RETURN FROM PITTSBURG 349 



the Patapsco had for many miles around eaten up all 

 the wood, which was just now beginning to grow 

 again. Forges and other wood-consuming works will 

 at length be impossible of maintenance here, the wood 

 being taken off without any order or principle of 

 selection, and the second growth in this poor and 

 sandy country starting up slowly. The land would 

 have a still balder look, did not the forests consist 

 largely in sprout-shooting leaf-wood. Eight miles 

 from Baltimore we passed the Patapsco at a ferry, and 

 beyond the river kept on through monotonous woods, 

 very little cultivated land to be seen along the road. 

 The maize appeared everywhere in bad condition, 

 small, and thin like the soil ; and besides, late frosts 

 and the general dry weather had very much held it 

 back. The roads are, or are intended to be, kept up 

 at the public cost, but are nowhere well cared for. 

 The tendance is left to heaven. Bridges and ferries 

 we passed today were almost all of them impracticable. 

 So long as anything will do in a measure, people in 

 America give themselves no further trouble. The 

 country through which we came was hilly, showing the 

 same species of rock as that around Baltimore. We 

 arrived late at Bladensburgh whither it is counted 35 

 miles from Baltimore. 



In two or three public houses at which we stopped 

 on the way we found much company. It was about 

 the time for the election of the new members of the 

 Maryland Assembly, and the curiosity and interest of 

 all the inhabitants were aroused. Already in private 

 companies the debate was over the business the new 

 Assembly would have to be concerned with. One of 

 the most important matters at their next sitting will 



