8 WESTERN AGRICULTURAL DISTRICT. 



IV. The Western district borders the Mohawk on the south, and may be bounded 

 north by a terrace extending parallel willi the Erie canal, and commencinff a few miles 

 west of Littlefalls. Instead of following the Erie canal, it diverges to the northwest, and 

 strikes Lake Ontario near Oswego. The south boundary passes west through the southern 

 half of Seneca and Cayuga lakes, and terminates upon Lake Erie. 



The surface of this district never rises into high or steeji hills. It is gently undulating, 

 or rises in heavy swells. It is often traversed by deep cuts, forming deep narrow ravines ; 

 a peculiarity which arises from the slates and shales which are scored by the streams and 

 rivulets of the country. Some parts of the country, however, are elevated, rising thirteen 

 or fourteen hundred feet above tide, particidarly in the range passing through Cherry-valley 

 and Pompey. The surface of the district is undulating and often level ; and we pass over 

 tracts embracing large farms, where it is difficult to determine by the eye alone in which 

 direction the surface slopes ; besides, it embraces some extensive marsh lands, which are 

 probably irreclaimable. 



Plate III. is a view from Mount Hope, three miles south of Rochester. The city ap- 

 pears in the back part of the middle ground. In the open fields stand the superb elms of 

 the deep and rich clay soil peculiar to this district. They are the only remains of the 

 great and noble forests which have fallen before the axe of civilization in the last half 

 century. They run up in an unbroken shaft near one hundred feet, where they at once 

 form a heavy dense head. They are in strict contrast with the elms of a second growth 

 in the valleys of the Mohawk and Hudson, whose trunks are thickly covered with slender 

 limbs, and their heads formed of long pendulous branches. They especially flourish in 

 those deep stiff clayey soils that are rich in potash. Vegetation is an index to the character 

 of the soil. Elms of the same character abound upon the flats of the Black river, where 

 the subsoil is a clay. 



The western district is the great wheat-growing district of New-York. It will be un- 

 derstood that the lines of demarkalion are not fixed. Wheat is produced in all the counties 

 of the State, or in all the districts : the west differs from the others in being better adapted 

 to this grain. As it regards the southern limits of the wheat district, I take the liberty of 

 introducing a communication from David Thomas, which contains some excellent re- 

 marks.* 



* LETTER FROM D. THOMAS TO E. EMMONS. 



Greatfield, near Avtrora. 11 Mo. IS. 1844'. 



On my return from Philadelphia about a fortnight ago, I found thy favor of the 22d ult. It oue;ht to have been 

 answered immediately, but I have had many things to distract my attention ; and even now, I apprehend that my 

 remarks must l>e of very little value. 



I cannot observe any thing to object to, in thy arrangement of the State into districts, unless it be that their dis- 

 tinctive traits arc more geological than agricviltural ; and I may be better understood by asking if our southern tier of 

 counties dilTer essentially in agricultural iimducts from thy three first districts .' 



I think it would be diflicult to draw the southern boundary of our Wheat District ; and at best it must be rather a 

 crooked line. Generally, it is good wheat land as far south as the detritus from our limestone formations has been 



