14 



the appropriation of the straw of a farm to such purposes, is, to say 

 the least, of an equivocal character. 



6. Climate. — The season in Berkshire, is in the valleys not 

 very different from that on the Atlantic coast. I shall subjoin some 

 meterological tables kept at my request by an intelligent observer in 

 Lenox ; and shall add to these a table from the memoirs of the 

 American Academy, showing the comparative progress of vegeta- 

 tion on a former occasion. With the exception of the high-lands 

 and the mountainous portions of Berkshire, there are no crops raised 

 in other parts of the state, which may not be cultivated to advantage. 

 Indian corn is often successfully cultivated in some of the elevated 

 locations ; but these places are most favorable to oats and barley. 

 Potatoes and turnips are likewise abundant in these hill towns, and 

 the former of superior quality. The springs, however, in these 

 parts of the county, are generally about three weeks in the rear of 

 those in the valleys ; the cold winds from the north sweep over them 

 and retard vegetation. The autumnal frosts on the other hand, 

 seem proportionately kept back ; and vegetation here retains its ver- 

 dure ; and potatoes, for example, continue to grow sometimes for 

 weeks after every thing has been destroyed by the frosts in the low- 

 grounds.* 



II. CROPS. 



The crops in Berkshire are those cultivated in other parts 

 of the state ; and consist of the usual grasses, herds grass, 

 red top, and clover. Of grains, Indian corn, wheat, barley, 

 rye, and oats ; and of esculent vegetables, potatoes, carrots, ruta 

 baga, mangel wurtzel, and common white turnip. In addition 

 to these, buck-wheat is raised to a considerable extent, some small 

 amount of flax, and comparatively large amounts of teasels. The 

 cultivation of hops was at one time attended to in some places ; but 

 is abandoned on account of the low price. Large amounts of rye 

 have heretofore been used for distillation ; but this is now pursued to 

 a small extent. 



Indian corn, the great grain crop of New England, with the ex- 

 ception of the two cold years 1836 and 1837, has been always 



•Appendix A. 



