of England. However, they manufacture a great deal of it very successfully. I have seen cloths made there, which were of as close and firm a contexture, though not so fine, as our best drabs; they were thick, and, as far as I could judge, superior for the ordinary wear of country people, to any thing we make in England.

There is not one of our settlements which can be compared, in the abundance of people, the number of considerable and trading towns, and the manufactures that are carried on in them, to New England. It is judged that the four provinces which it comprises, contain about 350,000 souls, including a very small number of blacks and Indians; the rest are whites. Douglass, who seems to be well informed on this point, proportions them as follows:

The most populous and flourishing parts of the mother country, hardly make a better appearance. Our provinces to the southward on this Continent, are recommendable for the generous warmth of the climate, and a luxuriance of soil, which naturally throws up a vast variety of beautiful and rich vegetable productions; but New England is the first in America, for cultivation, for the number of people, and for the order which results from both.

There are in all the provinces of New England large towns, which drive a considerable trade. Boston, the capital of Massachusetts Bay, is the first city of New England, and of all North America; it contains at least 20,000 inhabitants.

That we may be enabled to form some judgment of the wealth of this city, we must observe that from Christmas, 1747, to Christmas, 1748, five hundred vessels cleared out from this port only, for a foreign trade, and 430 were entered inwards; to say nothing of coasting and fishing vessels, both of which are extremely numerous, and said to be equal in number to the others. Indeed the trade of New England is great, as it supplies a large quantity of goods from within itself; but it is yet greater, as the people of this country are, in a manner, the carriers for all the Colonies of North America and the West Indies, and even for some parts of Europe. They may be considered, in this respect, as the Dutch of America.

The commodities which this country yields, are principally masts and yards, for which they contract largely with the royal navy; staves, lumber, all sorts of provisions, beef, pork, butter, and cheese, in large quantities; horses and live cattle; Indian corn and peas; cider, apples, hemp, and flax. Their peltry trade is not very considerable. They have a noble cod fishery upon their coast, which employs a vast number of their people; they are enabled by this to export annually above 32,000 quintals of codfish to Spain, Italy, and the Mediterranean, and about 19,000 quintals to the West Indies. The quantity of spirits which they distil in Boston from the molasses they bring in from the West Indies, is as surprising as the cheap rate at which they vend it, which is under two shillings (sterling) a gallon.

They are almost the only one of our Colonies which have much of the woollen and linen manufactures. Of the former, they have nearly as much as suffices for their own clothing. A number of Presbyterfans from the North of Ireland chose New England as their place of refuge. Those people brought with them their skill in the linen manufactures, and meeting with very large encouragement, they exercised it to the great advantage of this Colony. At present they make large quantities, and of a very good kind. Hats are made in New England, which, in a clandestine way, find a good vent in all the other Colonies. The setting up of these manufactures has been, in a great measure, a matter necessary to them. The same necessity, together with their convenience for building and manning ships, has made them the carriers for the other Colonies.

As the people of New England have no commodity to return for the value of above a hundred thousand pounds sterling, which they take in various sorts of goods from England, but some naval stores, and these in no great quantities, they are obliged to keep the balance somewhat even by a circuitous commerce, which, though not carried on with Great Britain, nor with British vessels, yet centres in its profits, where all the money which the Colonies can make in any manner, must centre at last.

VOL. I. NO. 1.

INDUSTRIAL PURSUITS

IN THE VALLEY OF THE BLACKSTONE, NEW ENGLAND.

WE ask attention to the annexed statement of facts, which we extract from a Report of a Committee appointed to collect information in relation to the business and travel on a contemplated line of rail roads, between Providence, R. I., and Worcester, Massachusetts.

The population of the towns through which it will pass, including Providence and Worcester, was, according to the census of 1840, as follows, viz:

The business of Worcester is very large; besides the trade usual for the supply of its ordinary population there are extensive manufacturing establishments, using coal and iron, and producing rail road cars, machinery, farming utensils, shoes, and various other articles. Among them are the following:

A paper maker employs fourteen hands, pays freight on more than four hundred tons of merchandize, and ships to New York one hundred tons annually.

A manufacturer, employing thirty-five hands, uses two hundred tons of iron, and makes four thousand ploughs, and other agricultural instruments, annually.

A manufacturer of card wire employs forty men, and purchases one hundred tons of iron annually.

A lead pipe maker uses fifty tons of lead annually.

A manufacturer of woollen machinery uses about two hundred tons of iron annually, and makes thirty-five sets of machines.

Thirteen establishments for the manufacture of machinery, use large quantities of iron, lumber, and coal.

$151,000

And that of the others in the aggregate very large.

A large foundry employs about one hundred and twenty hands, and uses about twenty-one hundred tons of coal, and large quantities of iron and moulding sand.

A paper and calico machine manufactory, occupied by several concerns, makes about the value of $200,000 of these machines annually.

Over and above the cotton and woollen mills, the scythe manufacture, and the machine shops, enumerated in the annexed table, there are in the under-mentioned places the following manufactories all in successful operation :-

An iron dealer in Worcester purchases annually 200 tons of iron. The sales of shoes, exclusive of those at retail, amount annually to about $572,000.

About 120,000 bushels of southern corn, 4,000 tons of coal, 50,000 bushels of salt, and 1,000 tons of lime, are consumed annually.

In Pawtucket, the Franklin Print Works print 160,000 yards per week. There are also in this village, a manufactory of plane irons and augurs, two foundries, a planing mill, a reed maker's shop, a lock and knob shop, a comb factory, a sash and blind factory, three curriers' shops, a sheet iron and tin shop, a dyeing establishment, two shops for engraving copper rollers for printing cottons, three printing offices, and a large trading interest. In Central Falls-Four thread mills, making 1,200 lbs. per week, employing 284 females, and 240 males. There are also two spooling shops, two turning shops, and one bedstead manufactory. Home Print Works employs eight females and seventy-five males, and prints 80,000 pieces of cloth per annum.

Lonsdale has a bleaching and dyeing establishment just ready to go into operation.

Lime Rock, in Smithfield, produces very large quantities of lime, of very superior quality, which is sent to Providence for shipment, and is preferred to any other lime made in New England.

Cumberland Hill is in the immediate vicinity of an inexhaustible quarry of iron stone, which is extensively shipped and used in Massachusetts and other places, in the manufacture of iron.

Woonsocket has an iron foundry, two grist mills, a saw mill, two thread mills, a spool and bobbin shop, and soap works.

Rogerson's Village has a saw mill, a batting mill, and two stove manufactories.

Whitingville is in Northville, in which town the shoe manufacturers and curriers employ 120 males and 80 females, and make about 100,000 pairs of shoes per annum.

Douglas has a large manufactory of axes, employing 77 hands; two shoe manufactories, employing 86 males, 65 females-making 38,000 pairs of shoes per annum.

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Grafton. The shoe business of this place is much larger than that of any other on the route, as will appear on comparing the number of persons employed-about 200 females and 400 males.

New England Village. This village has a batting mill, a grist mill, a sash factory, a hoe and scythe factory, and a tin and stove shop.

Wilkinsville has two shuttle shops, a machine shop for joiner's tools, a machine shop for shoemaker's tools, and two shoe manufactories, making 20,000 pair of shoes annually.

Millbury has a paper mill, an armory for making small arms, an iron foundry, two manufactories for making farmer's tools, and three shoe manufactories, whose joint business amounts to $150,000 per annum.

All these are over and above what are inserted in the annexed table.

We find also, in this report, the following comparison between the Blackstone Valley and Lowell, which shows that this region, through which the above rail road will pass, nearly equals Lowell in its industrial pursuits.

The estimated number of passengers per the Lowell Rail Road, was originally 37,440 per annum. The actual number, exclusive of those to and from the Concord, Nashua, and Maine Roads, has for several years past varied from 90,000 to 120,000, and will probably this year reach 140,000.

The Lowell Rail Road divides 8 per cent. annually on $1,800,000, and the Committee for the Providence and Worcester Road think it reasonable to estimate that this Road will divide an equal profit on $1,000,000, the cost at which it can be made.

We understand the stock has been all taken up; and further, that a Company has been recently incorporated to construct a Rail Road from Worcester to Nashua, New Hampshire, which town communicates with Lowell by a rail road of 15 miles in length.

The above account of the industry of the several towns, not included in the annexed table, is given in a manner to render it impossible to state, with any tolerable degree of accuracy, the results in dollars and cents. It presents, however, a picture, which can be well understood, and shows, as we promised to show, a portion of "the busy, bustling mass of our citizens at their daily employment.”