Litchfield enquirer., 1873-10-30
For the Enquirer. 4 DAY ON LONG ISLAND.


 ADAY ON LONG ISLAND. MR. EDITOR: When a boy, used to hear large stories Of what happened on Long Island, and aboat the enorlnons watermelons that grew in it's sands--sto- ries that made such all impression upon my mind that have always wished to visit the Island. Accordingly. on Sept 17th, took the little steamer at Bridge port, landing at Port Jefferson, twenty miles across the sound
 SHIP BUILDING ~ ., Here there is an ship yard. where We could see vessels in different stages of building-one, a three-masted schooner, to be launched the next day. There IS an enormous quantity of timber in ship. The keel is stick of hard timber, 20 by P inches square, running the entire length of the ship, on which are set the knees. from to 10 inches square, about 12 feetilong. every one on a different level, set one or two inches apart, the entire length of the ship, so that 1t looks like the skeleton of an animal lying on it's back. The vessel to be launched was blocked up under the sides with very long grooved yellow pine sticks piled to- gether on an incline, and thoroughly greased between them, so that when the blocks under the keel are worked out enough to let the pressure rest on these greased sticks, the whole fabric starts on it's first voyage into the sea. This Is 8 gay sight, attended by hundreds of spec tators.
 FARMING. SOIL. CLIMATE. ..a ..i..4
 We started on foot to the next station, six miles. in order to see the farms and crops, and converse with the farmers, oc- casionally riding with them. Such farms and crops make Connecticut ashamed. but the secret of them was found in schooner from New York, with thousand loads of manure as cargo, which is discharged in long pile on shore for each farm. It was being drawn up on the wheat and rye fields, and made such smell that one would think the "herd of swine" had come up out of the sea again. Bnt there is often something to mar the beauty of the beautiful. A row of worthless shrubs, standing in the old rickety rail fences, many times would hide beautiful field from view, and often a wagon road through the fields with bushes and small trees on each side perhaps as land marks, for they seem to have been there for generations-but do the owners realize how every tree and shrub out of place sucks the dews of heaven from the soil, and spells the beau ty of the farm? -ia.
 I had always supposed the Island to be composed of one level trackless desert of reclaimed sand, but to my surprise found that one half of it is dense woods of small growth, Pine, Oak or Black Oak, and Chestnut. Between the villages, six or eight miles apart, there are often two miles of woods, and was told that twelve miles back from shore, it is all woods. with wild deer living there. The woods and canker sores in the shape of lanes and useless hedges. remind one of the anec- dote of the old Dutchman, who was sell ing his farm to New York parties in time of the Long Island land speculation. He had sold it for $40, ,OOO. and the parties wanted to pay him $26, GOO, and mortgage back the farm for the other $20, 900, but the old Dutchman said. 'I won't have it, 'taint worth it!" so the parties concluded if it was not worth $2O, 900, it certainly was not worth $4O,OOO.
 On the morning of Sept. 18th, we had a severe frost in Connecticut, running thousands Of dollars worth of tobacco, corn, and buckwheat; and on the morn ing of the 18th, at sunrise, stood on the railway platform on the Island waiting for the cars. and fighting the largest kind of mosquitos, while vegetation around me in it's highest stage of growth-buck wheat fields white as the whitest snow; vegetables in the tenderest stage. with no fear of frost for month to come. This is doubtless owing to the salt water, and on the whole it is delightful place to live in. There is no stone and very little sand, but hard gravel roads, and when it is sandy the roads are covered over with loam, which packs down hard and makes splendid road. The Island is a coun- try rolling with gravel hills, and sand in the hollows. The name of ''Long Island sands is derived from immense piles be- ing blown from the sea shore.
 In my rambles visited the
 BEACON STOCK FARMS, -., of 14O0 acres on Eaton Neck, occupied by Wm. Crozier. Here I was politely re- ceived and shown over the farm, where my eyes had feast of fat things. Ea- toms Neck is beautiful peninsula on Long Island Sound, several miles from the main land, and connected by an arm of sand, from which thousands of vessel loads are taken to New York to use in building up the city. This farm was pur- chased five years ago for twenty thousand dollars, and is now fairly estimated to be worth one hundred and fifty thousand. By the thorough management of MT. Cro- zier, the improvement has been so rapid that he has nearly doubled the amount oflive stock in each successive year. He has now upon the place 100 head of eat tie, 49 horses and colts, 120 sheep and 16O swine. Great attention is gwen to the manufacture of manure The whole