1808.] 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
OBSERVA1IONS made during arecent TOUR 
through the UNITED STATES of AME- 
RICA.—NO. XXII. 
R. Tongue informs his readers, that, 
in consequence of its natural ad- 
vantages New Cennectieut. is capable of 
manufacturing and exporting great quan- 
tities of vegetable aud animal productions, 
both in anew and manufactured state. 
That maple sugar is not only made in 
sufiicient quantities by every family, for 
its own use, but a sufficient surplus is 
‘Hara ten to buy the tea and coffee for the 
year. “ This sugar is equal to any im- 
ported, and when refined is superior to 
the best refined West India sugar. The 
labour of making it is trifling. The sap 
is exhausted in F ebr uary and March, and 
granulated by simple boiling, and when 
sufficiently boiled, stirred until it is cold. 
Two men will make from sixty to one 
hundred pounds per day, and the mo- 
lasses reserved in making this sugar is in- 
finitely superior to ‘those from the West: 
Indies. Itis a fact, that the saccharine 
principle is more abundant in this sugar 
than in that made from the sugar-cane it- 
self. Pearl and pot-ash manufactories have 
lately been established. These will be 
articles of great export, and increase, 
in demand, as only well timbered coun- 
tries can make them. New Connec- 
ticut affords the best woods for mak- 
ing pot-ash. In general, the harder 
and more bitter woods afford the most. 
pot-ash. There is a great difference in 
the produce of different woods, as the fol- 
lowing statement will shew :—1,000 lbs. 
of ashes of oak afford 111 lbs. of pot- 
ash; 1,000 lbs of ashes of hickory afford 
180 lbs. of pot-ash; 1,000 lbs. of ashes 
of beech afford 219 lbs. of pot-ash; 
1,000 lbs. of ashes of elm afford 166 lbs. 
of pot-ash; 1,000 Ibs. of ashes of maple af 
ford 110lbs. of pot-ash. Themanagement 
of the fire influetices the product. Tn 
Hungary, it is common to obtain a ton 
from about two hundred and fifty bushels. 
We think our labour well paid when we 
obtain seven hundred pounds from four 
hundreca bushels of ashes. It isa safe cal- 
culation to say,the ashes of: an average 
acre will produce ten dollars worth ‘of 
alkali. 
“ J am bold to say, no place in the ha- 
bitable world possesses more advantages 
for glass manufactories than this country, 
ossessed as it is of fine siliceous sand, 
and pearl-ash, coals; in short, every 
ient abounds except manganese. 
and checks are manufactured in 
ecticut, and sold cheaper than 
y Mac. No. 168, 
’ 
Dr. Tongue’s Account of New Connecticut. 
113 
those imported of similar quality in Balti+ 
more. This trade will probably be car- 
ried to a great extent. Grind-stonés, 
mill-stones, potter’s- ware, whiskey, 
Cheese, and butter, are exported. Tar 
may be made from pit coal, according 
to Lord Dundonald’s plan ; and from the 
nature of the soil, there is reason to ex~ 
pect large quantities of flax and hemp 
will be exported. 
“ Tobacco, furs, poultry, ginseng, Vir- 
ginia suake-root, fish, bees’-wax, honey, 
&c. are all in the greatest plenty, and no 
country on earth was ever more abun- 
dantly supplied with the honey-bee. 
Their natural hives are found in every 
part of the country. To prove this, it is 
only necessary to state, that about twenty 
persons procured six thousand weight of 
strained honey im the course of six weeks, 
in the winter 1805-1806. To these ex- 
ports might be added, were it not for the 
continued influx of settlers, and who con= 
sume nearly all the surplusage of the coun- 
try ,horses,mules shipping,and beef-cattle; 
hogs, hides, leather, lard, wheat, flour, 
tallow, pork, beef, flax-seed, linseed-oil, 
sassafras, and shi p-timber. Horses, cae 
tle, and hogs, are raised at a small ex- 
pence, as they live in the forest, during 
the summer, and most of the spring and 
fall. Indeed, in some instances they have 
lived through the whole of the’ winter 
without any auxiliary food. By the first 
of April the forest furnishes food in abun- 
dance. By the ist of May, all nature 
is dressed in flowers, too delicate, and too 
luxuriant, to admit of a description. 
The may-apple is so plentiful and luxu- 
riant, as to assume the appearance of cul- 
ture; its stalk is twe feet long. Nor do I 
hesitate to pronounce this country equal, 
if not superior, for the raising of stock of 
all kinds, for the culture of flax and hemp, 
and for the production of every kind of 
erass, to any other portion of the United 
States.” 
‘¢ Having dwelt rather diffusively on 
this subject, our author proceeds to con- 
sider the advantages of the reserve for 
trade and commerce. 
‘Nature (says he) has seen fit to sepa- 
rate the southern and middle states from 
the rich and imdescribable vailey of the 
western world (where are to be found the 
states of Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee, 
as well as the Five Territories) by a vast 
pile of mountains, which occasionally af 
ford roads, but, for the most part, is in- 
accessible. Already one-fifth of the 
whole free ‘population of the United 
States is to be found west of this chain of 
mountains ; in a country which, twenty 
Q years 
