The schools are far from being indifferent, and even the foundations of public libraries are already laid. The gentleman fond of a rural life, or the amusements of the field, may here o-ratify himself ; he may find a situation for a country-seat, that will please the most romantic fancy : the excellence of the climate and soil will afford him every certainty of a great return for his trouble and expense as a farmer, and with little trouble his garden may equal any gentleman's in England.* Indeed, with

* Musk and water-melons, and all the delicate plants produced in the interior •f France, come to perfection in our gardens.

WESTERN NEW-YORK. 1145

the advantage of climate and soil, the great variety of situations can only be equalled in the finest parts of England.

You will find the climate of the Genesee Country not only forms a very interesting part of its advantages, but also of its natural history : those parching heats that, on the south side of the AlJeghany Mountains, seem to dry up every particle of nourishment from the plants; are never known in this country: in almost every instance a hot day is succeeded by a plentiful shower, which preserves throughout the summer, a constant verdure and affords to us the finest pastures and meadows on the continent : the nights are proportionately cool, and a traveller from the sea coast is surprized to find, in the dog-days, a couple of blankets a comfortable covering. Late frosts in the spring, and early ones in the fall, are nncommon, and there is scarcely an instance of the fruit or corn suffering by them. The peach trees, the great test of a climate free from severe and late spring frosts, come to great perfection ; in one orchard, at an old Indian town near Geneva, the occupier of the farm sold, last year, to a neighboring distillery, one hundred bushels of peaches.