16 EMIGRATION, OR 



know its value, or else it will not pay for the trouble, as 

 such large quantities are seen lying about the town, treading 

 to waste. It is said the machinery of several mills about 

 Baltimore, is some of the finest in the world ; a large steam 

 mill, at one of the wharfs, takes the wheat out of the holds 

 of vessels by a screw, grinds it, dresses it, and barrels it, 

 with hardly the least intervention of human labour. In 

 quired the price of some rich land that was advertised to let, 

 belonging to a prudent Scotchman, and was asked 31. 3s. 

 per acre, a-year; he said it would produce from 1000 to 

 1400 bushels of potatoes per acre; it was rather singular, 

 I replied, inasmuch as at a late agricultural meeting, a crop 

 of only 250 bushels obtained a premium. In Market Street 

 there are the remains of two triumphal arches erected in 

 honour of General Lafayette, on his visit to this city. The 

 people where I lodge, had what they call a &quot; quilting frolic,&quot; 

 where a number of neighbours came to quilt, by invitation. 

 A South American brig just refitted here, commanded by a 

 Baltimore captain, who is considered but little better than a 

 pirate. A frigate is just lying on the stocks, to be built 

 for the same power, which causes a considerable demand for 

 ship carpenters, and rise in wages now giving from 7s. to 

 9s. per day, without board, the trade having been very flat 

 before; Baltimore ships are allowed to be the fastest sailers 

 in the United States, and perhaps in the world; they are 

 built very sharp, as it is termed, and are called clippers. 



Feb. 14. Valentine s day, in which Cupid holds court here 

 as well as in England. There was some sharp weather at 

 the beginning of the month, but the harbour has not been 

 frozen over through the winter so as to stop trade, which 

 .is rather singular, I am told. The air continues cool, but 

 the sun at times is very warm ; the thermometer 50, in 

 the house ; dirty unsettled weather of late; ducking parties 

 often made, when four or five, or more persons, with three 

 or four days provision, get a small vessel and some skiffs, 

 and go down the bay to the islands, where they place them 

 selves, and perhaps bag a hundred or twq hundred in a day. 



March7. General M Donald, an old revolutionary officer, 

 having advertised for a superintendant over his farms, I 

 made application, with an anxious and palpitating heart, for 

 the humble situation; and yet (as I feared) I was rejected ; 

 I did not suit, not having a wife to look after the dairy, nor 

 having been acquainted with the American methods of farm- 



