The mountain sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1844-1853, 1851-09-04
mis- { I / / A E 30 ] S
Agricultural Productions oE' zEse
United States.

and about ffty-fve degrees Of longitude, al in
one compact mass, renders it the most favored
nation on the face of the earth, in the variety
of its agricultural productions. There is moth
ing essential to the existence Of man, and but
few Of the luzuries which crafty his palate,
which are not raised in the United States. But
this IS not the only advantage which our people
possess in the productions of food. In the ar
ticle Of bread-stuts, the staff of life, def
cheney in the supply Of which is productive Of
so much misery in many countries, so wide is
the extent of territory, comprehend:ng So many
degrees of latitude and longitude which is
planted, that a famine is an event which is al
most placed beyond the bounds Of possibility.
IF the crops fail in one section, the surplus IS
so great in another that the failure is scarcely
felt Instance the article Of wheat. the princi-
pie staple of bread-stutfs. This grain is raised
in every State and Territory. So also with rye
indian corn and potatoes. Barley is raised in
all the States but Louisiana and Florida All
the Southern States with the exception of
Maryland, rs well as one OF more Of the Wes-
tern States, produce rice Every State except
Delaware, makes sugar. OF the articles neces-
sary for the production of meat, sue as hay
oats, &c, every State produces more or less.
These facts prove that our nation need be de-
pendent other for the necessaries of life,
even in the most unfavorable seasons. How
much more favored are we in this respect than
our great commercial rival-Great Britain
There the whole commercial system is liable to
be disarranged by a year of comparative fam
inc, or by the failure Of a single crop.
Ohio raises more wheat than any other State;
Tennessee raises the most corn: Pennsylvania
the most rye and buckwhcat; South Carolina
the most rice; and New York the most barley,
potatoes and hay. The production Of wheat
has been for many years extending on the West,
and contracting on the East. The wheat lands
Of New York, PeIssylsazia and Maryland are
becoming in a measure exhausted. and their
yield per acre is much less in proportion than
that of the newly cleared and prairie lands Of
the West The Western States, indeed, are
now. par excellence, the wheat growing States of
the Union, and ii is TO them the future millions
must look for the principal means Of sustenance.
Il Will be centuries before the United States
XII TEEN with q population, which, like that Of
England, viii require all which te raised
from the soil to support life, or before they viii
be forced 10 depend upon any other nation for
the staple articles Of food. Indeed it may well
be doubted whether science will not keep pace
with the growth Of population, and teach oar
farmers the proper materials 70 restore the ex-
hausted fertility Of the soil, thus rendering an
acre as productive as double the quantity of
land as at present cultivated. When We con
slider the almost countless millions Of human
beings who viii ultimately, at the present ratio
of progression, find subsistence within the
present limits Of the United States, we are lost
in the mazes Of speculation at the future des-
tiny Of cur country.
TraVeIs IN Holland.
: little way from bort is the ancient castle Of
Loeyestein, which was the prison Of the learned
Grotius for year and half The history Of
/ his escape in a box, March -, 1921, gives an
( interest to the spot. He bcguiled the tedious
months of confinement by various studies in
I ancient and modern literature. Sundays he
/ wholly devoted TO prayer and the study of the
ology. Twenty months of his Imprisonment
thus passed away. His faithful and courageous
wife now began to devise means for his escape.
+ She had observed that he was not so strictly
E
/ ined the chest used for the conveyance of his
( books and linen began to examine them loosely.
/ At length they permitted the chest TO pass
without examination.
/ Upon this she contriyed project for his
release. She had chest made of the proper
size. and bored holes in it 10 let in the air She
intrusted her maid with the secret, and the
. chest was conveyed to Grotius' apartment She
then revealed her project to him, and after
much entreaty prevailed on him TO enter the
chest and leave her in the prison. The book:
which Grotius borrowed were usually sent away
by water in a boat from the prison. The chest
big with the fate of Grotius, as soon as he wa
: incIosed in il. was moved into the boat, accom-
panied by the maid. One of the soldiers, oh
serving that the chest was uncommonly heavy
the maid replied, = 1t IS the Armenian book:
which are so heavy" The soldier said in
joke Perhaps it is the Armenian himself an'
then without more ado the chest was lodged il
the boat As soon as the boat was fairly unde
way, the maid gave signal TO her mistres
that all was right
After some hours the boat reached its destl
nation, and the maid flew to Jacob Daatzelasi