It Is
Surprising That The Excellence Of That Soil Which Lies On The River
Should Not Have Caused It To Be Filled Before Now With Inhabitants;
For The Settlements From Thence To Penobscot Are As Yet But In Their
Infancy.
It is true that immense labour is required to make room for
the plough, but the peculiar strength and quality of the soil never
fails most amply to reward the industrious possessor; I know of no
soil in this country more rich or more fertile.
I do not mean that
sort of transitory fertility which evaporates with the sun, and
disappears in a few years; here on the contrary, even their highest
grounds are covered with a rich moist swamp mould, which bears the
most luxuriant grass, and never-failing crops of grain.
If New Gardens exceeds this settlement by the softness of its
climate, the fecundity of its soil, and a greater variety of produce
from less labour; it does not breed men equally hardy, nor capable
to encounter dangers and fatigues. It leads too much to idleness and
effeminacy; for great is the luxuriance of that part of America, and
the ease with which the earth is cultivated. Were I to begin life
again, I would prefer the country of Kennebeck to the other, however
bewitching; the navigation of the river for above 200 miles, the
great abundance of fish it contains, the constant healthiness of the
climate, the happy severities of the winters always sheltering the
earth with a voluminous coat of snow, the equally happy necessity of
labour:
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