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which it furnishes from a small portion of land, the little injury that its cultivation does to the soil, and its nourishing qualities, which render it a substitute for bread, and the ease and little expense of dressing it for the table, render it one of the most useful plants, especially to the poor; and its cultivation has, in no small degree, diminished the chances of famine which was formerly so frequent in Europe.

605. Tobacco. When tobacco was first introduced into England, King James issued a proclamation against the use of so offensive a plant. But the prejudices against it gradually subsided, and it now forms a considerable article of consumption in all parts of the world. It thrives well in all parts of the United States. In the northern region it is cultivated chiefly for domestic use, but in the middle states, chiefly in Maryland and Virginia, it constitutes an important article of export.

606. Kinds of Grain, not indigenous. Wheat, rye, barley, oats, buckwheat, millet and rice, have been introduced into the United States. Of these. wheat is the most generally cultivated, and is esteemed the finest grain. On suitable soils, which are the dry and gravelly, or the rich mold of new lands, it thrives in every part of the United States, except on the Atlantic shore of the eastern states. Éven in that part of the country, it was cultivated with success for thirty or forty years after our ancestors settled in America, but it now fails. Rice is cultivated only in the Carolinas and Georgia, where it is raised in great quantities for exportation. The other species of grain grow well in any part of the United States, and since the failure of wheat in the eastern states, rye is much used for bread, either alone, or mixed with maiz, or, in some parts, where wheat will grow, with a small portion of wheat, which mixture is called meslin.

607. Plants cultivated for Clothing. Hemp and flax grow well in all parts of the United States, where the soil is sufficiently rich and suitable. Flax is raised for clothing, in greater or less quantities, and manufactured into coarse cloth. The seed is exported to Ireland, or furnishes oil for paints. Hemp for cordage may be

cultivated generally, but its culture is confined to a few places. Cotton grows well in the southern and western parts of the United States, and is cultivated in great quantities, as well for domestic manufacture as for exportation. Indigo thrives well in the Carolinas and Georgia, as well as in Louisiana and Florida, and was formerly a considerable article of export; but the high price of cotton has lately occasioned the culture of indigo to be neglected.

608. Silk and Vines. Silk may be cultivated in all parts of the United States. The attempts made in New England to introduce the culture, demonstrate that the climate and soil are favorable, and that nothing but the high price of labor prevents an attention to this object. Vines are the spontaneous production of all parts of this country, and some species of native grapes are of an excellent quality. The species of foreign grapes, which yield some of the best wines in Europe, are introduced, and thrive well in the middle and even in some part of the northern region of the United States; but the making of wine is yet confined to a few places.

QUESTIONS.

598. What are the native trees of the United States? 599. What trees are peculiar to particular regions? 600. What are the shrubs and fruit trees?

601. What foreign trees and fruits are cultivated?

602. What are the garden vegetables?

603. What plants are indigenous or native?

604. Who carried the potatoe to Europe? What are its

peculiar advantages?

605. How was tobacco treated at first?

606. What sorts of grain were introduced from Europe?

607. What plants are cultivated for clothing?

608. Can silk and vines be cultivated, and where?

CHAPTER XVII.

ANIMALS OF THE UNITED STATES.

609. Native Animals. The following quadrupeds are natives of the United States, the buffalo, moose,

elk, bear, deer, wolf, wild cat or lynx, panther, catamount, wolverin, fox, beaver, otter, martin, raccoon, hare, rabbit, muskrat or musquash, weasel, squirrel of several kinds, one kind of rat, opossum, skunk, mink; woodchuk, ermine, seal, mole, field mouse, porcupine. Many of these animals, fitted to live only in the forest, retire westward as cultivation proceeds in that direction, and are no longer seen near the Atlantic. On the Walls kill in the state of New-York; near the salt-licks in Kentucky; and in other parts of America, have been found the bones of some huge animal now extinct. It is supposed by some to have been of the elephant species, and has obtained the appellation of Mammoth, or Mastodon. A skeleton of this animal, nearly complete, may be seen in the Museum at Philadelphia. Its size is that of the largest species of elephant, and a tall man may walk upright under its belly. This beast must have fed by means of a proboscis, as the neck is not long enough to reach the earth, when standing; but the form of the teeth, and jaws, and especially the spiral form and position of its tusks, make it certain that the animal was different from any which is now known to exist.

SKELETON OF THE MAMMOTH.

[graphic]

610. Domestic Animals. The animals kept by man for use, are derived from such as were imported: such as horses, cattle of all kinds, sheep, asses, goats, dogs, cats, swine. All these thrive well in the United States. The mountainous districts of the southern states, and all parts of the northern furnish oxen and cows of the largest and best kind. Elegant horses of English breed are raised chiefly in the middle and southern states, and a race of Dutch horses, very large and excellent for draft in Pennsylvania. In New England and Canada the horses are smaller but very hardy and serviceable.

611. Wild Fowls. The wild fowls of the United States are too numerous to be specified. Some of the most remarkable are, the eagle, falcon, hawks of various sorts, herons, owls, swans, crows, turkies, geese, ducks of many kinds, pelicans, brants, pigeons, partridges, quails, woodcocks, woodpeckers of various sorts, swallows, martins, buzzards, blackbirds, robins, larks, blue birds, wrens, sparrows, gulls, plovers, snipes, cranes and storks. Domestic Fowls. The domestic fowls are of foreign origin, as the goose, duck, pigeons, and dunghill fowls. They thrive in all parts of this country. The wild goose and turkey may be tamed, but the turkey, which grows to the weight of thirty pounds or more when wild, degenerates by domestication.

612. Birds of passage. Some species of birds leave the cold regions in autumn, and visit the more southern climes. Wild geese and pigeons, and some kinds of ducks, are of this sort. Many kinds of fowls are so hardy as to remain, and fly about in the severity of ordinary winters, without danger, as the crow, the partridge, quail and snowbird. But in very hard winters, these birds are known to perish in great numbers. The swallow, about the last week in August is said to seek shelter in ponds, rivers and marshes, and remain torpid till spring. But most kinds of birds retreat to the cavities of hollow trees and like places.

613. Fishes. The sea and rivers in the United States abound with an immense variety of fish, many of them of the most useful kind. Whales are often caught near the coast. Codfish are taken on the shores

of the northern region, and on the banks of Newfoundland, in such abundance as to form a large article of our exports. Halibut, haddock, mullet, whiting, plaice, mackarel, bass, tetaug or blackfish, sheepshead, and a great variety of small fish, fill our markets at most seasons of the year. Alewives are caught in vast numbers for foreign markets, and menhaden or white fish, for manuring land; and our rivers abound with sturgeon.

614. Shad and Salmon. In April and May, the rivers are stocked with shad in immense numbers, and furnish the inhabitants with no small part of their food. The salmon, in the same months, frequent the rivers in Maine. But that fish is not found in rivers which discharge into the Atlantic westward of the Connecticut, and since the erection of dams for canals they have de serted the Connecticut. The small streams abound with trout, roach, perch and eels, and the lakes, with their tributary streams, are well supplied with excellent fish, especially with the pike and salmon trout of a large size.

615. Shell Fish. Oysters of the best kinds cover the shores of the United States. Lobsters of the largest kind abound in many places. Crabs, shrimps, muscles, and clams of various species are found in our harbors and creeks; and we are occasionally favored with turtle from the more southern climes. No country can boast of a richer profusion of food, constantly furnished from the hills, the forest, and the bosom of the deep! Amphibious animals. Our swamps and ponds abound with frogs, one species of which, called a bullfrog, is very large. The tortoise or turtle is common to all parts of America. Animals of the lizard kind are numerous; and the alligator or crocodile, the largest of that species, is found in the rivers of the southern states.

616. Serpents. The principal species of these animals are the rattle snake, the black snake of several kinds, the viper, the adder of several sorts, one of which is amphibious, and another frequents houses, the green and striped snakes. The rattle snake has a fatal poison in a bag, at the root of his large teeth, which when he

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