204 



UNITED STATES. 



Soil of Delaware, 



The state of Delaware, the upper parts of the 

 county of New Castle excepted, is, to speak gene- 

 rally, extremely low and level. Large quantities of 

 stagnant water, at particular seasons of the year, 

 overspreading a great proportion of the land, render 

 it equally unfit for the purposes of agriculture, and 

 injurious to the health of the inhabitants. The spine, 

 or highest ridge of the peninsula, runs through the 

 state of Delaware, inclined to the eastern or Dela- 

 ware side. It is designated in Sussex, Kent, and 

 part of New Castle county, by a remarkable chaiii 

 of swamps, from \yhich the waters descend on eack 

 side, passing, on the east, to the Delaware, and oa 

 the west, to the Chesapeake. Many of the shrubs 

 and plants, growing in these swamps, are similar tov 

 those found on the highest mountains. 



Delaware is chiefly an agricultural state. It in- 

 cludes a very fertile tract of country; and scarcely any 

 part of the union can be selected more adapted to the 

 different purposes of agriculture, or in which a great 

 variety of the most useful productions, can be so con- 

 veniently and plentifully reared. The soil along 

 the Delaware river, and from eight to ten miles into 

 the interior country, is generally a rich clay, produc- 

 ing large timber, and well adapted to the various 

 purposes of agriculture. Thence to the swamps 

 above-mentioned, the soil is light, sandy, and of an 

 inferior quality. 



The general aspect of the country is veiy favoura- 

 ble for cultivation. Excepting some of the upper 

 parts of the county of New Castle, the surface cf the 



