UNITED STATES. 



119 



11. Agriculture. The vegetable productions of the United States are exceedingly various; 



there are some, however, com- 

 mon to every section of the 

 Union. Maize, or Indian corn, 

 an indigenous American plant, 

 is cultivated from Maine to 

 Louisiana, but succeeds best 

 in the Western and IMiddle 

 States. It is adapted to a 

 greater variety of soils and 

 situations than wheat, and yields 

 generally double the produce : 

 land of the first quality has 

 been known to give 100 bush- 

 els to an acre. Wheat is also 

 cultivated from one extremity 

 of the Union to the other, but 

 of superior quality in the Mid- 

 dle and Western States. The 

 cultivation of tobacco begins in 



Maryland, about the parallel of 39^ or 40^, and continues through all the Southern States, and 

 in the Western States, chiefly south of the Ohio. It forms the staple of Maryland and Vir- 

 ginia, where it is raised to a greater extent than in any other part of the Union. Beside the 

 large quantity made into snufF, cigars, and manufactured tobacco in the country, about 90,000 

 hhds. are annually exported. The soil and climate favorable for cotton are not found beyond 

 37°, though it can be raised as far north as 39° on both sides of the Alleghanies. It was first 

 cultivated for exportation in 1791, and is raised from the Eoanoke to the Sabine, forming the 

 staple of the Southern and Southwestern States. In ISOOthe cotton crop was 35,000,000 lbs. ; 

 at present it is 430,000,000, of which about four fifths are exported. The rice crops require 

 great heat and a marshy soil, commence about the same parallel with the cotton, and have 

 nearly the same geographical range. Rice is cultivated to a great extent in the Carolinas, 

 Georgia, &c., Louisiana, and as high as St. Louis in Missouri. The sugar-cane grows in low 

 and warm situations as high as the latitude of 33° ; but the climate favorable for its production 

 does not extend beyond 31° 30'. It is now cultivated to a great extent in Louisiana ; about 

 700 plantations in that State producing 80,000 hogsheads of 1,000 pounds each. Oats, rye, 

 and barley, are raised in all the Northern, and in the upper districts of the Southern States. 

 Hemp, flax, and hops, are produced of an excellent quality. Hemp grows naturally in the 

 Western States, and hops in the Western and Middle States. The vine has been successfully 

 cultivated in various parts of the Union, and the mulberry-tree grows spontaneously, and has 

 been extensively planted of late years. Fruits of all kinds of the temperate and tropical 

 climates, and the cuhnary vegetables which have been introduced from Europe, thrive here. 

 The dairy and grazing are also important resources in some parts of the country, and great 

 quantities of beef and pork are raised for exportation, particularly in the West. The number 

 of sheep in the United States has been estimated at about 20,000,000, yielding about 

 50,000,000 lbs. of wool annually. 



12. Commerce. The United States are the second commercial power in the world, their 

 maritime navigation being inferior only to that of Great Britain, while no country in the world 

 displays such a length of internal navigable channels, natural and artificial. The amount of 

 sliipping owned in the United States is about 2,000,000 tons, independently of a great numbei 

 of large river boats, which navigate the great rivers of the south and west, and the numerous 

 coal-boats of the Pennsylvania waters. Such has been of late years the rapid growth of manu- 

 factures, the great developement of internal resources, and the extension of inland navigation, 

 that the coasting trade has steadily increased at a rapid rate, while the foreign trade has been 

 nearly stationary. The annual value of imports is from seventy-five to a hundred million 

 dollars ; of exports about eighty millions, of which twenty are articles of foreign produce, and 

 the remainder of domestic. The principal articles of domestic produce exported are cotton, 

 to the vahie of '§40,000,000; bread stuffs $ 12,000,000; tobacco $6,000,000; rice 

 ^2,000,000; timber, naval stores, and pot and pearl ashes, &c. $3,000,000; dried and 



