1808 
are gentle and swelling, and no where 
high or incapable of cultivation, and af- 
ford most beautiful prospécts. 
‘‘ There are but few swamps, and these 
may be easily drained and made into 
arable or meadow iand of the first qua- 
lity. The soil is every where deep and 
rich, covered with a heavy growth of 
timber and exceedingly adapted to the cul- 
tivation of grass hemp, flax, wheat, rye 
Indian cérn, tobacco, &c. &c. There 
may be said to be two distinct characte- 
ristic kinds of soil in this country; one 
which is denominated oak-land, from 
white oak timber being the most preva- 
lent. This land is of a rich triable 
loam, inclining to clay; and it is some- 
times (though rarely) of a lighter soil, in- 
clining somewhat to sand, and has been 
generally selected by Dutch and Pennsyl- 
vanian farmers. They think it better 
adapted to wheat and rye, and a crop is 
put in at far less expence and labour, 
than in the richer lands. This kind of 
land is covered with stately oaks and 
with but little undergrowth. No more 
attention is bestowed, by those who pre- 
fer this land, in cleaning than to cut 
round the trees, commonly called gird- 
ling or deadening; such only as are neces- 
sary for fencing, building, &c. being cut 
down; and there is rarely much necessity 
for grubbing. This kind of land, with 
this culture, yields from fifteen to twen- 
ty bushels of wheat, and: from thirty 
to forty of corn, per acre. Other grain 
in proportion. It also produces good 
clover and timothy. The other kind of 
soil, which is by far the most common, is 
rich beyond the conception of any person 
who has only seen land in the Middle 
States. This richest land, as we term 
it, or, beech and sugar land, as it is often 
called, is found uniformly to exist where 
the walnut, the poplar, and the ash, asso- 
ciate with the sugar-maple. This soil is 
as black as lamp-black; and after rain, 
or when moist, much resembles lamp- 
black and soil mixed. It is found to be 
from six inches to as many feet in depth, 
and, from actual measurement, to yield 
from thirty to forty bushels of Indian 
corn per acre, without any kind of culti- 
vation whatsoever; and, when cultivated, 
from eight to twelve barrels per acre; 
and when sown in wheat, from seventeen 
to twenty-five, and in some instances 
from twenty-five to forty bushels, per 
acre. Rye and oats yield in proportion, 
and it may be pronounced the best grass- 
land in the world. It is covered with 
a great variety of trees, shrubs, and ye- 
‘from twelve to eighteen. 
and Southern Shore of Lake Brie. bar 
getables, and their growth is most luxu- 
riant. ‘This is the land which the eastern 
people choose for their farms, and it is 
doubtless the most desirable. Wheat grows 
soluxunantly, that farmers are oblived to 
turn in their cattle, &c. early in the win- 
ter, and keep them in until the last of 
May, and then reap from thirty to forty 
bushels per acre. No part of the surface 
of this country 1s covered with stone, yet 
there are abundance of free*stone quar- 
ries. Excellent water is found every 
where, from eight to fifteen feet below 
the surface.” 
On the soil last described, the Doctor 
‘* measured a black walnut, which was 
twenty-four feet six inches in circumfe- 
rence, some distance from the ground, 
and held its bigness eighty or ninety feet 
without a limb. White oaks and yellow 
poplars ‘were common from eighteen to 
twenty-four feet round, and ash-trees 
The earth in 
April and May, is covered with one im- 
mense and infinite number of flowers. 
Hemp grows in this country exceedingly 
luxuriant, and peach-trees thrive uncom- 
monly well; and the fruit is very superior 
in quantity, size, and flavour. ‘The trees 
have been known to bear the second year : 
but from its too rapid vegetation, it is judi- 
cious to cut the tyee downsix inches under 
ground the fall after itis two years old, and 
to raise the earth over the stump, in order 
that the roof may acquire strength to 
support the body and branches. In two 
years more, the farmer willhave a durable 
tree. I saw the transverse section of 
a peach-tree at Harpersield, on which 
the annual growth (if my memory serves 
me correctly) was one inch and a quar- 
ter across.” 
On the important subject of mills, and 
mul-seats, the Doctor tells us thereare al- 
ready seventeen grist (flour) mills, and 
twenty-eight saw mills in New Connecti- 
cut; that wheat is turned into flour for 
one tenth; and that inch plank of superior 
quality 1s sold from seventy to ninety cents 
per hundred feet. 
Vegetables, including the timber- 
trees, shrubs, herbage, roots and fruit, 
commonly found in the couutry, next at- 
tract our author’s attention. He has ar- 
ranged them in the following order, ac- - 
cording to the prevalence of their growth 
in the country. We shall give his list as 
well as the common and Linnean names, 
to gratify the curiosity of thescientific rea- 
der, It must be confessed, however, 
that several kinds are omitted, 
TIMBER< 
