208 QUARTERLY JOURNAL. 



it is necessary that we should possess some knowledge of the face 

 of the country under consideration, as the climactic features are 

 inseparably connected with physical characters. Mountains, or 

 high lands condense upon their sides the vapor of the atmosphere, 

 which, if approaching the line of perpetual snow, will freeze, and 

 become a source of cold by absorbing the caloric of the warmer re- 

 gions, whether near or remote. They increase too, the supply of 

 water in their vicinity, and tend greatly to preserve an equality in 

 the streams which issue from them during the whole year. They 'I 

 modify the direction of winds, and shelter the products of their 

 sides in some cases, while in others the exposures are increased by 

 receiving the direct currents which move over them without miti- 

 gation. Dwarf and shrubby productions are always found on the 

 exposed mountain sides — an effect which is not due to elevation 

 alone. 



The most important mountain chain of high lands in New-York 

 is north of the Mohawk valley. These high lands may be con- 

 sidered as rising near Little-Falls, where, taking a north east course, j 

 they terminate partly upon Lake Champlain, and partly in thei^ 

 Canadian plains. 



This belt of country is 70 miles widcy and is in fact table* 

 land, which, upon an average, is 1,000 feet above the level of the 

 sea, or the tide water at Albany ; but a portion of it is from 1,500 

 to 1,800 feet above the same level. From this table-land a great 

 number of peaks or ridges rise, which attain a height of from 1,2001 

 to 3,400 feet. These are steep and precipitous, and worthless asi 

 lands for tillage. But they will supply eventually an immensei 

 quantity of lumber and wood. The valleys are high and narrow, 

 with scarcely an interval of half a mile. From this high and bro- 

 ken country most of the rivers and creeks which supply the statt 

 with water, take their origin — as the Hudson, Mohawk, Blackl 

 River, De Grasse, Racket, Salmon, Saranac and Ausable. 



From these facts it appears that in the limits of New- York, and 

 south of the latitude of 45 degrees, the land is sufficiently high toi| 

 modify the climate very perceptibly. The highest points furnish 

 an Alpine vegetation, and probably every night during the sum- 

 mer, water is congealed upon the exposed parts of their tops. The 

 diminished temperature of this part of the state is seen in the hus- 

 bandry; corn or maize is a precarious crop, and even wlieat ha» 



