many of the minor elevations are rounded and beautiful summits, cul- 

 tivated to their tops. 



4. Soils. — In passing through the county from east to west, you 

 meet a succession of valleys of remarkable beauty and fertility ; 

 and on tiie Housatonic, the Hosick, the Green river, and Hop 

 Brook, there are extended alluvions or intervales, which furnish a pro- 

 ductive soil. The hills every where abound with springs of the pur- 

 est water ; and these added to the numerous permanent streams inter- 

 secting the country in various directions, afibrd extraordinary advan- 

 tages to the farmers of Berkshire over the tenants of a level country. 



The alluvial meadows on the Housatonic seldom exceed a mile in 

 breadth. These are mainly to be found in the Pittsfield valley, in 

 South Lee, in Stockbridge, in Great Barrington, and in Sheffield. 

 In general, these lands are annually overflowed, and the deposits of 

 rich mud superinduced by such freshets, prevent the necessity of any 

 artificial manuring ; and keep these lands in a state of exuberant fer- 

 tility. These deposites are mainly composed of finely comminuted 

 sand, and rich loam and vegetable mould ; and in many cases the de- 

 posits have accumulated to a great depth, as the presence of large 

 logs and partially decayed stumps and roots of trees, found often at 

 the depth of fifteen and twenty feet below the surface, evince. 



Of peat bogs, there are k\v in the county. Tl;ese are of small 

 extent ; but some found in the neighborhood of Pittsfield, which have 

 undergone the process of ditching, draining, and manuring, present en- 

 couraging examples of an enterprising and intelligent husbandry. This 

 description of land throughout the state is destined to become highly 

 valuable and productive . For fuel, where the use of peat for fuel prevails, 

 this land, or rather the right to dig the peat, is sold for three dollars per 

 square rod, the purchaser being limited as to the depth he shall go. As 

 manure for upland, when decomposed and dissolved by heating 

 manures, or deposited in the barn yard, where it absorbs the liquids 

 of the manure heap, it has been found efficacious and valuable. As 

 land for cropping, under good management, of which I propose pres- 

 ently to give several remarkable examples, it has proved eminently 

 productive in grass, potatoes, turnips, and carrots. 



The soils in Berkshire are various. There is little pure clay. 

 There is little pure sand. The Hosick mountain and the Green 

 2 



