318 ATLANTIC DISTRICT. 



sometimes nearly tlie size of tiie ninin trunk, shoot forth luxuriantly, and afford shelter to 

 beasts during the summer when the sun's heat is oppressive. The same species of tree 

 can scarcely be recognized under these different circumstances. Even the hemlock, which 

 shoots upward so magnificently in the forest, is low and depressed in the open fields. It 

 is the finest of trees for shade ; and it is quite singular that it should not he universally 

 admired, inasmuch as its form and color arc so stately and beautiful, an<l it becomes a 

 most picturesque decoration for the winter landscape, when its boughs are loaded witii 

 snow, and bend but do not break under the weiglit of tlieir glittering burthen. 



Plate XII. represents the sylvan vegetation of the vallies : it is a view of the scenery on 

 the Schoharie creek, at Gilboa, at the entrance into the village from the north. The rock 

 is the Old Red Sandstone. 



6. ATLANTIC DISTRICT. 



T!ie district we have proposed under this name, is the smallest, and is surrounded by 

 the Atlantic ocean. Its situation, its proximity to water, and the character of a part of its 

 soil, remove this district a wide distance from the preceding ones. 



Long Island, if we except the drift upon its northern slope, or tliat which faces the 

 Sound, has been reclaimed from the ocean : it is based undoubtedly upon a reef of rocks, 

 which first formed a bed whereon the waves washed up the sand, and this has continued to 

 accumulate until the present time. The nature of the great mass of tlie soil, from bottom 

 to top, is porous ; and being composed of so large an amount of washed sand, the farmer 

 is compelled to adopt a mode of cultivation more burthensome and expensive than that of 

 any other portion of the State. The soluble manures sink into the soil, beyond the reach 

 of the roots, in a very short period, and hence require frequent renewals. 



That portion of the soil of Long Island which is largely made up of Connecticut drift, 

 is more retentive and durable. The Hempstead plains, which occupy a high position upon 

 the island, confirm this statement. The soil here, when washed, is merely a white beach 

 sand, or, perhaps, in this position, a yellow sand. It is covered with a coating of black 

 raw vegetable mould, which, when first ploughed, appears like a rich soil ; but it is quite 

 destitute of the elements essential to fertility. It bears light crops, and produces mode- 

 rately well for a season, yet soon fails without special nursing. Situated, however, as the 

 Atlantic district is, in the immediate vicinity of a great city, the commercial metropolis of 

 North America, it repays the labor and expense of high culiivation better than any other 

 part of the State. It has other advantages, besides those vvhicii arise from being situated 

 near a great city : its climate is mild, and its summer long ; hence agricultural produc- 

 tions may be profitably cultivated here, which, in other parts of the State, are out of the 

 question. 



The soil of a large portion of Hempstead plains, forming the ridge of the island, is mostly 

 marine sand. The surface is mixed with black mould, in which there is a small per- 



