MARYLAND. 



275 



ulation, 3,500. JVilliamsport and Cumberland arc small but flourishing villages on the Poto- 

 mac, in the; western part of the State. 



5. Agriculture. Agriculture is the principal occupation of the inhabitants. Indian corn 

 and wheat are the agricultural staples of the Eastern Shore, but the latter, under the present 

 system of cultivation, is so precarious a resource, that the former may be said to be the most 

 important product. The same articles, with tobacco, are the staples of the western section, 

 and on the newly cleared lands of the mountainous district, where the cultivation of tobacco 

 has lately been commenced, the bright leaf staple is produced. The fine tracts in this district, 

 called the Glades, are broad, moist valleys, forming productive meadows and luxuriant pastures. 

 Of 34,105 hogsheads of tobacco inspected in Baltimore in 1836, 24,930 were of the jiroduce 

 of the State ; the flour inspected in the same city that year, amounted to 516,600 barrels and 

 21,333 half-barrels, together witli 1,405 hogsheads and 4,301 barrels of Indian meal, and 

 4,807 barrels of rye flour. Rice and cotton have been raised in the southern counties, but 

 only in small quanthies, and the pahna christi or castor-oil bean is found to thrive. 



6. JWanuJactures. The manufactures of Maryland are various and pretty extensive, though 

 less so than in the more northern States ; our information in respect to the amount and valu<" 

 of the products is extremely meagre and unsatisfactory, but they include cotton and woolen 

 goods, iron ware, sheet copper, leather, pottery, and stone ware, paper, gunpowder, glass, 

 chemicals, &c. The number of cotton-mills is about 30, with upwards of 60,000 spindles, 

 producing annually 1,500,000 pounds of yarn, and 10,000,000 yards of cloth. There are some 

 woolen factories, producing broadcloths, cassimeres, satinets, carpets, &c. There are annu- 

 ally produced in the State 1,200,000 pounds of Epsom salt, made from the magnesian earth 

 associated with serpentine ; chrome yellow, of the value of 50,000 dollars ; 50,000 pounds of 

 blue vitriol from the black earth of the Monocacy valley, which is a mixture of sulphuret of 

 copper, iron ore, and manganese ; red and yellow ochre, of the value of 2,000 dollars ; coppe- 

 ras, of the value of 6,000 dollars ; 75,000 dollars worth of alum, and 50,000 dollars worth of 

 fire-brick. Pottery, stone ware, and glazed ware are exported, and other branches of manu- 

 facturing and mechanical industry are successfully prosecuted. 



7. Commerce. Fisheries. The herring, shad, and oyster fisheries are actively carried on, 

 and yield valuable returns, constituting an important article of trade as well as of home con- 

 sumption. There were inspected in Baltimore in 1835,40,711 barrels and 908 half barrels 

 of herrings, 5,505 barrels and 287 half barrels of shad, and 1,662 half barrels of mackerel. 

 The commerce of Maryland is extensive, and her ports serve as the outlets of large tracts of 

 productive country in Virginia, Pennsylvania, and the Western States, whose consumption is 

 also in part supplied through the same channels. The direct imports from foreign countries 

 amount to 6,000,000 dollars ; the exports to 4,500,000, and the coasting trade, consisting in 

 the exchange of northern manufactures and foreign articles imported directly into northern 

 ports, for the agricultural produce of this and the neighboring States, is also extensive. The 

 shipping owned in the State amounts to 110,000 tons. Lumber, marble, granite, feathers, 

 clipper-built vessels, &c., are to be added to the list of exports. 



8. Government. The legislature consists of a Senate and House of Delegates. The sen- 

 ators are chosen for 6 years, by electors, who are chosen by the counties and the city of Balti- 

 more. The delegates are elected annually. The Governor is chosen by the people for three 

 years. Sufirage is universal. Maryland sends 8 representatives to Congress. 



9. Religion. The Roman Catholics are numerous in this State, and they have an arch- 

 bishop, who is the metropolitan of the United States ; their churches amount to 60. The 

 Episcopalians have 60 preachers ; the Presbyterians 25 ; the Baptists 20 ; the German Re- 

 formed 9. There are also Methodists, Unitarians, Swedenborgians, Lutherans, Friends, &c. 



10. Education. The University of J\Iaryland grew out of a medical college at Baltimore, 

 and received its charter in 1812. It has 11 instructors. St. Mary's College at Baltimore, is 

 a Catholic institution, founded in 1799 ; it has 25 instructors, 200 students, and a library of 

 12,000 volumes. The college at Mount St. Mary., near Emmittsburg, is also a Catholic in- 

 stitution, and was founded in 1830. It has 25 instructors, 130 students, and a library of 7,000 

 volumes. 8l. John''s College., at Annapolis, was founded in 1784 ; it has 7 instructors, 100 

 students, and a library of 2,100 volumes. 



11. History. Maryland was first settled by Catholics. That sect being persecuted in 

 England, Lord Baltimore, one of its members, formed a plan to remove to America. He 

 visited and explored the country, and returned to England, where he died while making prepa- 



