THE MAGAZINE 



OF 



HORTICULTURE. 



JULY, 1850. 



ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 



Art. I. The Valley of Lake Champlain^ — Its Climate, 

 Productions, &c. By Chauncy Goodrich, Esq., Burling- 

 ton, Vermont. 



As the valley of Lake Champlain has just been connected 

 with the Atlantic coast by two railroads, forming a part of a 

 line, soon to be completed to Lake Ontario and the great 

 lakes of the West, some account of the valley and its pro- 

 ductions may not be uninteresting to your readers. 



Lake Champlain extends from Whitehall. (Skeensborough 

 of olden time), lat. 43° 23', to St. Johns, in Canada, lat. 

 45° 18'. Its elevation is about one hundred feet above tide 

 water, and the average width about three miles. The widest 

 part, which is opposite Burlington, is less than ten miles. 

 This is a classic lake to every American, — having at all times 

 from our earliest history been the highway from Canada to 

 the river Hudson, and the theatre of more important military 

 and naval operations than any other place in our country. 

 Millions of dollars were expended in building forts on its 

 shores, while the whole country was an unbroken wilderness. 



The valley of the lake may average south twenty miles — 

 east about fifty miles, bounded by the Green Mountain range, 

 dividing its waters from the river Connecticut — and west 

 about forty miles, bounded by the Adirondack mountains, 

 dividing its waters from the rivers Hudson and St. Law- 

 rence. The west side of the lake for seventy miles is very 

 broken — but this I shall leave for some resident to describe. 



VOL. XVI. NO. VII. 37 



