AGRICULTURAL SKETCHES. 221' 



A BIRDSEYE VIEW OF THE VEGETABLE PRODUCTrONS, CLIMATE, 

 SOIL, AND AGRICULTURE OF THE DIFFERENT COUNTRIES OF THE 

 AMERICAN CONTINENT. 



BY C. N. BEMENT. 



I United States. 



The vegetable productions of the United States are exceedingly 

 arious : there are some, however, connmon to every section of the 

 _ Fnion. Maize, or Indian corn, an indigenous American plant, is 

 :ultivated from Maine to Louisiana, but succeeds best in the Wes- 

 ern and Middle States. It is adapted to a greater variety of soils 

 md situations than wheat, and yields generally double the produce : 

 and of the first ({uality, and in a h^h state of cultivation, has been 

 mown to give over one hundred bushels to the acre. Wheat is also 

 jultivaied from one extremity of the Union to the other, but of 

 uperior quality in the Middle and Western States. The cultivation 

 )f tobacco begins in Maryland, about the parallel of 39°, and con- 

 inues through all the Southern States, and in the Western States, 

 ;hiefly south of the Ohio. It forms the staple of Maryland and 

 iTirginia, where it is raised to a greater extent than in any other part 

 >f the Union, Besides the large quantity made into snuff, segars, 

 md manufactured tobacco in the country, 90,000 hogsheads are 

 nnually exported. The soil and climate favorable for cotton are not 

 ound beyond 37°, though it can be raised as far north as 39° on 

 >olh sides of the Alleghanies. It was first cultivated for exportation 

 n 1791, and is raised from the Roanoke to the Sabine, forming the 

 taple of the Southern and Southwestern States. Rice crops require 

 [real heat and a marshy soil, and are cultivated to a great extent in 

 le Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, and as high as St. 

 lOuis in Missouri. The sugar cane grows in low and warm situa- 

 ions, as high as the latitude of 33° ; but the climate favorable for 

 ts production does not extend beyond 31° or 30° : It is now culti- 

 'ated to a great extent in Louisiana. Oats, rye and barley are raised 

 all the Northern, and in the upper districts of the Southern States, 

 lemp, flax, and hops, are produced of an excellent quality. Hemp 

 [TOWS naturally in the Western States, and hops in the Western 

 lud Middle States. The vine has been successfully cultivated in 

 'arious parts of the Union ; and the mulberry tree grows sponta- 

 leously, and has been extensively planted of late years. Fruits of 



