and plants, flax, hemp, &c. are raised in immense quantities in this state, and are articles which will always find a market. Apples and pears are the most common fruits cultivated, and no husbandman thinks his farm complete without an orchard. The uncultivated lands are covered with extensive forests of pine, fir, cedar, oak, walnut, &c. Several ways of raising a crop on new lands have been practised. The easiest and cheapest method was originally learned from the Indians, who never look very far forward in their improvements. The method is that of girdling the trees; which is done by making a circular incision through the bark, and leaving them to die standing. This operation is perfornied in the summer, and the ground is sowed in August with winter-rye, intermixed with grass; the next year the trees do not put forth leaves, and the land having yielded a crop, becomes fit for pasture. This method helps poor settlers a little the first year; but the inconvenience of it is, that if the trees are left standing, they are continually breaking and falling with the wind, which endangers the lives of cattle; and the ground being constantly encumbered by the falling trees, is less fit for mowing; so that if the labour be not effectually done at once, it must be done in a succession of time. But the mode of clearing and cultivating new lands has been greatly improved of late years. At one time it was thought impossible to raise Indian corn without the plough and the hoe; but the method of planting it among the burnt logs having been introduced, this easy practice soon be came universal in the new plantations, It is now account-. ed more profitable for a young man to go upon new, than to remain on the old lands. The season of vegetation is short, and is almost wholly employed in preparing, planting, and tilling the ground, in cutting and bousing fodder, and gathering in the crops. These labours succeed invaríably, and must be attended to in their proper season; so that little time can be spared for experiments; if the people in general were disposed to make any. Indeed, so sudden is the succession of these different operations, that upon any irregularity in the weather, they run into one another, and if help be scarce, which is often the case, one labour cannot be completed before the other suffers for want of being done. Gardens in the country towns are chiefly left to the management of women, the men contenting themselves with fencing and digging them; and it must be said, for the honour of female industry, that the small portion of earth committed to their care, is often made productive of no small benefit to their families. Very little use is made of any manure except barn dung, though marl may be had in many places, often without digging. Dung is seldom suffered to remain in heap over the summer, but is taken every spring in a fresh state, and either spread over the field and ploughed in, or laid in small heaps, and put into the holes where Indian corn and potatoes are planted. On the lands adjoining to rivers, wheat often yields forty, and sometimes fifty, bushels to the acre; but in common uper land, if it produce twenty bushels, it is reckoned profit-, able, though it often falls short of that. Indian corn will. sometimes average thirty or forty; but it is to be observed, that this latter grain does not produce so largely, nor is it so heavy on how as on old well-cultivated lands, This, however, is owing much to the lateness of the season in which it is planted; for if put in the ground as early on the newly burnt land as on the old, it will be nearly as good. Of all grains, winter-rye thrives best on new lands, and barley or Indian corn on the old. Barley does not succeed in new lands, nor is flax raised with any advantage, until the land has been cultivated for some years. The same may be said of oats and pease; but all sorts of esculent roots are much larger and sweeter in the virgin soil than in any other. The number of cattle is daily increasing, as the country becomes more and more cleared; and from the upper parts of the state, great herds are driven to the Boston market, from whence the beef is exported. The proportion of horses to neat cattle is very small, the people in general taking no particular care to improve the breed of this useful animal; the raising of colts not being deemed a profitable part of husbandry. Within the last ten years, however, great improvement has taken place in this respect; and the farmers of New Hampshire will probably soon have to boast of as fine horses as any in the neighbouring states. Sheep have greatly multiplied, and are fast increasing; being accounted the most profitable stock that can be raised on a farm. Swine are very prolific, and there is scarcely a family without them. During the summer, they are either fed on the waste of the dairy and kitchen, or ringed and turned into the fields of clover, or permitted to run at large in the woods, where they pick up nuts and acorns, or grub the roots of fern and other plants; but after harvest they are shut up, and fattened on Indian corn. The pork of New Hampshire is inferior to Done in the world. Domestic poultry of all kinds are raised in great plenty and perfection throughout this state." to' In some of the lower towns they have a large breed of dunghill fowls, which were imported from England several years since; but this breed has been permitted to mix with the common sort, by which means it will, in time, degenerate. Civil divisions, population, religion, and character.— New Hampshire is divided into six counties, having 213 townships, of six miles square each. The names of the counties, with their chief towns and population, are as follow: Population. Counties. Townships. Population. Chief Towns. Cheshire......35......40,988......Keene tp.*...........1,646 Coos.........24...... 3,991......Lancaster tp........ 717 Grafton.......35......28,462......Haverhill tp..... Hillsborough42.....49,249......Amherst tp...... ..1,105 ..1,554 Concord tp..........2,393 Rockingham.46......50,175... Portsmouth tp......6,934 Exeter tp...... Strafford......31......41,595......Dover tp..... 213 214,460 .1,759 .2,288 Besides the above towns there are Hanover, in Grafton county, containing above 2,000 inhabitants; Plymouth, in the same county, 1,900; Durham, in Strafford county, 1,200; and Charlestown, in Cheshire, 1,700; with a few others, containing from 500 to 1,000 each. Small villages and farm houses are numerous, and the country is pretty well supplied with good roads, and several elegant bridges. Portsmouth is the metropolis of New Hampshire, and its only sea-port. It is considerably the largest town in the state, and is situated about a mile from the sea, on the south side of Piscataqua river. Its harbour is one of the best on the continent, having a sufficient depth of water for vessels of any burden. It is defended against storms by the adjacent land, in such a manner, that ships may securely ride there in any season of the year; nor is it ever frozen, by reason of the strength of the current, and the narrowness of the channel. Besides, the harbour is so well fortified by nature, that it would require very little art to render it impregnable; and its vicinity to the sea, renders it very convenient for naval trade. Several ships of war have been built here; among others, the America, of 74 guns, launched in 1782, and presented by congress The letters tp. added to the name of a town, signify that the population of the whole township is given. to the king of France. At present (1819) there are two 74-gun ships on the stocks. All the export trade of this state, which is not considerable, centres at Portsmouth; in 1817, it did not amount to quite 200,000 dollars. Concord, the seat of government, is pleasantly situated on the west bank of Merrimack river; and from its central situation, and a thriving back country, has become a place of considerable importance. A handsome bridge across the Merrimack, connects this town with Pembroke, in the same county. Concord is 57 miles from Portsmouth, 70 from Boston, and 546 from Washington. Exeter is fourteen miles south-west from Portsmouth, situated at the head of the navigation on Swamscot river, a branch of the Piscataqua. Formerly, ship-building was carried on here to a great extent, and the vessels were employed in the West Indian trade; at present it is much decreased, but several manufactures have been established, among which are saddlery, coarse linen, paper, iron, snuff, chocolate, and flour. Here is a celebrated academy, in corporated in 1781, which educates about eighty students; there are besides a respectable English grammar school, and several private schools, chiefly for females. The principal denominations of Christians in New Hampshire are congregationalists, baptists, presbyterians, episcopalians, and quakers. Of these the first are the most numerous, as they are in most of the eastern states; there are also some societies of Sandemonians and Universalists, Ministers contract with their parishes for their support; and no parish is obliged to have a minister; but if they make an agreement with one, they are compelled by law to fulfil it. Education has been particularly attended to since the revolution, Dartmouth college, in the township of Hanover, is supported by 80,000 acres of land, and is in a flourishing state; and, besides the academy at Exeter, there are a number of others, and many schools and public libraries established. In noticing the character of the people of this state, hospitality, firmness, patience in fatigue, intrepidity. in: danger, and alertness in action, are to be numbered among their native and essential qualities. Land being still easily obtained, and labour of every kind being familiar, there is great encouragement to population. A good husbandman, with the savings of a few years, can purchase new land. enough to give his elder sons a settlement. The homestead is generally given to the youngest son, who provides for his parents when age or infirmity incapacitates them for labour. An unmarried man of thirty years old, is rarely to be found in the country towns; and the women are grandmothers at forty. It is very common for a mother and daughter to have each a child at the breast at the same time; and for a father, son, and grandson, to be at work together in the same field, Thus, population and cultivation proceed together, and a vigorous race of inhabitants grows up, on a soil which labour and nature combines to render productive. In general, the people are very industrious, and allow themselves little time for diversion, Where husbandry is the employment of the men, domestic manufactures are carried on by the women; who spin and weave their own flax and wool, and their families are elothed in cloth of their own making. The people of Londonderry, thirty-six miles from Portsmouth, and the towns which are made up of emigrants from it, attend largely to the manufacture of linen cloth and thread, and make great quantities for sale. These people are indus trious, frugal, and extremely hospitable; the men are sanguine and robust, the women of lively dispositions; and the native white and red complexion of Ireland is not lost in New Hampshire. There are no Indians in this state; the scattered remains of former tribes retired to Canada many years since. Slaves there are none. Negroes, who were never numerous here, are all free by the first article of the constitution. Trade and manufactures.-A great part of the surplus produce of this state is carried to Boston, which prevents it from making a great figure in the scale of exports. The staple commodities may be reduced to the following articles, viz. ships, lumber, provisions, fish, live stock, pot and pearl ashes, and flax-seed. Most of these articles are carried either to Newbury-port, Salem, Hartford, or Boston; particularly to the latter: this arises from New Hampshire being seated in the bosom of Massachusetts, with a narrow strip of sea-coast, and no more than one port. Her inland country extends so widely, as to cover a great part of the neighbouring states, and render a com- ' mercial connection with them absolutely necessary; hence the greater part of her merchandise is reckoned among the ' exports of those places from whence it is shipped. All the towns which are situate on the southern, and many of those on the western borders of the state, find it more convenient to carry their produce to the ports above named; while the towns on the river Saco, and the Horthern parts of Connecticut river, will necessarily com |