, oats and potatoes flourish
upon them. Never can I forget the first time I entered White Pigeon
Prairie. Sleeping beneath the shadows of sunset, as it was, the effect
upon me was like that which is felt on first beholding the
ocean,--overpowering awe. All that the poet has said about these
gardens of the desert is true.

"Burr Oak Plains. The only difference between these and the oak
openings, is the character of the trees and the evenness of their
surface. The soil is a mixture of sand and black loam. They have the
appearance of cultivated orchards, or English parks; and on places
where the foot of the white man has never trod, a carriage and four
could easily pass through. They produce both wheat and corn.

"The wet prairies have the appearance of submerged land. In them the
grass is often six or seven feet high. They are the resort of
water-fowl, muskrats, and otters.

"But the best and most fertile soil in Michigan is that designated by
the title of timbered land. It costs more to prepare it for the
plough, but when once the soil is sown it yields a thousand-fold. And
with regard to their beauty and magnificence, the innumerable forests
of this State are not surpassed by any in the world, whether we
consider the variety or grandeur of their production. This timber is
needed for prairie States, Lake cities, and exports.

"A friend of mine, now residing in western Michigan, and who once
spent several years in Europe, thus writes respecting this region:

"'Oh, such trees as we have here! Magnificent, tall, large-leafed,
umbrageous. Vallombrosa, the far-famed Vallombrosa of Tuscany, is
nothing to the thousand Vallombrosas here! A fig for your Italian
scenery! This is the country where nature reigns in her virgin beauty;
where trees grow, where corn grows; where men grow better than they do
anywhere else in the world. This is the land to study nature in all
her luxuriant charms, under glorious green branches, among singing
birds and laughing streams; this is the land to hear the cooing of the
turtle-dove, in far, deep, cool, sylvan bowers; to feel your soul
expand under the mighty influences of nature in her primitive beauty
and strength.'

"The principal inland rivers of Michigan, are the Grand River, the
Kalamazoo, the St. Joseph, the Saginaw, and the Raisin. The first
three empty into Lake Michigan, and are about seventy miles apart.
Their average length is about two hundred and fifty miles, and they
are abou