GEORGIA. 



sn 



dwelling-houses. Its trade and importance have been much increased by the Charleston Rail- 

 road. Pqpulation, 8,000. 



Brunswick is an embryo city on the coast, remarkable for its excellent harbor, a rare advan- 

 tage m this section of the country. Daricn is a neat httle town in the same quarter, with 

 some business. 



JVlilledgevillc is the seat of government. It stands on the Oconee, near the centre of the 

 State. The river is navigable to this place for boats of 25 tons, and the town has considerable 

 trade. Population, 2,500. The town is in a pleasant and productive region, and contains the 

 capitol, penitentiary, arsenal, and several churches. Dahlonega, to the north, is the seat of one 

 of the branches of the United States mint. J\lacon, on the Ocmulgee, has an extensive trade, 

 being the depot of a populous and fertile country. Population, 3,500. Forsyth, in the vicini- 

 ty, is also a thriving town. Columbus, on the Chattahoochee, has sprung up within a few years, 

 in the midst of the wilderness. The site is beautiful, and the streets are spacious and regular. 

 Population, 4,000. 



3. .Agriculture. The great agricultural staples of Georgia, at present, are cotton and rice ; 



some tobacco is raised in the central and 

 northern parts, and a few hundred hogs- 

 heads of sugar are made in the southern 

 section, where the cane is found to thrive 

 in suitable soils. The founders of the 

 colony designed to make it a great wine and 

 silk country, and in 1760, 10,000 pounds 

 of raw silk were exported ; but rice and 

 indigo early attracted the attention of the 

 settlers, and became the most important 

 crops, until the introduction of the cotton- 

 plant turned nearly the whole industry 

 of the planters to cotton. The cotton 

 crop at present exceeds 300,000 bales, of 

 the value of 14,000,000 dollars, and is in- 

 creasing in amount ; the cotton is of two 

 sorts, the upland or green-seed, and the 

 sea-island, black-seed or long-staple. The 



latter is raised only in the islands on the coast and the neighboring mainland, and being highly 

 rized for the fineness of its fibre, brings twice as much as the inferior kinds in the market, 

 n the latter part of August or beginning of September, the pods open or blow, and the wool 



is gathered ; after having been dried in the open air, it is separated from the seeds, by passing 



it between two cylindrical rollers, which do not admit the passage of seeds ; it is then mated, 



or freed from specks, winnowed, and is ready for packing. 



4. Commerce. The exports of Georgia, in addition to cotton and rice, are tar, pitch, tur- 

 pentine, and some lumber, the products of the vast pine forests, but the quantity of these is 

 inconsiderable, compared with the amount which they might be made to yield. Almost every 

 article of necessity and luxury is imported, so exclusively has the industry of the planters 

 been devoted to cotton ; cattle, horses, hogs, and cotton bagging are brought in from the West- 

 ern States ; clothing, furniture, carriages, harnesses, agricultural implements and machines, and 

 almost every other manufactured article, foreign and domestic, wines, groceries, &c., come 

 from the Northern States. The annual value of the direct imports from foreign countries, ex- 

 ceeds 800,000 dollars ; that of exports to foreign countries is about 8,000,000 dollars. 



5. Canals and Railroads. A canal from Savannah to the Ogeechee, 4 miles above the mouth 

 of the Canoochee, 13 miles in length, and a similar work from Brunswick to the Alatamaha, of 

 the same length, are the only artificial channels of navigation in this State ; but something has 

 been done towards removing obstructions to navigation in the Alatamaha, Oconee, Ocmulgee, 

 and Flint. Several important railroads are in progress. The Central Railroad from Savan- 

 nah to Macon, a distance of about 190 miles, is in a state of forwardness ; the Monroe Rail- 

 road, from Macon to Forsyth, 25 miles, is a continuation of that work, which is to be further 

 extended to Decatur, 60 miles ; the Georgia Railrc ad, extends from Augusta to Decatur, 160 

 miles ; the Main Trunk of the Western and Atlantic Railroad, extending from Decatur, 

 across the Chattahoochee, to the Tennessee, near Rossville, about 120 miles, is designed to 



Cotton Plantation. 



