And when a
scorching sun is filling New Orleans with fever, the cool weather of
the North, and upon the great lakes, is healthy and delightful. The
apple bloomed at Natchez, in 1850, as early as the 24th March; while at
Montpelier, in Vermont, it bloomed on the 10th June. The distance
between the two places is but three or four days' travel.
"One can hardly name a staple article of production which some part or
other of the States will not grow--not as a mere garden curiosity, but
as an article of profitable cultivation. The champagne of Cincinnati is
beginning to be noted, and tea is under experimental cultivation in
South Carolina.
"The mineral resources of the country are enormous; and their
development is only limited by the present want of capital to work them
more efficiently. The coal of Pennsylvania--the iron in various parts
of the Union--the copper of Lake Superior--the lead about Galena on the
Mississippi; and lastly, the gold of California, which has already put
in circulation a coinage of 15,000,000_l_. sterling--all these are
but the first tapping of almost boundless resources.
"In 1791, the public debt of the United States was $75,000,000. It is
now, with six times the population, only $64,000,000; and in the same
period, the imports of the country have increased from a value of
$52,000,000 to $147,000,000; the exports from $19,000,000 to
$145,000,000; and the tonnage of shipping from 500,000 tons to
3,300,000 tons.
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