ENPages
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they answer better than the English can send them
The Horses are excellent being the most hardy in the word very great numbers are exported to the West Indies and else-where.
New York
The Colony of New York lies between latitude 41º and 44º which is partly the same parralel as New England yet it is attended with a different climate in some respects but in every Circumstance superior since there are productions which will not thrive in New England which do admirally here not owing to the greater heat / for New
England
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England is as hot as New York / but to a better and more salubrious Air. The spring in New York is earlier and the Autumn later the summer is long and warm indeed sometimes the heat is great but rarely oppressive. The Winter is severe but Short it is not so sharp as in New England and they have in general a clear bright sky in winter the snow lies deep and for two or three months they travel on it in sledges both here and in New England in the manner that is common in the northern parts of Europe.
Sometimes indeed the Cold is extraordinary great of which Dr. Mitchell gives an instance
By observations says he made in January 1765 by the Master of the Colledge at New York Fahrenheits thermometer fell 6 degrees below 0 which is 21 degrees below 15º the greatest cold in
England
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England. Water then frose instantly and even strong Liquors in a very short time and we are told it is not uncommon there to see a glass of water on a table in a warm room freeze before you can drink it &c.
The soil of the Province is in general very good. On the coast it is sandy but backwards they have noble tracts of rich black mould red loam and friable clays with mixtures of these sorts in great varieties. At some miles distance from the sea the Country swells into fine hills and ridges which are all covered with forest trees and the soil on many of these is rich and deep an advantage not common in poor countries -
The River Hudson which is navigable to Albany and of such breadth and depth as to carry large Sloops with its branches on both sides intersect the whole country and renders it both pleasant & Convenient
The
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The Banks of this great river have a prodigious variety in some places there are gently swelling Hills covered with plantations and farms in others towering mountains spread over with thick forests - here you have nothing but abrupt rocks of vast magnitude which seem shivered in two to let the river pass the immense cliffs there you see cultivated vales bounded by hanging forests and the distant view compleated by the bleu mountains raising their heads above the Clouds. In the midst of this variety of scenery of such grand and expressive character the River Hudson flows equal in many places to the Thames at London and in some much broader.
The shores of the American Rivers are so often a line of swamps and marshes that of Hudson is not without them but in general it passes through a fine high dry and bold country which is
equally
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equally beautifull and wholsome.
In general the soil of this province exceeds that of New England beside the variety already mentioned there is on Long Island sands that are made quite fertile with Oyster Shells a fish caught there in prodigious quantities. They have the same effect as shell make in Scotland.
The productions of New York in general are the same as those of New England with an exception of some fruits that will not thrive in the latter country but almost evey article is of a superior Quality. This is very shocking in wheat of which they raise in New England as I have already observed very little that is good whereas in New York their wheat is equal to any in America or indeed in the world and they export immense quantities of it whereas New England can hardly supply her own Consumption.
They