mountainous division; elsewhere it is mild, with but little snow falling. In the central division, which represents the average climate of the State, the annual mean temperature is 60° Fahrenheit. The summer mean is 75°; winter mean, 43°; extreme summer, 89°; extreme winter, 20°; annual rainfall 45 inches; average number of rainy days in a year, 60. All the religious denominations are represented in every section of the State; and they flourish side by side in a state of perfect equality. Public schools and colleges are in a fair condition as regards number and sources of revenue. There are 112 periodicals published in North Carolina. The State debt, both funded and unfunded, amounts to $5,006,616-25. Assessed taxable property-real and personal-$148,000,000. State tax on $100-333 cents. Legal rate of interest, 6 per cent.; but a sum not exceeding 8 per cent. may be agreed upon by contract: any stipulation for a rate in excess of 8 per cent. involves a forfeiture of the entire interest. Wages are lower in North Carolina than in most other States. Farm hands receive $8.10 per month throughout the year, and female servants about $6 per month. But skilled workmen are better paid, and receive wages nearly approaching those prevailing at Chicago, St. Louis, and elsewhere. Fare from a port in Great Britian to Raleigh:-Steerage and emigrant train, £8. CHAPTER XXIX. OHIO. Area, 39,964 square miles. Population, 3,200,000. IN nearly all the elements which contribute to that end, Ohio (0-hi-o) is one of the foremost States of the American Union. But the price of land is high everywhere within its borders, averaging about $75 per acre in the best of the central and south western counties, but not more than $50 in the northern two tiers of counties, and not more than $20 in the two tiers of hilly counties bordering on the Ohio River; therefore it is perhaps beyond the province of "The Emigrant's Friend" to speak of its geographical features and great agricultural resources. Emigrants of the farming class, with limited means, will find it more advantageous to settle further west, or in one of the Southern States, than in the high-priced portions of Ohio; but men with large capital may prefer joining a community where institutions and markets are established, where cities and towns are adjacent, and where the luxuries of civilization may be indulged in. This State has grown in population during the last eighty years from 45,365, in 1800, to at least 3,200,000 now. Its prosperity is an index to its resources. The climate of Ohio is temperate, and the thermometer seldom sinks below zero, except in occasional severe winters, when it sometimes reaches 15 degs. below. In ordinary winters the farmers are profitably employed nearly all winter, on such work as corn-husking, drawing manure, cutting and drawing wood, splitting rails and laying fence, lumbering, etc., etc. And even tile draining can often by proper care be continued nearly all the winter. Ohio is bounded on the north by Michigan and Lake Erie, on the east by Pennsylvania and Virginia, on the south by Kentucky and West Virginia, and on the west by Indiana. Lake Erie furnishes navigable waters to the northern division of the State for 230 miles; the Ohio River flows along its boundary line for 436 miles; while the rivers Great and Little Miami, Sciota, Muskingum, Maumee, Sandusky, Huron, Vermillion, Cuyahoga, and Ashtabula traverse the interior in every direction. Moreover, there are 7102 miles of railway (sidings and double tracks included) within the State; and in this regard Ohio is excelled by the State of Illinois only. A large tonnage is employed in the commercial traffic of the State. The bottoms engaged in the trade of Cincinnati alone, during 1879, amounted to 83,569 tons. The The country is hilly towards the Pennsylvania line; elsewhere it is undulating and high table lands. whole surface is interspersed by forests composed of the oak, black walnut, maple, hickory, ash, beech, oak, elm, etc.; while the many tributaries of the great rivers flow to every point of the compass. The soil is almost inexhaustible in its richness; and the fertile river bottoms have yielded fifty successive crops without fertilization. In every branch of industry and source of wealth, Ohio disputes the priority with her sisters in the Republic. In the production of cereals it is only excelled by Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa. The farm products of Ohio for 1879, with their value, etc., were as follows: Peaches and apples, and all other fruits of the temperate zone, do well in this State: the Catawba grape, and its delicious wine, have European celebrity. The animals of Ohio, in 1880, were as follows: Horses....... : Mules and asses... Neat cattle.... Sheep Pigs...... Total 730,642 26,793 1,630,004 4,267,261 2,041,649 8,696,319 In the output of coal and make of pig-iron this State stands next to Pennsylvania. The coal products of Ohio, during 1877, according to Seward's estimate, was 5,250,000 tons-the output of the "Key Stone State" for the same year being about seven times that quantity. The make of pig-iron for 1877 was 400,398 tons-Pennsylvania producing about three times that tonnage. In the number and wealth of its petroleum wells, also, Ohio takes the second position in the United States. There are 106 blast furnaces in the State, 73 using coal or coke, and 33 using charcoal. These gave employment to 9,796 persons in 1880, when 29 furnaces were out of blast. The capacity of these furnaces is about 1,000,000 tons per year. There are 54 rolling mills in the State, with a capacity of about 675,000 tons of manufactured iron and steel annually. These mills gave employment to 10,746 persons in 1880. The coal area of Ohio is about 11,000 square miles, with an aggregate thickness of 1,600 feet, enclosing 20 workable beds of coal, some of which are 10 feet in thickness. There are also 8 to 10 well-defined seams of iron ore, and many valuable beds of limestone. The output of coal for the year ended 1st June, 1880, was 6,437,725 tons. There are 216 large coal mines, employing 15,662 persons. Again, in manufactures, this State ranks next to Pennsylvania and New York. The number of factories in Ohio at the taking of the census, ten years ago, was 22,773; number of hands employed, 137,202; capital invested, $141,923,964; value of annual products, $569,713,610. The range of manufactures is all-embracing, extending, in the city of Cincinnati alone, to 225 branches. The following condensed table gives the number of hands employed, and value of manufactures produced, by the Cincinnati manufactories during 1878: |