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LANDSCAPES, 231 
of the mountains; but it is by no means so 
temperate as in Bottetourt Country,, whicb> 
from being; environed with ridges of moun¬ 
tains, is constantly refreshed with cooling 
breezes during summer, and in the winter is 
sheltered from the keen blasts from the north¬ 
west. 
The whole of this country, to the west of 
the mountains, is increasing most rapidly in 
population. In the neigbourhood of Win¬ 
chester it is so thickly settled, and consequently 
so much cleared, that wood is now beginning 
to be thought valauble ; the fanners are obliged 
^ « 
frequently to send ten or fifteen miles even for 
their fence rails. It is only, however, in this 
particular neighbourhood that the country is 
so much improved; in other places there are 
immense tracts of woodlands still remaining, 
and in general the hills are all left uncleared. 
The hills being thus left covered with trees is 
a circumstance which adds much to the beauty 
of the country, and intermixed with extensive 
fields clothed with the richest verdure, and 
watered by the numerous branches of the Sbe^ 
nandoah River, a variety of pleasing landscapes 
are presented to the eye in almost every part of 
the route from Bottetourt to the Patowinac, 
many of which are considerably heightened 
by the appearance of the Blue Mountains in 
the back ground. 
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