A tour through North America

New York—Damask hair-cloth manufactory—Dr H——, President Jackson, and Black Hawk—Hyde Park—Residences in America and Britain—Taste for Flowers—Cattle and Sheep—Scenery of the Hudson and Clyde—Fast Eating—Albany—Coach Passengers—Women working in Fields.

Several days were spent in viewing the beauties of New York and its neighbourhood, which the works of recent travellers render unnecessary for me to describe at length. This city is the first city in the Union, both as to shipping and population, which does not perhaps fall much short of two hundred and forty thousand. It is situated on an island separated from the mainland by a small creek passing betwixt the north and east rivers, which some individuals failed in converting into a canal. From the site of New York as an emporium of trade, there seem to be no limits to the extension of the city and its suburbs. It is already the chief outlet of much of the produce of the eastern parts of the New England states, part of Pennsylvania and Ohio, and almost the whole of New York State. When the canals and railways now in progress are completed, it will also become the depôt for part of the produce of the states of Indiana, Illinois, and the unsurveyed country to the west of Lake Michigan, traversed by the rivers Mississippi and Missouri; and, in the course of events, Upper Canada may be added to the list. The mouth of the Mississippi seems the only outlet, calculated by the extent of inland navigation, to vie with New York; but the warm and pestilential nature of the climate unfits it for the reception of produce, and the residence of man. The public and private buildings vary in size and elegance; and the inhabitants are justly proud of Waverley and Lafayette Places, the houses of the latter being decorated with immense Corinthian pillars, and the whole fronts and steps consist of marble. The streets are not so clean as the inhabitants wish strangers to believe; but as swine seem, in part, intrusted with the charge of removing the filth, they are in as good order as might be expected. The streets appear to be thronged at all hours, noise and uproar prevailing when I retired for the night; ladies and gentlemen on horseback, and the industrious on foot, were bustling forth at five in the morning when I arose. Emblems of aristocratic pride and shameless mendicity occasionally met the eye, in the red vests and peculiar cut coats of serving men standing at the back of luxurious carriages, and in the extended hat supplicating charity. Like other large commercial and manufacturing towns, activity characterises the inhabitants by day, dissipation by night.

At Johnston and Green’s manufactory I saw a newly invented fabric of great beauty—damask hair-cloth, consisting of different patterns, the raised figures being sometimes of silk and sometimes of linen. A patent has been obtained for making this stuff, both in the States and in England. It forms a beautiful covering for sofas and chairs, and is said to be durable. I paid one dollar for the linen, and two for the silk damask, per yard, in small quantities. About two hundred people are employed at the manufactory, and, at the time I saw them, they all appeared happy, healthy, and clean. Young women, when weaving by the piece, earned three dollars (13s. 8d.) per week; small boys, six and seven years of age, one dollar; the hours of labour being from six in the morning to seven at night, with intervals of half an hour for breakfast, and an hour for dinner.

Having forwarded an introductory letter to Dr H——, who, on my arrival at New York, was at his country-seat, I had intimation of his return to town a week afterwards. On calling upon the Doctor at his friend’s house in —— Street, I was ushered into the drawingroom by a tawdry-looking girl, without announcing my name. My reception was all I could have wished; and on learning my intended movements, he expressed regret at not being able to be at —— by the day mentioned, and expecting General Jackson, the President, to visit —— in course of his tour, already commenced, proposed that I should wait and form one of the party. There is no ruler of any portion of the earth I would so soon associate with as a President of the United States of America, chosen by a free and enlightened people, to administer their laws; but the task which I had imposed upon myself did not warrant delay in an indulgence of feeling,—forming part of the President’s tail, being unconnected with the objects of my excursion. I had no reason to regret this act of self-denial, the conduct of the people and President during the tour being such as I could not admire.

General Jackson having resolved to visit the chief towns in the northern parts of the Union, he got as far as Boston, when he was compelled by fatigue to return to Washington. In every town his deportment and reception seemed an imitation of the rules of despotic countries—a spectacle to the crowd, and an object of extravagant devotion. An Indian chief, named Black Hawk, who had been taken prisoner the preceding year, in a war to the west of Lake Michigan, and who was carried through some of the great towns, with a view of impressing him with the power of the States, preparatory to his liberation, arrived at New York the day after the President, and divided public attention. The ladies declared in favour of Black Hawk, some of them actually kissing him, which, it is said, affected the old President’s health. The chief of the white men, and the chief of the red, were alike objects of curiosity; the President holding a levee by day, the Hawk by night, in Niblo’s gardens. Had a mammoth or elephant appeared, the mighty ones of the earth would have been eclipsed in public favour.

We left New York early in the morning, by the Albany steam-boat, for Hyde Park, after viewing which we returned to the landing-place on the river Hudson, and, at half-past twelve at night, stept on board of a steam-boat which landed us at Albany a little after seven next morning. I got on deck at four, when passing the town of Hudson; the wind was blowing high from the north, and piercingly cold.

Hyde Park, the seat of Doctor Hosack, is the most celebrated in America, and which Mr Stuart describes as being “embellished as a fine residence and fine grounds in England.” The house is situated some hundreds of feet above the level of, and at a considerable distance from the Hudson, the intervening grounds being finely undulating. In front of the house there is a road, leading from the landing-place on the river, along a small stream, over which there is an elegant wooden bridge, and several artificial cascades have been formed in its channel. The house is composed of wood, as well as the offices and lodges, painted white, and are very neat of their kind. The conservatory had been dismantled a few days before our arrival, by placing the plants in the open air; the collection seemed extensive and well kept. The flower garden is small, the walks limited, and both destitute of beauty. I am aware that most of the evergreens which impart loveliness to the residences in Britain cannot withstand the rigours of an American winter, but this circumstance is no excuse for the nakedness of Hyde Park walks, the aid of many native plants having been disregarded. The matchless beauties of the situation have not only been frequently neglected, but destroyed by stiff, formal, naked walks, and the erection of temples resembling meat-safes, without a climbing plant, which the country produces in endless variety, to hide their deformity, and harmonize them with the surrounding scene. In short, while I greatly admired the situation of Hyde Park, I do not recollect having seen a celebrated place where nature had done so much, and man so little, to render beautiful. The embellishments at Hyde Park, contrasted with those met with every day in Britain, place American landscape-gardening immeasurably behind, if it can be said to exist.

The progress of a people in refinement and taste, manifested in a combination of nature and art, is commonly the work of time, and the decoration of grounds an unproductive investment of capital. Thus the residences of England having descended for ages in the same line, without the power of possessors changing their destination, may be said to represent the accumulated savings, labours, and tastes of many generations. In America the country has not been long possessed by the present owners, and property does not necessarily descend in the same line; and if to these causes be added the high price of labour, and the scarcity of capital, the state of the residences will be sufficiently accounted for. Dr Hosack has great merit in what he has accomplished, but it is mockery to compare his grounds, in point of embellishments, with the fine places in Britain, which have originated from circumstances which America is not likely soon to experience.

Throughout the whole of my transatlantic tour, the inhabitants of the country manifested perfect indifference to the beauties of nature. It was rarely I could learn the name of a plant, with the exception of trees. Nurserymen, seedsmen, and farmers were, generally, unacquainted with varieties, and, with exception of two or three individuals, no one seemed interested in the matter. Rhododendrons grow as plentifully in many parts of the Eastern States as furze in Britain, yet I saw vast numbers of this plant shipping at Liverpool for Philadelphia, although millions of the same variety could have been obtained for the trouble of lifting, at no great distance from the city. Gardens and nurseries were overrun with weeds, and did not display beauty either in decoration or arrangement.

Hyde Park is also celebrated for its agriculture, which I found under the charge of a gentleman from Fifeshire, Scotland, a person on excellent terms with himself. The farm offices, which are extensive, would be considered good in most situations, and were the best I saw in America. There was a young hawthorn hedge, well kept, and in a thriving state. The cattle consist of imported short-horns, or their descendants, and one or two of the best cows were tolerable specimens of that breed. The sheep were said to be a mixture of the Leicester and Cotswold breeds; the pure blood of the former not having been found to answer. The flock was miserably low in condition, and the ewes were followed by large, though not fat-looking, lambs.

However well the short-horned breed of cattle, and improved Leicester sheep, may have been found to answer in some parts of Britain, it is doubtful if the farmers of the State of New York will benefit themselves by introducing them. The one is remarkable for lack of dairy produce, and the other for inferior quality of mutton; and both for being unprofitable, unless liberally supplied at all seasons with nutritious food. The population of the country cannot well dispense with any part of their present dairy produce, and do not require an increase of quantity at a sacrifice of quality of mutton, while the present state of agriculture does not furnish a sufficiency of food for the health and growth of short-horns and Leicesters during winter. I imagine smaller and more hardy breeds, of both kinds of stock, will be found more profitable for general purposes.

During my residence at New York, I attended the cattle market, which was stored with moderately fatted cattle, many of which had been worked. I also witnessed a herd of two hundred passing along the streets, said to have come from the state of Kentucky, forming part of four thousand which had been bought by one company, and brought forward in weekly supplies. They bore some resemblance to the Hereford cattle of England—were four and five years old, of excellent quality, and were estimated to average eighty stones dead weight, of 14 lbs. to the stone.

The scenery of the Hudson did not realize my expectations on first view, an occurrence which frequently takes place when much has previously been heard in praise of objects. Every person of observation must have remarked how different scenery appears under a change of circumstances. The weather being cold and raw during the passage, affected, perhaps, my feelings; and it was not until the objects had been seen a second time in the beginning of November, that I became sensible of their beauties. The Palisadoes, a line of rocks extending for twenty miles on the west side of the river on leaving New York, are of moderate height, with their base covered with stunted trees, and convey nothing of the sublime to the beholder. The objects became more interesting on approaching the high lands where Anthony’s nose is situated, and forms the most prominent and beautiful feature. The channel of the river seems to have been produced by a mighty convulsion; the banks being destitute of soil, and the islands masses of pure rock, which strikingly display the economy and beauty of nature—the islands, without a particle of soil or blade of grass, being thickly studded with healthy, though small trees, while the perpendicular rocks on the banks, from the water’s edge to many hundred feet in height, were adorned with blossomed kalmias.

The margins of the river Hudson, and islands in its course, assume a different character on approaching Albany; the islands being depositions of mud, susceptible of cultivation, and the banks rich soil, bearing good crops, and adorned with pretty houses.

The tide flows up the Hudson to Albany, distant from New York 144 miles, admitting vessels of considerable burden, and sloops of small size penetrate much farther up the river. The waters of the Hudson, passing through a rich and populous country, forming the outlet of the Erie Canal, present a never-ending scene of pleasing industry. At all times innumerable sailing vessels, with extended cotton canvass, whitened by a bright sun, and pure air, float gracefully to and fro. Steam-boats, crowded with passengers, pass with rapidity, while cock-boats, loaded with fish, poultry, and fruit, rest in quietness. Sloops carrying well-formed hay and straw stacks, glide towards New York, while steam-boats tow canal barges and vessels of every description, up and down the river. The surrounding country is also full of interest, abounding in thriving villages and towns, each forming a depôt to the country in their rear; besides villas, academies, hotels, prisons, and forts without number, associated with the history, literature, and improvement of the country. To a citizen of the States, the Hudson is the most interesting, beautiful, and important river in America, and no foreigner of taste can be insensible to its charms.

The scenery of the river Clyde, in my native country, is of a different character. In vegetable decoration, the banks of the Clyde are greatly inferior to those of the Hudson, as well as in soft and picturesque beauty, although some sweet landscapes, such as the bay of Rothesay, are found on the former. But the Hudson is altogether wanting in the rugged blue mountains, so conspicuous from the Clyde, which are the most noble and awe-inspiring objects of nature. I know not whether it is taste or prejudice which makes me prefer the scenery of the Clyde to the Hudson.

On reaching Albany, the bustle and confusion on board the steam-boat, with passengers landing, and porters scrambling for the luggage, was excessive; and there was some difficulty in preserving unauthorized hands from carrying away our effects. We reached the Columbian hotel rather late for breakfast; after which we walked about the town. Things appeared very different from what New York presented: carts, waggons, and carriages, as well as the animals harnessed to them, were greatly inferior. The population did not appear so active, and the eye looked in vain for those ladies whose fashionable attire, interesting countenances, and elegance of feet and ankles, delight the beholder. Our dinner party consisted of upwards of sixty. One gentleman dined in five minutes, reckoned by my stop-watch; the ladies rose from the table at the end of twelve; dinner and dessert occupied about fifteen minutes. The affair seemed an eating race, and my companions not being aware of the rapidity of the pace, were sadly behind. I was amused at a little jockeyship displayed in the contest. An individual, as soon as he seated himself at table, emptied a dish of green pease on his plate, to the evident disappointment of a gentleman on his right hand, and when a fresh supply appeared, he performed the like feat a second time, although part of the first seizure was unconsumed. Few of the party drank wine during dinner, and very little of the brandy which stood on the table, for the use of the company, was used. At tea, a gentleman removed from table in four minutes, but the party generally sat as long as at dinner.

Albany is the capital of the state of New York, containing about twenty thousand inhabitants, and has lately been made a port of entry. From being situated near the outlet of the Erie Canal, which is the channel of commerce with the country to the west and north, and on the line of railway now in progress, which will soon connect Boston with Lake Erie, it is almost certain to rise into importance. It is at present a place of considerable trade, being the seventh or eighth in the union.

Betwixt dinner and tea I took an opportunity of delivering a letter of introduction to a gentleman residing a little to the north of Albany, availing myself of a railway coach proceeding to Schenectady. I chose part of an outside place behind, sufficient to accommodate five individuals of ordinary size, and which was occupied by two beings, half-men, half-boys, sitting cross-legged, and who, by their position and expression of countenance, seemed resolved not to admit a third person. After waiting for some time without speaking a word, I made preparations for taking a place between them; and at last their legs were only withdrawn to escape the weight of my body. I notice this circumstance, trivial in itself, as being the only instance where rudeness, or want of an accommodating spirit was manifested by travellers in the course of my American tour. The gentleman I called on being from home, I returned by the fields to Albany. On my way I saw a grey coloured fox, which appeared larger, and not so active as the red fox of Britain. I observed several women engaged in the fields in weeding, cutting, and planting potatoes, and none of them seemed in poverty, or tinged with black blood. Mr Stuart, in his “Three Years’ Residence in America,” says, women are not allowed to work in the fields, without saying whether the prohibition arises from custom or by law. Women are actively employed in different occupations when their services are wanted, which does not, however, often occur.

Journey from Albany to Boston—New Lebanon—Pittsfield—Road Repairing—The Features of the Country—Rhododendrons—Northampton—Mr Stuart’s Description of Northampton—Stage Passengers—Mode of Courtship—Villages—Agricultural Notices.

My companions and I having left Scotland without fixing on a route by which we were to proceed, I consented to visit the New England States, in order that I might claim their company through the Western States, to which they expressed an aversion. Accordingly we left Albany at two o’clock in the morning, by a stage which carried the mail-bag, crossing the Hudson in a horse ferry-boat, and reaching Nassau, by five, where we breakfasted on indifferent fare. Shortly afterwards we passed New Lebanon, finely situated in a lovely valley, surrounded by picturesque hills, a great part of which belongs to the religious sect denominated Shakers, whose principal establishment is here, and whose garden seeds are justly esteemed throughout North America. New Lebanon is celebrated for mineral waters, chiefly used for bathing; and the hotels afford ample accommodation for visitors. Nine miles beyond New Lebanon is the village of Pittsfield, a clean and beautiful village, reposing in a charming valley. The houses form a spacious square, in the centre of which is a tall aged elm, seemingly a remnant of unsubdued nature. There are several churches and hotels. Here the members of the Berkshire Agricultural Society, the oldest in America, hold their meetings, the first show of which took place in 1807, and consisted of two Merino sheep. We dined at Peru, a miserable country hotel, where bad fare was washed down by worse tea, the first time such a beverage had been presented to us during dinner, and is presented only in inferior hotels. We reached Northampton about six in the evening, having travelled seventy-seven miles in sixteen hours.

This day’s travelling afforded opportunities of seeing the American system of road-mending, or more correctly speaking, road-destroying. A plough, drawn by four, and occasionally six oxen, with two drivers, one man holding by the stilts, and another standing on the beam, is passed along the margins of the road, turning every fifty yards. The loosened earth is then moved to the centre of the road, by men with shovels, or by a levelling-box drawn by oxen, the stones, great and small, being first carefully removed from amongst the earth, and in many instances more were thrown aside than sufficient to Macadamize the road.

The country from Albany, has not an agricultural feature worthy of notice, the soil being chiefly poor sand, interspersed with rocks and innumerable stones. The crops were truly miserable, and the pastures thinly clothed with sheep and cattle, which were invariably lean. Some beautiful cows were seen at Northampton, apparently descended from the North Devon breed of England.

The road in several places was so hilly that the stage passengers walked on foot, which afforded an opportunity of examining much that was interesting. This was one of the happiest days of my life, almost every moving and stationary thing on the earth’s surface being new to me, and the weather fitted for displaying them to the best advantage. Strawberries of different kinds were gathered, tasted, and their seeds preserved. Shrubs and flowers were culled and compared. Insects and birds seemed to vie with each other in displaying brilliant colours; squirrels and woodpeckers of every hue were sporting around the trunks of aged trees, and the snakes were basking in the glorious sunbeams. Nature seemed in jubilee.

The forests through which the road led were strewed with decayed and decaying trees of former ages, and at the same time exhibited living specimens of each variety in every stage of growth, from the seedling budding into existence, to the aged pine, bearing the white and flowing tresses of Spanish moss, so emblematical of hoary and declining man. The flowers of rhododendrons and kalmias were unexpanded on the highest ridges, and opening into beauty in the valleys below, illustrative of the effect of elevation on climate. These plants were growing in all situations, on rocks, deep rich soil, beneath trees, and on exposed banks of rivers. The kalmias with bright red flowers, and white and pink blossomed varieties of rhododendron, were mingled in pleasing groups.

Near Northampton some snow-white rhododendrons, twelve feet in height, rich in blossoms and foliage, were shading cows browsing on the banks of the river, where decaying trunks of pine-trees stood in picturesque combination, like ruins of an ancient castle. After partaking of tea at an excellent hotel, we walked forth to survey the village, which is reckoned the most beautiful in New England. Northampton is extremely irregular, branching into roads leading in all directions. The houses are composed of wood painted white, with green Venetian blinds. The congregational church is a handsome structure, of the same hue and materials as the houses, and cannot fail to attract the notice of strangers, being one of the best specimens of wood and paint that the United States afford. The ranges of houses are enveloped in trees, amongst which are many magnificent elms, members perhaps of the original forest, reducing modern vegetation to insignificance, and affording umbrageous shelter to the inhabitants. The village stands in the rich valley of the Connecticut, and is surrounded by hills rising nearly 1000 feet in height, wooded to the summit, the chief of which is Mount Holyoke.

My impressions of this village, which must be attractive at all times, were perhaps heightened by the circumstances under which it was viewed. A delightful day’s travelling had terminated at a comfortable hotel. The air was luxuriously balmy, and a cloudless sun, on the eve of setting, imparted a rich mellow tint to the face of nature, with which every person of observation, leading a country life, must be familiar, and have experienced how decorative it is to vegetation, and soothingly gratifying to human feelings. The houses, decked in white and green colours, which harmonize in rural scenery, and are associated with purity and shade, so desirable during an American summer, were in keeping with the landscape. In seeking for a comparison to Northampton, memory suggested the village of Dirleton, near to my native place in Scotland. But Dirleton, although associated with some of my best cherished recollections, and containing a picturesque ruin shrouded in ivy, and adorned with shrubbery of unrivalled sweetness, yielded to Northampton in situation, buildings, and vegetable beauty.

Having carried Mr Stuart’s work, “Three Years’ Residence in America,” with us, as a kind of guide-book, for which it is recommended in the author’s preface, we experienced considerable disappointment at being unable to corroborate his description of Northampton. Instead of finding that “much of the pavement and steps are of white marble,” we could only observe a small portion which consisted of red brick. I shall not, however, take upon me to say there is no white marble pavement or steps in the village, but three of us walked about for an hour and a half without discovering a single stone of white marble; we did not, of course, approach villas remotely situated from the public roads, with a view of gratifying our curiosity, but every street, lane, and walk which promised gratification, were explored. His allusions to the vegetable beauties are also unhappy, when he says, “if a traveller in Britain were to stumble on such a place as this, he would not fail to enquire whose great estate was in the neighbourhood, and attribute the decorations of shrubs, flowers, &c., which adorn even the smallest habitations here, to the taste of a wealthy neighbour, or his being obliged to make them to promote electioneering views.” In the streets of Northampton, we numbered three or four bushes of lilac and white pipe, and a few roses, as the amount of shrubs adorning the foreground of houses, and flowers of small size were equally rare. The spaces were generally unmown grass, and in several instances luxuriant thistles and docks excluded light from the apartments. At the back part of the hotel in which we lodged, there was a garden, surrounded with a low ugly wooden fence, and crowded with the gaudiest of flowers, but our general impression was, that the gardens are ill kept, void of beauty, and unworthy of the place. I would require no better illustration of the small progress the inhabitants of the United States have made in gardening than Northampton, where man hath long resided, and done so little to improve the exquisite beauties of nature.

We left Northampton at three o’clock next morning, and passed the bridge and valley of Connecticut before daybreak, breakfasting at Balchertown, and passing through Ware and Brookfield to Worcester, where we dined, and reached Boston Tremont hotel in the evening.

The stage passengers, in course of the day, were intelligent, communicative, and agreeable companions, polite during meals, and frequently asking others to partake of the dishes they distributed. A gentleman asked me if the old mode of courting in Scotland was still practised—when, after the consent of the lady’s parents had been obtained, she was mounted on horseback, and her suitor placed in a similar situation, and if he could not overtake the fair one, it was considered a refusal. I laughed heartily, and assured him it was the first time I had heard of such a custom existing in my country, which, in all probability, never existed there, and could not now, as most of the youth of both sexes were denied the luxury of riding, by a heavy tax on saddle-horses. He rejoined, with an air of astonishment—“What! horses taxed! Does any thing escape government? Would a man having a nose longer than his companion’s be taxed for it?” I answered, “if he filled it with snuff—a practice very common amongst my countrymen—he would be taxed.”

The villages through which we passed presented the same characters—white wooden houses with green Venetian blinds, and every thing wearing the appearance of cleanliness, order, and comfort.

The use of wood for fuel, the machinery of the manufacturing villages—and all of them may be termed such—being propelled by water, and the absence of coal smoke, contribute, in no small degree, to the external cleanliness of the houses and garments of the inhabitants. Manufacturing establishments were conspicuous in every direction, and innumerable bundles of rye straw were bleaching around the cottages—the manufacturing of straw hats to an immense extent being carried on in this district.

We passed the workmen employed at the Boston and Worcester railway, at present in progress, and which, it is said, will ultimately be extended to Albany. Agriculture furnishes little of interest, the soil is poor, and the crops partaking of its character—rye being the prevailing crop. Small patches of Indian corn were observed, nearly destroyed by frost; and the pastures were inferior. In the neighbourhood of Worcester, many of the fences consist of stone walls. Within a few miles of Boston five or six men were engaged in throwing peats out of a bog, seemingly for the purpose of fuel.

The horses observed on the roads were lean and inferior. Draught oxen seemed in good condition, and of large size. Many of the cows were finely formed, of a deep red colour, with dark faces. Barberry, elder, and alder were growing plentifully in a state of nature. The rhododendron seemed to occupy the place of furze in Scotland—the kalmia that of heath.