linas 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 confiu. ed 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?

€04. 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 Euгоре?

607. What plants are cultivated for clothing? 603. Can silk and vines be cultivated, and where?

SECTION 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 Wallkill 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.

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, rens, sparrows, gulls, plov

ers, 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 turky may be tamed, but the turky, 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 deserted 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 tortois 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.

ses,

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 houthe green and striped snakes. The rattle snake has a fatal poison in a bag, at the root of his large teeth, which when he bites is conveyed by a small opening through the teeth, to the object bitten. But this snake is slow in his movement, and usually gives notice of his presence by a buzzing noise made with the rattles at the end of his tail. He lives among the rocks, and in summer descends into the meadows. It is remarkable that the lands which are covered with beach and maple trees, and contain no rocky precipices, are free from all large venomous serpents.

617. Small reptiles and insects. The United States, in common with all warm and temperate climates, abound with small animals of the reptile and insect