310 
Georgia, but succeeds best.in the mid- 
dle or western divisions, Sugar from 
the maple is made, principally in the 
western country, to an amount of more 
than 10,000,000 of pounds; wheat in 
immense quantities is raised in Mary- 
land, Pennsylvania, and the Western 
States, and nearly a million of bushels 
are annually exported ; tobacco grows 
in Maryland, Virginia, and Kentucky, 
and the quantity exported has been in 
some years as high as 80,000 hogsheads 
raw, and 1,000,000 of pounds manufac- 
tured. Cotton is cultivated from North 
Carolina to Tennessee, and is the prin- 
cipal export of the United States. About 
100,000,000 of pounds are annually 
sent to foreign countries. The sugar 
cane grows. in Georgia ‘and Louisiana ; 
about 20,000,000 of pounds of raw sugar 
are annually raised, and the cultivation 
of this tropical production is yearly ex- 
tending. Almost all the productions of 
Europe (including wine and olives) suc- 
ceed well in some of the states. 
Of the minerals of America, ‘tron, 
coal, lime, and salt, exist in great abun- 
dance, particularly in the middle and 
western states. The manufactures of 
iron amount to about a million sterling 
in value ; coal is found in the Lehigh in 
considerable quantities, and forms im- 
mense beds near Richmond in Virginia, 
where steam-engines are employed to 
work the mines. But the grand region 
of coal is beyond the Alleghanies, almost 
every hill abounds in it from Pittsburgh 
to the Miame, a distance of 500 miles, 
and traces of it are found from the Ohio 
to the rocky mountains. Sa/t is manu- 
factured from saline springs all over 
the western country, and coal is gene- 
rally employed for this purpose. At 
the depth of 300 feet, strong lime is 
found in all the track of country from 
Pittsburgh to St. Louis. Lead is found 
_in almost all the states, but is princi- 
pally wrought on the Merrimac River 
near St. Genevieve, on the Mississippi, 
where several millions of pounds are 
annually extracted from the ore. Con- 
stant lead dlossoms, or traces of the ore, 
appear for 200 miles above St. Louis, 
and the Indian tribes bring down, quan- 
tities of the metal from places still more 
remote. 
Of the: wild animals, few are now 
found in ‘the settled parts of America, 
and scarcely any that are’ dangerous. 
The raccoon is found in many states, 
but abounds most in the Alleghany 
mountains; it is an animal larger than 
a fox, much resembling the bear, and is 
Milbank Penitentiary. 
(Nov. 1, 
very good eating. The martin, mink, 
(a kind of otter) and weasel, have no- 
thing peculiar in their habits; the skunk 
(polecat) is about eighteen inches long, 
with a fox-like tail, and is particularly 
obnoxious on account of the horrid. 
smell it produces. when. irritated ; the 
French Canadians call it the devil’s boy 
(Penfant du diable.). The wolves and: 
foxes resemble those of Europe. , The, 
panther, painter, or jaguar, has much 
resemblance to a cat, and is Sometimes 
of the weight of one hundred pounds. 
The Virginian oppossum is a very small 
species, eaten by the Indians. | Squirrels 
of various kinds abound in the western: 
states. They sometimes emigrate from 
Illinois to the Alleghanies, particularly 
when the nuts. are plentiful in the moun- 
tains; and.in crossing over the rivers 
on their way, thousands of them are 
killed by the farmers, who reckon them 
delicioys food. There are many other 
wild animals in the unsettled regions 
beyond the Mississippi; the above are 
those most common throughout the 
states. 
SS ST ee 
PENITENTIARY PRISON, MILBANK.’ 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
Sir, 
S the columns of your. valuable 
miscellany are usually devoted to 
subjects connected with civil economy 
and general police, I consider it a 
proper vehicle for a few. observa- 
tions that have occurred to me_ on 
the construction and management of 
the metropolitan prisons. I shall at 
present confine myself to that called 
the/Penitentiary at Milbank, which was, 
I believe, the first of its kind. For al- 
though Howard contributed, to the im- 
provement of many of our provincial 
prisons; yet, that important object, 
constant employment, was not. duly 
considered by him. — > 
The design of the Milbank prison com- 
prehended all the most essential objects, 
but like most of our public works, it de- 
generated in its execution. The arrange- 
ment of the buildings for the various pur- 
poses of security, vigilant-inspection, 
cleanliness and salubrity, employment, 
and even exercise and recreation, are 
all admirable. But why. place sueh an 
edifice in a quagmire ! It would perhaps 
be impossible, within ten miles of town, 
‘to find a place in every respect more 
unfit for such an object, with the single 
exception of contiguity to the metro- 
polis; but it is not only in the selec- 
tion of the ground that this public job 
claims 
