NEW ENGLAND. 



139 



3. Valleys. The only- 

 extensive valleys are on the 

 banks of the large rivers. 

 They are all of very unequal 

 breadth, and consist ot a 

 flat alluvion now cleared of 

 trees, and commonly of a 

 fertile soil. The valley of 

 the Connecticut, by far the 

 most extensive in iNevv Eng- 

 land, is a tract of land ex- 

 tending from Long Island 

 Sound to Hereford moun- 

 tain in Canada, five miles 

 beyond the 45th degree of 

 latitude. In the largest sense, 

 it is from 5 to 45 miles in 

 width, and its surface is 

 composed of a succession 

 of hills, valleys, and plains. 

 The interval lands, or bot- 

 toms, begin about 12 or 14 

 miles from the mouth of the 

 river. These are formed 

 by a long and continued 

 alluvion. The tributary 

 streams of the Connecticut 

 run everywhere through a 

 soft and rich soil, considera- 

 ble quantities of which, par- 

 ticularly the lighter and finer 

 particles, are from time to 

 time washed into their chan- 

 nels, by occasional cur- 

 rents springing from rains 



and melted snows. Wherever the stream moves with an uniform cui rent these particles are 

 carried along with it ; but where the current is materially checked, they are in greater or less 

 quantities deposited. In this manner a shoal is formed at first, which afterwards rises into dry 

 land ; this is almost invariably of good quality, but those parts which are lowest are commonly 

 the best, as being the most frequently overflowed, and therefore most enriched by successive 

 deposits of slime. Of these parts, that division which is furthest down the river is the most 

 productive, consisting of finer particles, and being more plentifully covered with this manure. 

 In the spring these grounds are almost annually overflowed. In the months of March and 

 April, the snows, which in the northern parts of New England are usually deep, and the rains, 

 which at this time of the year are generally copious, raise the river from 15 to 20 feet, and 

 extend the breadth of its waters in some places a mile and a half or two miles. Almost all 

 the slime conveyed down the current at this season, is deposited on these lands, for here, prin- 

 cipally, the water becomes quiescent, and permits the earthy particles to subside ; this deposit 

 is a rich manure ; the lands dressed with it are preserved in their full strength, and being regu- 

 larly enriched by the hand of nature, cannot but be highly valuable. Nor are these grounds 

 less distinguished by their beauty. The form of most of them is elegant ; a river passing 

 through them, becomes, almost of course, winding ; the earth of which they are composed is 

 of a uniform texture, the impressions made by the stream upon the border are also nearly uni- 

 form ; hence this border is almost universally a handsome arch, with a margin entirely neat, 

 and very commonly ornamented with a fine fringe of shrubs and trees. Nor is the surface of 

 these grounds less pleasing ; their terraced forms and undulations are eminently handsome, and 

 their universal fertility makes a cheerful impression on every eye. A great part of them is 



