I had contemplated taking my passage at Albany, on board a canal boat; but was dissuaded therefrom in consequence of the tediousness of the passage, to _Schenectady_, having to surmount an elevation of _forty_ locks, in a distance of twenty-eight miles, and occupying twenty-four hours. I therefore took my seat in the stage for Schenectady, distance fifteen miles by turnpike, fare sixty-two cents. There are now running between the two last-named places, upwards of _thirty_ four-horse stages, (quite a match, if not superior to the Philadelphia and New York Union line stages,) which go and return daily, generally well crowded. This may serve to give an idea of the trade of Albany with the west. I left the city about ten A. M., making one of nine tolerably large men, of which, by the way, I must confess, I was rather more than the average size. Our course was west, along Washington street, which extends not much short of two miles, thickly set with houses. After leaving the suburbs of Albany, we entered what are called the _Pine Plains_, but which in justice should be called the _Albany Desert_--for, of all miserable, sterile, sandy, barren wastes that ever I beheld, not even excepting _Mount Misery_, it caps the climax. Nor is there a single object to relieve the eye, to interest the traveller, or to merit attention, until you arrive at Schenectady, save the uniform straightness of the turnpike, (which is very good,) and a row of large, towering Lombardy poplars, about forty feet apart, on the north side of the road, in a direct line for the whole distance of fifteen miles. An interesting looking little boy, who was on the outside seat with the driver, enumerated them until upwards of 1000, when he grew somewhat tired, and gave it up as dull sport. I inquired of a passenger the object of planting them. He replied that he supposed their roots would be some security to the road, and prevent its being blown away!--and, indeed, there was some reason in his strange solution, as the open spaces on either side were drifted in large banks. _Extract No. 2_