinds of fruits, to which our soil and climate are adapt- 

 ed, and the success which has crowned the efforts to improve 

 the qualities and increase the quantity of that sort of food 

 which nourished our great progenitors in the garden of Eden, 

 were witnessed by the committee with much delight. While 

 they have seen with pleasure the growing disposition among 

 their agricultural brethren to cultivate the apple, pear, peach 

 and plum, they have also had the satisfaction of observing the 

 extensive embellishment of our road sides with forest trees, 

 and trust that at no distant day their successors may record the 

 fact that these embellishments are continuous from one end of 

 the county to the ether ; that the shades that beautify our villa- 

 ges extend over hills that are now bleak with the winter's wind, 

 or arid with the summer's sun. But a few days' attention an- 

 nually, by each landholder, would consummate this desirable 

 object, and we believe that the results of no part of their labor 

 would be viewed with more satisfaction. 



