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MARYLAND.

for them, nor, indeed, is it easy to over-dress a finewoman.

I called upon a gentleman in Baltimore who takes con-siderable interest in the agriculture of Maryland. He was anearnest advocate for slavery, and maintained that it was nodrawback to the cultivation of the land. He also spoke withvehemence regarding the conduct of the abolitionists in thenorth, upon whom he laid the blame of having been the meansof putting a stop to the attempts which at one time weremade to concert measures for the gradual extinction of slavery.Schemes having this end in view were at one time openlydiscussed in Maryland; now, however, nothing is thought ofbut such measures as are best calculated for making slaveproperty secure. But perhaps the truth of the matter is,slaves have now become more valuable. He assured me thatregular societies existed in Pennsylvania to aid slaves inmaking their escape from their owners in Maryland, whowere constantly meeting with great losses from this cause.He also stated, however, that the value of land had of lateyears risen as much in Maryland as it had done in the adjoin-ing free State of Pennsylvania. Guano has been applied tomany of the worn-out lands in raising wheat, with highlysatisfactory results. The effects of the manure on this cropare most certain when it is applied in autumn at the timethe seed is sown.

Maryland is a comparatively fertile State. Its agricul-tural statistics show us that there is a vast difference in thenatural capabilities of land. Perhaps some may have thoughtthat my descriptions of the general poverty of the soil in theNew England States is somewhat exaggerated ; but its truthwill he rendered apparent by comparing their produce withthat of Maryland. It is often said that slavery tends toexhaust land and to check the development of its resources,whilst free labour has effects precisely opposite. Thisopinion is no doubt true to a certain extent; and if it “beassumed as a fact that the effects of free and of slave labourare such, it only shows more clearly that good land is noteasily exhausted, and poor is not easily enriched. From allthe information which I could gather, I do not think that the