232 TRAVELS THROUGH NORTH AMERICA t 
Wifh regard to the landscapes however, and 
to American landscapes in general,, it is to be 
observed, that their beauty is much impaired 
by the impicturesque appearance of the angu¬ 
lar fences, and of the stiff wooden houses, which 
have at a little distance a heavy, dull, and 
gloomy aspect. The stumps of the trees also,, 
on land newly cleared, are most disagreeable 
objects, wherewith the eye is continually as¬ 
sailed. When trees are felled in America, they 
are never cut down close to the ground, but 
the trunks are left standing two or three feet 
high ; for it is found that a woodman can cut 
down many more in a day, standing with a 
gentle inclination of the body, than if he were 
to stoop so as to apply has axe to the bottom 
of the tree ; it does not make any difference 
either to the farmer, whether the stump is left 
two or three feet high, or whether is is cut 
down level with the ground, as in each cage it 
would equally be a hindrance to the plough. 
These stumps usually decay in the course of 
seven or eight years; sometimes; however 
sooner, sometimes later, according to the qua¬ 
lity of the timber. They never throw up 
suckers, as stumps of trees would do in Eng¬ 
land if left in that manner. 
The cultivated lands in this country art 
mostly parcelled out in mall portions; there* 
are no persons here, as on the other side off the 
