Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1859-08-11
WASHINGTON NEWS AND GOSSIP.

OK THE WAY TO NIAGARA-PooR LAND-THE OK
. EYE DAIsY-CoUNTRY FARM HoUsKs-MoHAwx
VALLEr-THE GARDEN SPoT OF AMKRIcA--WE |
ARE GREGARIoUs PEOPLE-MR. JEFFERsoS's
iSAyANT-FRIEND-LADIEs FRIeHrEsEp-A Dou- |
BILE TRACK, &C, &c. r: I
Editorial Correspondence Of The Star.
OK THE CARS, 4
BsitrseH Saratoga and Schenectady, N Y, Il
mo. 10 August /, 1870 a. IN. J
am again on the wing-for Niagara. Nothing
indicative of better railroad arrangements than
are to be met everywhere in section of country
have yet seen in this great State-upon this trip;
though the Central Railroad, which | am to take
at Schenectady, is regarded being of the
best, if not the very best for its length, in the
country, in all its appointments well as It's
system of management The first six miles of my
days journey is back to Balston Spa through
which passed on Friday afternoon in going to
Saratoga. The country on both sides Of the road
looks scarcely better improved than that between
| Baltimore and Washington. The farms are much
smaller. however, and while not more thriftily
cultivated, have more varied appearance, be-
cause smaller. Buckwheat in blossom, ripening
oats, stunted and ind fferent pasture the
| only crops (feld) that have far met my eye
to-day. Mullen seems to be king here, with
fair prospect ahead Of being dethroned in due
time by ox-eye daisy. Farmers here tell me that
the latter pest is something new to them being y
very recent importation. they know not from
whence. The poet says w here ignorance is
bliss, tits folly to be wise They will not find 1t
| turn out so with the ox-eye dasy-as, IL through
inattention it is permitted to seed their lands
thoroughly, the cost Of eradicatng it will be
enormous unless they resort to sheep husbandry,
making that for some years chief feature Of their
| system of agriculture.
L We at Rails he
Springs that were fashionable thirty years ago.
The village is a beautiful and picturesque one,
| though somewhat dilapidated The flow of
waters from its medicinal fountains ceased many
years ago, and though fortune. have been ex-
pended TO discover their ''leads - the labor
| has been In vain, it having been found impossi-
BILE to separate the fountains or flows Of aqua pura
from those of the medicinal waters
| At BalStOn, this Railroad 1.-THE Saratoga and
| Schenectady takes a sudden turn and runs west
| OF south, through country of somewhat larger
| farms than those among which | passed few
| minutes ago, with finer landscapes visible from
| the car windows. They fence principally with
rock here, and capital fences they make of it.
| The farmhouses are not better than ours In Mary
land and neutrality-suspicious., hardly substanti-
ally built Paint and putty are greatly relied on
to render the appearance of buildings effective
|
pretty little lake, some twenty acres in extent
| just now comes into view on my left and greatly
| improves the landscape. As we gradually ap-
p'oach Schenectady, the agriculture as seen from
| the rapidly progressing train improves; more
| neatness and fewer pestiferous weeds appearing
| and the many small swamps and other unreclaimed
| patches saw not long since growing small by de-
grees and beautifully less. The average OF their
cattle here do not impress with the belief that
| more attention is paid In this particular section of
| New York to the Improvement Of stock than in
| Virginia and Maryland. Thisregion is evidently
not well adapted to the production of grasses.
being too sandy as well as too rocky. Except in
the carefully cared-for lawns at Saratoga Springs
have seen nothing that would pass with us at
home for fair average turf Their forest trees seem
| more various than ours, are of perhaps deeper
hues and more graceful figures. The elm and fr,
| than which no others are more beautiful are evil
DENLY indigenous here; the forests being full of
theH Broom corn is an important staple here:
inuch land being devoted To its cultivation AS
crop 1t is almost entirely neglected in Virginia
and Maryland, though it is Questionable whether
IT would not pay heavily there. 1t is a voraciou
feeder, and consequently a rapid exhauster of the
| soil.
| AS We arrive within mile two of Schenec-
tady We catch lovely view of the Mohawk Val
ley Oh our right with plateau thirty OF forty feet
| high first rising on its southern boundary and a
mile back OF that range of magnificent hills Gov
| cred with patches of cultivated land with wood
interspersed in patches also. We cross the river
ere entering the city; and lay by my pencil for the
time being to prepare to change cars after cross
ing the Erie Canal-the first glimpse of it we have
| on this journey.
delay OF fifty minutes occurred 1T the Syracuse
| depot, where the two hundred passengers from,
| Saratoga going West were to meet the expected
| Albany Train No opportunity was afforded for a
sight OF more of this thriving city than of single
| oufSkirt. Right glad were all when the Albany
| train came In sight. Once on it. we crossed the
| Mohawk, SO famous in the history of the settle
ment of this State, whose legends by the by vie
WIN those oil pennsyivania's Wyoming Valley in
| mining iheideh"' Our course lay up the Mo-
| hawk, generally within stones throw Of II.
| bed
| ears ago was Impressed with the belief that
as cultivated, this little valley is the garden spo,
OF The United Satisfactorily it looks lovelier than
| iheh Minute care is visible on every cultivated
patch, and every available square foot of the val
icy 50 lar seems 10 DE cultivated not in fields but
in patches of from to ten acres in extent The
hills skiting the plateau of the river on the south
are cultivated in fields, and smile Just now with
an e'ueht ABUNDANT harvest. Their foliage OF
'hcic on 1!lem to relieve he
from possibility of monotony, is of deepest green
generally, that contrasts most effectively with the
golden hue Of the cut and uncut fields Of cereals
The Erie Canal at the base OF these hill,
Wherever seen, lines of boats are plying to and
fro, upon IL. Fantastic little islands covered Win
unkempt but nevertheless beautiful natur f,,owtb
Seem TO hit past us as the train ushes along at the
! rate of thirty miles per hour Where grass field,
are visible in this valley, the turf will rival that
OF Fauquier or Kentucky Where cornfields greet
the eye the promise of yield reminds me Of the
RaPpahannock valley; and where other crors are
planted, OF the growth Oh the enormously manured
market-gardens surrounding the large cities.
We have passed the thrifty towns Of Amsterdam
and Fonda, since entering the cars of this famou,
misunderstanding villages of this ountfully pro-
ducing land. Thrift is evident in all visibI.
The eye tires not with the picture; for altbouyh
'ie several characteristics of the region are the
same, each succeeding moment the scene shift.
with an effect almost like that of turning the glass
of Kaleidoscope.