1893
June 4
Fairfield, Conn.
Morning cloudy with light rain occasionally. Afternoon
sunny & cloudy by turns. Nearly or quite calm all day.
[margin]Drive to Greene's Farms[/margin]
  Starting at 8.30 A.M. we drove westerly about 
six miles to Greene's Farms following roads that
led along near the shore of the Sound once an 
almost perfectly flat country with grass, grain and 
cultivated fields and occasionally a salt creek with
its bordering meadows. There were practically no woods
or thickets but many large oaks standing about
singly or in groups - the scarlet oak, usually,
here trees of much finer developement than they 
often attain with us.
  We returned by an inland road which ran parallel
to the coast line but some two or three miles back 
among the hills. There were occasional pieces of
woods and several swampy runs shaded by trees 
and thickets but by far the greater part of the 
country was under cultivation and freely sprinkled 
with houses while the number of roads leading 
in every direction was something bewildering. There
were many apple orchards and along all the
roads noble old elms and scarlet oaks in
great abundance. Some of the rocky knolls sprinkled 
with red cedars and devoted to pasturage were 
remarkably like the cedar pastures of Belmont 
& Arlington but there were fewer barberry bushes 
and more poison ivy. Indeed the remarkable 
abundance of the latter seems to be a feature 
of this entire region. The beautiful but noxious 
vine grows here in every soil & in the greatest profusion.