night. The weather was stormy, however, and in the morning the British reëmbarked, and a bombardment commenced, which lasted till the following morning. An attempt was made to storm Fort Covington, but failed, with loss, and the expedition retreated down the river."

Nature has made generous provision for extensive and various manufactures in Maryland. Baltimore and its vicinity has been said, by a well-qualified writer, to possess "unrivalled advantages" for manufacturing, there not being "on the continent a location more favorable. Everything is cheap; and ready access can be had to all the markets of the Union. Nothing is wanting but enterprise and industry to make the whole nation tributary" to this city.

THE FLOUR TRADE.-A most extensive business is transacted in flour in this city. The quantity of wheat-flour and cornmeal inspected during the miller's year, from July 1, to June 30, is about a million of barrels.

ANNAPOLIS. This town is distinguished as the state capital, and stands at the mouth of the river Severn, on its right bank, and three miles from Chesapeake bay. It is also the capital of Anne Arundel county. The statehouse, St. John's college, and St. Anne's church, are placed at three points of the city equally distant from each other, forming centres, at which meet, from different directions, the principal streets. The other public buildings are the government-house, methodist church, Roman catholic chapel, the bank, and the seminary. There are about four thousand three hundred inhabitants in Annapolis. It is thirty-seven miles north and seventy-six east from Washington, and thirty miles east of south from Baltimore.

The senate

The Statehouse is an old building, and has long served for public purposes. The American congress assembled here during some of the most interesting periods of the revolution. chamber, in which they held their sessions, remains unaltered to the present day. It was there that the solemn scene was exhibited of the resignation of his commission by Washington, after the close of the war.

St. John's College has five professors, one thousand two hundred and forty alumni, and about seventy-five students, with a library of about four thousand volumes. The commencement is held on the 22d of February.

The chief wealth of Maryland, we will incidentally remark, is drawn from its agriculture and mines. Mining is now being carried on with great spirit, and since the completion of the canal and railroad from Baltimore to Cumberland, operations have been greatly extended. It is a fact worthy of observation that many of our ocean steamships are using the semi-bituminous coal of this region, and large quantities are used at Pitts- HAVRE DE GRACE is a small town at burgh and for steamboats on the Ohio the mouth of Susquehanna river, thirtyrivers. Furnaces, bloomeries, and rol-six miles northeast from Baltimore and !' ling-mills, for the manufacture of iron, have increased wonderfully in number during the past five years, and turn out vast quantities of cast and bar iron. The principal agricultural produce is wool and pork; wheat, Indian corn, and oats; and tobacco. Maryland stands fourth on the list of tobacco-growing states, and is highly celebrated for the excellency of this staple. Ship-building, chiefly carried on at Baltimore, is also an extensive branch of industry. The coast fisheries employ many hundreds of families, and supply not only sufficient fish for the market of Baltimore, but also no s'all amount for export.

sixty miles from Philadelphia, and contains about fifteen hundred inhabitants. Here commences the Susquehanna canal, which extends from the Chesapeake to the Pennsylvania canals. This town was burnt by the British troops under Admiral Cockburn, in the late war, in 1813.

Steam-ferryboats cross the river here, and the railroad from Philadelphia to Baltimore passes through this place.

ELKTON, forty-five miles from Philadelphia and about the same distance from Baltimore, stands at the junction of the two principal branches of Elk river at the head of tidewater. It is a

place of some trade, and a neat and pleasant village.

week.

St. Mary's College was founded in 1830, and has a president, eleven tutors, CHESTERTOWN is thirty miles south- and about one hundred and fifty stueast from Baltimore, thirty from Chesa-dents. Its libraries contain four thoupeake bay, and eighty-two northeast sand volumes. The commencement is from Washington. It stands on Chester held in the last week in June. Stageriver, and contains over one thousand coaches go to Frederick three times a inhabitants. This is the seat of justice of Kent county. A branch of the university of Maryland is established here. EASTON. This town is on Treadhaven bay, thirteen miles from Elkton and Chesapeake bay. It contains three churches, a courthouse, and an academy. The inhabitants are over one thousand. It is a seaport and the seat of justice of Talbot county.

route.

SNOWHILL is situated on the east side of Pocomoke river, one hundred and sixty-three miles southeast of WashingIt contains a courthouse, an acadfive churches, and about eight hundred inhabitants, and is the seat of justice of Worcester county.

ton. emy,

FREDERICK. This is one of the principal towns in the state, being second in importance to Baltimore, from which it is distant sixty-one miles west. It stands on a branch of the Monocasy, in the midst of a pleasant country, with a fertile soil. It is laid out with regularity. and contains some fine private houses, and several conspicuous public buildings-a courthouse, county buildings, a market, twelve churches, two academies, a Roman catholic seminary and charity school, and above six thousand inhabitants. A branch railroad connects this town with the Baltimore and Ohio railroad.

Frederick County next south of Adams

CAMBRIDGE, twelve miles distant from Chesapeake bay, is on the Choptank, and contains a courthouse, an academy, and two churches, with about eight hundred inhabitants. Stagecoaches run to Snowhill and to Elkton. It is the seat of justice of Dorchester county, and is thirty-six miles southeast of Annapolis in a direct line, but fifty-three by post-county, and southwest of York county (Pa.), lies along the western boundary of Baltimore, Anne Arundel, and Montgomery counties, from which it is, for a considerable part of the distance, divided by the ridge of the Southeast mountain. It extends south to the Potomac and west to the Blue ridge. It is forty-two miles long and eighteen miles in mean breadth, and has an area of seven hundred and seventy-six square miles. It is traversed by the Monocasy, which lies wholly within it, excepting the headwaters. The Cotoctin mountain, a minor branch of the Blue ridge, extends south, from the northwest part of the county, nearly to the Potomac, dividing the valleys of the Monocasy and the Cotoctin. The surface is not generally hilly, and in some parts level; while the soil is favorable to grain, grass, and fruit; and it is one of the best cultivated parts of the state.

Barren Creek Mineral Springs are twenty-three miles from Cambridge; they are resorted to by numbers of visiters every seasons. The water contains oxyde of iron, soda, and magnesia, with muriatic acid.

WESTMINSTer. This town stands near the head of Patapsco river. It has a courthouse, an academy, three churches, and about five hundred inhabitants. It lies on the border of Frederick county, twenty-three miles northwest of Balti

more.

EMMETTSBURG is twenty-two miles north of Frederick. It stands on the Monocasy, in the north part of Frederick county, and contains four churches, an academy, and eight hundred inhabitants, and near it is one of the principal Roman catholic seminaries, called St. Mary's college.

HAGERSTOWN.-This town stands on Antietam creek, and is seventy miles west fom Baltimore, with daily stagecoaches to Frederick. It contains nine churches, a townhall, two banks, twe academies, and nearly five thousand inhabitants. It is the seat of justice of

Viaduct over the Patuxent on the Baltimore and Washington Railroad.

Washington county, and a place of considerable importance, lying in the centre of a rich limestone valley.

bound it on either side. The stream which winds below, and sometimes rises to overflow a great part of the valley, HANCOCK, On the bank of Potomac riv-threatens to undermine and tear away this light and elegant structure.

er, contains two churches, an academy, and about five hundred inhabitants. CUMBERLAND, one hundred and seventy-eight miles west of Baltimore, is on the Potomac, at the mouth of Wills creek. It contains a bank, a market, five churches, a courthouse, and about two thousand inhabitants. The situation is in a varied and wild region, among the mountains, where coalmines abound. The railroad to Baltimore affords daily communication with that city and the intermediate places. It is the seat of justice of Allegany county, and the eastern termination of the great western road of the United States called the Cumberland road.

ELLICOTT'S MILLS, ten miles southwest from Baltimore, is situated in a wild and picturesque region, and owes its existence as a village to the waterpower, which is employed in numerous manufactures, and to the railroad which here crosses the Patapsco, on a fine aqueduct of stone. It stands on the boundary line of Baltimore and Anne Arundel counties.

The Viaduct of the Baltimore and Washington Railroad.—One of the most striking objects in the state is the great viaduct on which the Baltimore and Washington railroad crosses the valley of the Patuxent. A passenger travelling over it in a car has little opportunity to judge of the nature, extent, difficulty, and cost of the construction. The view from the summit is so extensive, and the valley below is seen so nearly under his feet, that the most careless observer must be aware that he is moving at an unusual height above the surface, and that the road is sustained by a long and narrow, though lofty fabric. To an observer, however, from below, or from a point on either side, the scene is of a more impressive description. A lofty and elegant arched bridge extends across a deep and wild chasm, forming a narrow but solid and level path, for the long and heavy trains of cars which pass over it, between the natural banks that

Ample space, however, is left between the piers for the passage of the water, even at the highest floods; and the work has suffered but occasional and partial injuries, from the severest weather and floods. The road is thirty-three miles in length, and one of the most important portions of the great line of travelling from north to south, especially during the time when congress is in session.

The commerce of Maryland is so dependent on the harbor of Baltimore, that it is well for the state that it possesses the important quality of being accessible at all seasons of the year. Even when impeded by ice, it never freezes so thick that it may not easily be opened by strong steam icebreakers and towboats, which are kept in readiness for the purpose. Ships of the largest class can come up to the wharves in the lower harbor; and at Canton they have twenty-six feet water.

"The soil of the state," says Hunt's Magazine, "except in a few portions of it, is well adapted to agriculture. It has numerous never-failing streams, with gradual falls at suitable distances, particularly in the vicinity of Baltimore. For manufacturing purposes, and commercial pursuits, Maryland is not excelled by any other state in the Union. The great American Mediterranean sea, whose borders she skirts, will be a wall of defence about her in time of war, as an invading foe would scarcely withdraw himself from the ocean-field, in this improved age of invention, lest his retreat might be intercepted when he found it necessary to retreat; and the bosom of that sea will in early aftertime waft treasures upon it, that, whether in the character of imports or exports, will add to her riches. Nature has incontestably provided for this result; and the founders of Baltimore (not that anything like prescience is to be ascribed to them, even as regards the state of improvements as they exist at present) so located it, that it becomes a point of

concentration, whence again all the travel | especially apples and peaches, some of diverges, if economy as to distance be which are very superior in quality. considered, whether the direction be Melons, of every variety, are abundant from north to south, or east to west, and everywhere. Tobacco is cultivated in vice versa. The near proximity of the eleven of the counties, but principally seat of national government is no draw-in Prince George, Culvert, Charles, St. back upon, but adds to, her value; and Mary's, Anne Arundel, and Montgomery. should congress in its wisdom authorize More than nine millions of pounds were the establishment of a national bank, raised in Prince George, and twelve where is there a city, all matters in ref- millions in all the counties afterward erence to other banks and places con- named, in the year 1839. sidered, more eligible and safe, for the present, than Baltimore?

Nearly all the great prominent agricultural productions of the United States are grown in Maryland, except cotton, sugar, and rice; and each year further developments are made in reference to some exotics. If there were agricultural societies, and fairs held, as in some of the eastern states, where the choice productions of the earth could be exhibited, and competent persons appointed to pronounce upon them and award premiums, it would act as a great stimulant to enterprise, aside from the profits immediately resulting to the grower. So with live stock, of all descriptions; but these subjects are somewhat neglected by the present tillers of the soil, and those of politics have, to too great an extent, usurped their places. Some fifteen or twenty years since, when Maryland was luxuriating in a more palmy sunshine of favors than at present, such exhibitions were not unfrequent, and politics slept there may be a recurrence of a similar prosperous period.

Corn, wheat, and oats, thrive kindly in every county. Rye is not so generally cultiva ed; the western counties appear more congenial to its growth. Buckwheat, barley, and pulse, are not so specially attended to. The yield of flaxseed is only middling, compared with that of other grains."

Potatoes are of excellent flavor, and the crops fair, but not equal to the demand. Small parcels of sweet-potatoes come to Baltimore, chiefly from the southern and eastern counties. Hay is the growth of the western shore, and is chiefly timothy, with some clover. It never exceeds home-consumption. Fruit is better adapted to the same counties,

Good horses, mules, neat-cattle, sheep, and swine, are raised in every county, but Frederick excels in this branch: in this county, according to the census of 1840, there were then 11,259 horses and mules, 24,933 neat-cattle, 26,309 sheep, and 54,049 swine. The bacon of this county is preferred to any other, bringing at Baltimore from one quarter to one half cent. more per pound.

All the counties produce wool; but the yield is not large-not above three hundred thousand pounds per annum, which was the amount in 1840 for the whole state. Frederick county gave of this fifty-nine thousand pounds. In butter and cheese, also, this county exceeds the others.

The forest-trees of the middle states abound in all the counties of this state. The best woods for fuel are the oaks, hickory, beech, and dogwood. Oak commonly sells in Baltimore at from four to five and a half dollars per cord, and the others at from five to seven dollars. Pine is abundant, but neither the white nor the pitch-pine. The hemlock has its southern boundary in the west parts of Maryland, excepting a small district in the Allegany mountains in Virginia. In New England the bark of this tree, there so common, is much used in tanning. The oak of this state is excellent for shipbuilding, being inferior only to the live-oak. The celebrated dam across the Kennebeck river, in Maine, is built of oak from Maryland. It was cut in Baltimore county near a stream flowing into the Chesapeake. Among the plans for internal improvement is one for a canal through that stream to Havre de Grace. Cedar and locust are abundant in some parts of the lower counties, and are exported in