Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes County, Ohio) 1856-1865, 1858-04-15
From the Cleveland Herald.
General Statistics of Ohio.

sioner of Statistics has been issued. 1t
perusalwill convince any one of the import
ance of such State Bureau, and of the ad
mirable manner in which that well know
statistician, Mr.. Edward D. Mansfield, ha
performed the duties of the office. TIL
pamphlet, which numbers over one hun
dred pages, contains information of inesti
mable value relative to the physical agri
cultural, manufacturing, mining, and com
mercial interests of Ohio, and also deepl,
important information as to the property
debts, taxation and social condition Of th
inhabitants of Ohio. 1t presents plan o
a Statistical Bureau, und gives elaborat
tables ofgreat variety, showing the progress
of Ohio and its present condition.
POSITION.
In speaking of the position of Ohio, th'
Commissioner says:
Underlaid in its eastern portion, by the
great belts of coal, iron, and salt bearing
rocks, which extend from Lake Erie nearly
to the Gulf of Mexico, it has all the ele
ments of manufacturing development
which has so greatly increased the power
and wealth of Great Britain. Having two
hundred miles of coast on Lake Erie, and
four hundred and thirty on the Ohio Rivel
the one connecting by direct navigation
with the Gulf of st. Lawrence. and the 9th
er with the Gulf of Mexico, has navigable
outlets to all parts of the Globe, and vessels
built in Ohio have sailed upon distan oceans
and borne its products to tho ports of Eu-
rope. Finally, the peculiar position and
passes of The Allegheny Range, have made
it impossible that the artificial lines of COM
munication between the East and the West
can be made advantageously, except thro'
Ohio; accordingly we find the four great
Railways between the Atlantic cities and
the Mississippi pass through Ohio. 1t is
the Gateway of artificial commerce.
PHYSICAL FACTS. u... .l.als
Ohio has a surface of AZ, 500 square
miles. This includes Lake Erie to the
Boundary line. The surface returned by
the U. S. Land Office is 39,964 square
miles. Its land taxed-beside town lots
-25, 1921, ,620 acres; number of town lots
-222, 900, occupying surface of 27,9s9
acres. Surface occupied by roads 424, ZOO
acres. Average amount of land taxed to
each individual 80 s3S1Ooth square miles.
LINES OF COMMERCE.
Lake Erie and the Ohio River-wbich
include eleven improved harbors-63O
miles; TurDpikes and Plankroads 1900
miles; County and Township roads &c.
200 miles. Ohio has therefore 1858
miles of transit lines, over which its COM
merce travels and general produce passes !;
being nearly two froad 10 each square
mile of surface.
CLIMToLoGY.
In speaking of the climate of Ohio, the
Report says: at' 80 ~
"The fact that severe winters have killed
the acclimate peach tree, while we have
successfully introduced the Wine Grape,
the Sorghum, and the Japan Pea, proves
that our climate admits of modification, in
the culture of fruit and vegetables, which
are not admissible in the Atlantic Stat IS
of the same latitude. The extent of these
notifications we do not know; and is not
impossible that other valuable plans to
which we are now strangers, may be intro
duced.
The Commissioner shows that if the
general principle of iso-thermal lines Zines
of equal temperature) be correct, Southern
Ohio should raise such plants as are easily
raised at. Lyons, France; Milan, Italy;
Constantinople and Japan. Sorghum,
which is plant Of North China, whose
climate in many respects is similar to ours,
is successfully cultivated in Ohio; it will
also grow in France, and as Indian corn, to
which it bears strong likenes, grows in both
those countries, there is strong climate
argument in favor of Sorghum becoming a
a staple ofthis region.
POPULATION.
Ohio stands one of the most remarkable
of growth and power, derived
from its natural, moral, and political advan-
tages. From the date of its admission, no
State has made equal progress in popula-
ton, and Iowa and Wisconsin are the only
States which seem likely to grow with
equal rapidity for period of fifty years
from their commencement. In twenty
years prior to the census of 1850, Virginia
20 per cent; Pennsylvania so
per cent; and Ohio 110 per cent. Some
of the Western States havo large territory |
than Ohio, and may eventually have n
greater population, but no State has body |
Of land SO uniformly good, or so great
commercial advantages, and no State in
Lhe Union is is likely to have so many in
habitants to the square mile. AT the dem
;ity of Massachusetts, Ohio would have
i've millions of people; at the density of
Great Britain, she would have ten millions,
md her capacity to sustain ten millions
S far greater than that of Great Britain to
sustain her people.
In its agricultural features, Ohio is con-
tantly and rapidly improving. One of
hese caues is the general introduction of
lgritural machinery, the labor of many
housand men being saved by the use Of
Artificial drainage is another
ause of improvement, also deep plowing,
md introduction of new varieties of plants,
he most prominent of which is Sorghum.
The greatest cultivation of this plant has
'een Clermont, Montgomery, Meigs, and
iahoning counties, and these facts have
een established, to wit: that the Sorghum
, adapted to our climate, can be readily
nd cheaply raised, will yield large
mount ofsyrup to the acre, and that mo- !
,ses and sugar of good marketable quality /