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the junction of the two branches of the Susquehannah river, this province suffered much by Indian warfare, and many horrible cruelties were committed. The Moravians of Guadenhutten, in the county of Northampton, were all massacred in one night, and the fruits of their industry carried off or consumed by fire. Similar horrors were committed at the Great Cove, in the county of Northumberland. The village of Ninisink, consisting of 43 habitations, was burnt to ashes, and seventy-one individuals perished in the flames. In 1777, during the revolutionary war, the militia of this state were defeated at Brandywine and Germanstown. The seat of government was at Philadelphia till 1800, when it was removed to Washington.

Agriculture. The eastern counties are in a high state of cultivation. Within the last twenty years the soil has been enriched by the use of gypsum as a manure, and the introduction of clover, and a rotation of crops. This has been much owing to the operation of the statute of descents, estates from 500 to 1000 acres having been parcelled out into farms from 50 to 100 acres, on each of which a neat dwelling and out-houses appear, with orchards of apple, peach, and cherry trees, In the hilly parts of the back country of Pennsylvania, wheat and maize are successfully cultivated; the produce of the former, from good cultivation, being from twenty to thirty bushels per acre; that of the latter from twenty-five to forty. Barley, which is sown in April and cut in July, yields from thirty to forty bushels; and oats, when a good crop, as much. Buckwheat is now much cultivated, and the produce is

greater than in the state of New York, being from twenty-five to forty bushels. Hemp and flax, and esculent plants, thrive well. Asparagus grows naturally in the sandy soil of uncultivated places. The vine has been successfully cultivated in different parts, and particularly at Springmill, thirteen miles from Philadelphia, by Mr Legaux. The red mulberry is a common tree; and silk might be manufactured, if other productions were not more profitable. Almost all the fruits of France are produced here.

The breed of horses and of black cattle is among the best in the United States. A team of five draught horses of Lancaster county will transport thirty barrels of flour, or three tons, from Columbia to Philadelphia. Having the advantage of a dry climate and elevated soil, the common and Merino, or Spanish breed of sheep, thrive, and have multiplied prodigiously. The average produce of washed wool of the latter is about four pounds per sheep. The natural grass of the meadows of the Delaware and Schuylkill is particularly nutritive. The number of horses, in 1810, was 225,645; of neat cattle, 612,993, of which 759 were of the mountain or horned cattle of Tunis. The greatest stocks are in the back parts, where some farmers have a hundred head. They are housed in winter. The number of sheep was 618,283, of which 357 were Merinos, and 4830 of a mixed race. In the western parts, it is customary to rent a farm, or let it in shares to emigrants. One from 200 to 400 acres, one-third cleared, will bring a monied rent of from 60 to 300 dollars, according to the quantity, quality, improvements; and,

when the rent is paid in kind or in shares, the tenant gives one-third or one-half of the crop; if furnished with horses, the farmer's portion is but one-eighth or a tenth. Another plan is to give tracts of twenty or thirty acres of uncleared land to persons, who, in lieu of the expence of clearing, are allowed two or three crops. Formerly an emigrant became at once a freeholder by selecting a vacant spot, which, by occupancy and culture, became his own. Some of the earliest settlements were formed in this way. But, by a late law, all the vacant lands belonging to the state are sold at six dollars and sixty-six cents per hundred acres. In the northern and north-western parts of the state, along the New York line of boundary, the soil is yet uncleared; large tracks of it are held by proprietors who reside in Europe, and who have lately sold some portions of it at a dollar an acre. In the counties of Centre, Bedford, and Huntingdon, many of the inhabitants live by hunting and fishing, and gathering wild honey from the hollow trunks of trees.

Of insects injurious to agriculture, the worst is that known by the name of locust, a species of grasshopper, and the Hessian fly. The first has appeared, at intervals of sixteen or seventeen years, since the earliest establishments, and always in a fruitful season. Its last visit was in the year 1800. The Hessian fly has never been so injurious as in the New England states. Of birds, the most hurtful is the woodpecker, which devours the fruit, and destroys the bark of trees.

Price of Lands.-The average value of land per acre, in different counties, as estimated by the commit

Dollars.

tee of ways and means of the House of Representatives for the year 1815, is exhibited in the following

table.

In Philadelphia county,

Lancaster,

Dollars.

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In the other counties from 4 to 1 dl. 50c.

In 1817 the price of land in Beaver, one of the western counties, in an unimproved state, was 4 dollars per acre; improved farms from 6 to 12. In Crawford county, wild land, as it is called, is from 3 to 10 dollars; in Warren county, from 2 to 3 dollars; and improved farms from 8 to 12; in Erie county, where, in 1798, it was offered gratuitously to actual settlers, 2 dollars. A farm near Frankfort, about 5 miles from Philadelphia, was purchased, in 1814, by the Friends, or Quakers, association, for the sum of 6764 dollars, consisting of 51 acres 17 perches. In 1681, the coachman of William Penn refused, for the payment of two years' wages, a lot of land, within the present limits of Philadelphia, which, in less than a century,

was valued at more than 600,000 guineas. Foreigners are allowed to purchase and hold lands and houses, and to sell and bequeath them without changing residence or allegiance. A good cart horse, four years old, from 85 to 180 dollars; a good cow, of the same age, from 15 to 30; an ox for heavy draft, 60; mules, of three years old, (which are here scarce,) 45 dollars. In the western counties a farm horse, 60; a cow, 16. A new farm waggon is 100 dollars; a new farm cart, 35. The barn is a large wooden building, with sides, or walls, about 30 feet high, with a lofty declining roof, covered with shingles, (or wooden tiles,) for receiving the grain from the field. In the middle is the threshing-floor. In the gable ends are large gates to admit the loaded waggons. The stable

is usually erected on the one side of this building ; and the cow-house and styes on the other. Horses are kept within the enclosures by means of a piece of wood fastened round the neck, with a hook on the lower end, which catching in the railing, prevents the animal from leaping over. Geese are prevented from creeping through enclosures by means of four small sticks, about a foot in length, which are fastened crossways about the neck.

Manufactures.-The farmers generally prepare their own cloths, but the late war gave birth to several manufactures on a large scale. Those of Pittsburg, for the year 1814, amounted to 2,000,000 of dollars, consisting of wool and cotton, iron, glass, and paper. At Clarkesville, Brownsville, Harmony, and other places, there are also extensive manufactures of iron, wool, and cotton.

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