218 



MTODLE STATES. 



not raised, and therefore they are little used, in New England. The sweet potatoe, which is 

 very nutritious and productive, is much used in New Jersey and the States south of it. It is 

 best plainly roasted or boiled, though it is often made into puddings or pies. A very favorite 

 and delicious cake is also made of the buckwheat flour. It is eaten hot, and with a great deal 

 of butter. This flour is sent to all the States, but the true art of making the hest cakes seems 

 harder to be communicated. In the southern part of the Middle States, hominy is much used. 

 It is made of a coarse meal of Indian corn, boiled to a consistency, and is generally eaten with 

 butter. Less fish is consumed than in New England, except the shad, which are excellent, 

 and so abundant that many barrels full are sometimes taken at a haul. Much beer is drank, and 

 there is, perhaps, not a large town in the Middle States that has not one or more breweries ;; 

 the abundance of porter and beer has effected a great diminution in the consumption of ardent 

 spirits. Whiskey is the most common of the distilled spirits, and perhaps the least ruinous, 

 though it is but too cheap for the good of the community. The custom, however, of taking 

 juleps^ or raw spirits, in which mint is crushed, is not very common in the Middle utates. 



15. Traveling. The grand rivers and bays of the Middle States afford excellent facilities 

 for steamboats, and in many parts the roads are excellent for stagecoaches.* In other parts, 

 however, the roads are so bad, and the coaches so little easy, that a traveller compares them 

 to the tub of Regulus, without the nails. The traveling by steam is expeditious, easy, and 

 cheap. The boats are hotels, in which there is much comfort and splendor. There is, how- 

 ever, too much danger, and the loss of life by explosions has been grievous. Accidents have 

 generally been traced to careless management, and they do not seem necessarily to belong to 

 the system. As the great northwestern lakes are united by a canal with the Hudson River, a 

 safe and pleasant mode of traveling is much used through the State of New York in canal- 

 boats. Though they move but four miles an hour, yet, going night and day, the progress is L-wn- 

 siderable. During the latter part of summer, the number of persons who travel in steamboats 

 between New. York and Albany is immense. One boat will often have 400, and sometimes 

 500 on board ; many of these visit the springs at Saratoga, and others proceed westward on 

 the fashionable tour to Niagara Falls. At this time the canal-boats are crowded, and the great 

 roads are thronged with stagecoaches, whirling through the beautiful towns and villages which 

 are situated upon them. Food and lodging are furnished in the canal-boats, which are neatly 

 fitted up. On the great roads leading from Baltimore or Philadelphia to the Western States, 

 the number of travelers is immense. It seems, when so many are collected in these narrow 

 defiles, that half mankind are migrating westward. From the two last-named cities, there are 

 hundreds of large wagons whh four and six horses, and these are frequently hired to carry the 

 emigrants and their goods. Some purchase horses and lighter wagons, which can be sold at 

 some discount in the West, and large companies are continually to be seen traveling in this way, 

 and associating for mutual convenience. They rest at night under shelter of the woods, sleep 

 in their wagons or under them, and cook in the open air. Others again are seen walking slowly 

 but confidently to the land of promise. Many generations go together ; the aged grandsire 

 leaning on his staff', his son in the prime of manhood, and his grandchildren, of which the 

 youngest is often strapped to the back of the eldest. There is scarcely a group that is not a 

 picture, and it is hardly possible to look on the road and not see a group. The " movers " 



Btreak for a foot above and below many of the auger-holes. 

 The great miracle is, that a single sugnr-tree is alive in 

 Bedford; but the Almighty Fabricator of the Universe 

 has, in his infinite wisdom and beneficence, bestovv'ed on 

 this precious tree a tenacity of life truly wonderful. 

 Though every year assaulted by the axe, the auger, or by 

 fire, it clings to existence, and yields to its ungrateful 

 possessor a luxury and necessary of life, wlilch but for it 

 would command a price, which would debar its use from 

 the poor. The averacre price of maple sugar is from six 

 to ten cents per pound." — Description of Bedford County, 

 Pennsylvania, from the Jlinerican Farmer. 



* The following are the remarks of a foreign traveler, 

 and relate to the stages and steamboats between New 

 York and Philadelphia. 



" Both stages and steamboats often belong to one line. 

 In the former vehicles, the passengers are disposed of by a 

 very simple and quiet process, and with an expedition 

 that marks all the movements of this active people. \ou 

 are only to imagine a hundred passengers arrivintr with 



their baggage at a point of debarkation, whence in- less 

 than ten minutes of time they were to proceed in coaches, 

 to fancy the uproar and confusion that would occur in 

 most countries. The steamboat lines, as they are called, 

 manage the matter differently. Some little time before 

 the boat arrives, the passengers give in their names, and 

 receive in turn tickets, wliicli bear the numbers of the 

 coaches in wliich they are to proceed. Yr)U will readily 

 suppose that all classes of people are to be found traveling 

 in these public and cheap conveyances ; some little ad- 

 dress is therefore necessary to dispose of an assemblage 

 which is so motley, and where the members are of neces- 

 sity to be in such familiar contact In one or two instan- 

 ces I heard requests urged, that families or parties might 

 be placed together, and several changes weie made in 

 order to accommodate the applicants. There were two 

 or three vehicles filled with joily sons of the ocean, who 

 appeared to relish each other's society betler than they 

 would have relished ours, and the carriage in the reai 

 brought on a dark body of the descendants of Ham."' 



