2m 



UNITED STATES 



counties, there are large tracts of a white clay, bear- 

 ing oak and pine, and so fiat that they require to be 

 drained ; and on those lands some of the whitest and 

 finest wheat is raised. In many places on the waters 

 there are immense banks of oyster- shells, which are 

 an inexhaustible fund of manure. In Kent, Queen 

 Anne's, Talbot, and Caroline counties, retired from 

 the waters^ the grounds are flat, and mixed with 

 small ponds of stagnated waters, the soil sandy, and 

 veiy indifferent ; the wood consists of small oak and 

 hickory. The soil of the county of Cecil, particularly 

 of the manor of Bohemia, was originally luxuriant, 

 but, by long cultivation without manure, it is now 

 much reduced. Between Susquehannah and Elk 

 rivers, the l?vnd is hilly and broken, and the soil ge- 

 nerally thin and cold. The soil of the county of Fre- 

 derick is very rich. 



Soil of Virginia* 



The whole country of Virginia, between the head 

 of the tide-waters, about 100 miles from the sea, is 

 level, and exhibits every appearance of having, in 

 former times, been covered with the sea. 



The soil is very various : above the mountains it 

 is extremely rich, and yields not only great crops of 

 grain, but also of grass, in excellent meadows. Be- 

 tween the blue ridge and tide-water, is the tobacco 

 country. In the peninsula, the soil is sandy and ex- 

 tremely barren, but has greatly ameliorated within a 

 few years, in consequence of the cultivation of the 

 cassia chamsecrista or magothy bay bean.* 



The northtjrn neck of Virginia, situated between 

 the Potowmac and Rappahanoc rivers, with the ex* 

 ception of some few spots only, is flat and sandy, and^ 

 * See the cjti^pt^r on thf vegetans of tlie Unitecl States. 



