82 
Connecticut Valley—Western Railroad* 
For the American Agriculturist. 
CONNECTICUT VALLEY. 
Concluded. 
Merinos. — I am here reminded of a fine 
selected flock of Rambouillet Merinos, now in 
the possession of Daniel C. Collins, Esq., of 
Hartford, which he imported at considerable 
expense about two years ago from France, with a 
view to improve and re-establish the original 
stock of Merino sheep in this country. I hope 
he will favor the public with an account of 
them, and his success in their culiivation. I 
cannot but believe that frequent importations of 
original rams from the select French and Spa¬ 
nish flocks, will aid much in keeping up and 
improving the Merino stock in America. 
At Northampton, I observed the anthracite 
coal of Pennsylvania was considerably used for 
fuel, being brought up the river in boats so 
cheaply that it competes successfully with wood, 
now in a great measure cut oft’ from those lands 
susceptible of cultivation, or which yield but a 
sufficient supply to furnish ordinary building, 
post, and fencing timber for enclosures. An 
improved cultivation generally is evidently pre¬ 
vailing throughout New-England, and with its 
increasing wealth, we may look for a higher 
agricultural standard than now prevails. In 
domestic animals the yankee farmer is slow to 
change. The “ good enough” practice has long 
held sway; yet occasional sights of a Berkshire 
or China pig on the premises of a tidy farmer, 
indicate that a reform is in progress in the im¬ 
portant item of their pork material, as well as 
by glimpses of the spotted or roan outline of 
their neat stock in the farm yard or pasture, it 
is evident that “ red ” is no longer the summurn 
bonum of all excellence in that quarter. 
Western Railroad. — I returned to Spring- 
field, and after riding with a friend through its 
pleasant streets and around its delightful envi¬ 
rons, built up and cultivated with the exceeding 
neatness and good taste which distinguishes 
almost every town and village in this valley, I 
retired for the night to my lodgings. The next 
morning I took my seat in the cars of the 
Western Railroad for Albany. Of this noble 
structure I can speak only in terms of unquali¬ 
fied admiration. After a course of 12 miles 
from Springfield, it enters the mountain region 
of western Massachusetts, and passes up thence 
for 20 miles to the summit in Washington, one 
of the most wild, picturesque, and difficult val¬ 
leys in New-England. Through this confined 
hollow the Westfield river rushes, a wild, and 
maddened stream, which the impatient engine, 
whirling along its rapid train of cars, to avoid 
the obstruction of an impending mountain, 
anon leaped, and followed, with scarce enough 
of soil to rest upon, at times even jutting over 
its torrent at the hazard of apparently impend 
ing destruction. Gigantic masses of solid gra 
nite fifty to eighty feet high, were cleft asundei 
for its passage, until it had attained the summit 
1400 feet above the tide waters of the Hudson 
at Albany. Here, on the dividing crest of the 
Green Mountains, crossing a considerable lake, 
whose limpid waters poured into either channel 
of the Housatonic and Connecticut, it com¬ 
menced its descent for some miles along the de¬ 
clining mountain into the charming village of 
Pittsfield, delightfully nestled in a fertile and 
luxuriant valley; and thence, by a tortuous 
course, to the plain of West Stockbridge. It is 
a great work, worthy of the bold enterprize of 
those who planned and accomplished it; and a 
monument of glory to the State. Aside from 
its principal object of connecting the two great 
cities of Boston and Albany, it is of infinite 
service to the agricultural and manufacturing 
interests of Massachusetts, whose productions 
are thus brought within a few hours distance of 
the best market in New-England. This moun¬ 
tain region is mainly a grazing and dairy coun¬ 
try, the hills being principally covered with 
pastures and meadow lands; while the vallies, 
although mostly grazed, yield tolerable supplies 
of grain. Butter, cheese, beef, and pork are its 
principal agricultural productions, a great part 
of which is consumed by the manufacturing 
population among them. Many fine herds of 
native cattle and excellent flocks of Merino 
sheep are grazed here; and no country, per¬ 
haps, on earth can boast a finer and hardier race 
of people than the county of Berkshire. Ap¬ 
pearances of thrift and worldly comfort spread 
out on all sides, and the results of well-applied 
industry are visible in all their farms and villa¬ 
ges ; and although their soil be comparatively 
sterile, and their climate severe, their active sa¬ 
gacity, their well directed intelligence, and their 
never tiring industry accomplish for them what 
without these requisites, the richest soils and 
greatest local advantages would deny. 
At West Stockbridge the depdt of the great 
marble quarries of that region, we were met at 
the State line by the train of cars from Hudson. 
They contained divers passengers from that city 
and from Kinderhook, composed of lawyers, 
members of Assembly, and office seekers, who 
were going to Albany in readiness for the com¬ 
mencement of the annual session of the Legis¬ 
lature the next day. Here, meeting several old 
friends and acquaintances, politics and its etcet¬ 
era attendants of Albany Regency and Whig 
declension in New-York, became the topics of 
discussion ; and, being an old stager in those 
matters, I could not resist the temptation to min¬ 
gle in the debate, and my agricultural musings 
ended with the soil of Massachusetts. L. F. A. 
