1807.] 
being blown away by the winds, and 
washed away by the rains, which are vio- 
Jent and overwhelming in this climate. 
It likewise attracts moisture from the 
atmosphere, which must be singularly ad- 
vantageous in their hot dry summers. 
This | have experienced in tie meridian 
heat of the day, so as to get wet-shod 
when in common grass pastures | could 
walk perfectly dry. Plaster of Paris is 
seven doilars the ton, producing twenty- 
seven bushels. They put from one to 
three bushels on a statute acre, scatter- 
ing it like corn. It is generally 1: ud upon 
hilly land, and suits a loose gravelly bil 
with a substratum of clay. It is castom- 
ary to use it every year in the spring 
the above small portions, and thus the 
clover is kept in luxuriance and heart a 
Jong tine. It is equally beneficial to 
grain and potatoes.* The land in this part 
of the country is generally uneven, the 
ridges of the hills taking a direction from 
the N. W.toS. E. Their average height, 
from the streams of water, in the low- 
lands, is about twenty- -five yards. <A- 
worthy gentleman with whom i had some 
conversation, calls this land, which is Ii- 
able to have its soil ete or washed 
away, not realty, but personalty, or move- 
able property. Produce: is about twenty 
bushels of wheat, and fifteen of Indian 
corn per statute acre. Emigrations to 
the back country, for the last ten years, 
have been numerous. Notwithstanding 
the population increases, it is but partially 
and locally confined to towns and their 
neighbourhoods. ‘This is in a great mea- 
sure Owing to commerce, the situation of 
Baltimore upon the finest bav im the 
world, and its greater proximity to Fort Pitt 
by Redstone and the Monongahela than 
any other port in thestates. In commer- 
¢ial importance it bids fair to be the first 
city. Having only been visited once by 
the yellow fever in the year 1797—(and it 
was then principally confined to the Point, 
a flat situation where the shipping lay)—it 
is considered as more healthy than al 
‘most all the other sea-ports ; and to this 
one circumstance miry be attributed a 
great proportion of tne amazing increase 
in its population, bouses, shipping, and 
prosperity. The duties paid last year 
upon imports to the Federa | Government, 
gzimounted to 22,000 doliars. 
* Since my arrival in Lancashire, I have 
been informed that a Mr. Higson, in the 
neighbourhood of Liverpool, has a machine 
for preparing the plaster, and that he has a good 
Sale for it. 
Abstract of a Journal kept in Maryland. 299 
It seems, from the President’s Speech, 
that situations upon the tide-waters are 
only liable to the yellow fever. If so, a 
question naturally arises, and it is this : 
Will the cupidity of mar, and the daring 
spirit of commercial enterprize, always be 
such as to defy its approaches, and rise 
out of the ashes and mourning for depart= 
ed relatives and friends to the steady and 
vigorous prosecution of their darling ob- 
jects? Nay, as the cities increase, will 
not the risk likewise increase, and call 
forth a proportionate increase of this 
worldly temerity? Should that not be, 
the case, but the yellow grim tyrant, with 
his tremendous scythe, territy at last 
the inhabitants of the sea-ports, and 
forcing them into the country, there to 
embark in the less profitable, but more 
sure, healthy, moral, and peaceable pur- 
Aide of agriculture, vould not the change 
conduce to the political as well as physi- 
cal happiness of America? Might she 
not become another China, and reculate 
the course of her trade in such a manner 
as to prevent the possibility of wars from 
the contaminating miaence of Buropean 
politics? But if commerce is still to be 
carried on in the usual channel, the ri- 
vers higher up the country, out of reach 
of the tide waters, afford abundance of 
situations free from risk and idaiger, near 
to a tertile back country, where produce 
might be bought cheap, ‘and exported un- 
der more fay rourable circumstances than 
at Peer. I beheve there is not a city 
which has been visited by the yellow fe- 
ver, but has not far from ita situation on 
some river, which would be in no danger 
from this deat ul scourge. To remover 
the cities to such situations seems roman- 
tic; bat might it notin etfect be done by 
ine respec tive states indemnify: ng the in= 
habitants for their property in land, 
houses, and in Hey ements? The sum, 
no doubt, would be immense; but the 
evil already ,suifered, and which is annu- 
ally to be apprehended, is already incal- 
culable, and may justly be considered, in 
all its effects and bearings, as the greatest 
of national calamities. If the respective 
states are unequal to the task, why not 
cali upon the Federal Sovemnaent for as- 
sistance? Vins would be an act wor thy 
of an entightened, liberal, and humane 
government, and le the prudence and 
regard for the heaith and happiness which 
should characterize the citizens of Ame- 
rica above those of any country in the 
world, . 
( To be continued.} 
To 
