Selecting the Farm 43 



their own story. From the crest of the hills to 

 the edge of Lake Erie these streams cut deviously 

 upwards of a dozen miles. The ravines disclose 

 layers of mollusks, coral, fossil lilies, cone-in-cone — 

 that puzzling formation which awaits explanation, 

 — and innimierable layers, in varying thicknesses 

 of sedimentary rock. In this Valley the Garden 

 of Eden has been located by a writer of some emi- 

 nence in his day. Vestiges of inhabitants during 

 the Stone Age abound in arrow-heads, spear-points, 

 stone pestles and mortars, skinners, and rude pot- 

 tery. The region is a fruit garden, whether or not 

 Adam and Eve ever dignified it by their melan- 

 choly presence. The land slopes northward toward 

 Lake Erie, and the area suited to orchard and vine- 

 yard is sharply defined by the crest of hills at the 

 south, the lake at the north, the level plain of Ohio 

 at the west, and the high hills of Chautauqua Coun- 

 ty to the east. It is a narrow valley containing not 

 over three hundred square miles. Within this 

 domain grapes, berries of all kinds, peaches, pears, 

 apples, prunes, cherries, cereals, melons, vegetables, 

 grow in perfection, attaining the maximtim in qual- 

 ity and quantity. The contour of the Valley makes 

 this possible. Fruit of any kind attains perfection 

 at the northern limit of its production. The 

 Valley marks this limit, for fruits that are adapted 

 to it, in the United States. The lay of the land is 

 favorable. It slopes towards the north, thus pre- 

 venting too early start of sap, leaf, and bud in the 

 spring. The soil is deep, as tested by borings of 



