318 
ATLANTIC DISTRICT. 
sometimes nearly the size of the main 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 be universally 
admired, inasmuch as its form and color are so stately and beautiful, and it becomes a 
most picturesque decoration for the winter landscape, when its boughs are loaded with 
snow, and bend but do not break under the weight of their 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. 
The 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 that 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 the 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 cultivation better than any other 
part of the State. It has other advantages, besides those which 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- 
