nd Ohio, I never found the slightest beauty
in the forest scenery. Fallen trees in every possible stage of
decay, and congeries of leaves that have been rotting since the
flood, cover the ground and infect the air. The beautiful
variety of foliage afforded by evergreens never occurs, and in
Tennessee, and that part of Ohio that surrounds Cincinnati, even
the sterile beauty of rocks is wanting. On crossing the water to
Kentucky the scene is greatly improved; beech and chestnut, of
magnificent growth, border the beautiful river; the ground has
been well cleared, and the herbage is excellent; the pawpaw grows
abundantly, and is a splendid shrub, though it bears neither
fruit nor flowers so far north. The noble tulip tree flourishes
here, and blooms profusely.

The river Licking flows into the Ohio nearly opposite Cincinnati;
it is a pretty winding stream, and two or three miles from its
mouth has a brisk rapid, dancing among white stones, which, in
the absence of better rocks, we found very picturesque.

CHAPTER 5

Cincinnati--Forest Farm--Mr. Bullock

Though I do not quite sympathise with those who consider
Cincinnati as one of the wonders of the earth, I certainly think
it a city of extraordinary size and importance, when it is
remembered that thirty years ago the aboriginal forest occupied
the ground where it stands; and every month appears to extend its
limits and its wealth.

Some of the native political economists assert that this rapid
conversion of a bear-brake into a prosperous city, is the result
of free political institutions; not being very deep in such
matters, a more obvious cause suggested itself to me, in the
unceasing goad which necessity applies to industry in this
country, and in the absence of all resource for the idle.
During nearly two years that I resided in Cincinnati, or its
neighbourhood, I neither saw a beggar, nor a man of sufficient
fortune to permit his ceasing his efforts to increase it; thus
every bee in the hive is actively employed in search of that
honey of Hybla, vulgarly called money; neither art, science,
learning, nor pleasure can seduce them from its pursuit. This
unity of purpose, backed by the spirit of enterprise, and joined
with an acuteness and total absence of probity, where interest is
concerned, which might set canny Yorkshire at defiance, may well
go far towards obtaining its purpose.

The low rate of taxation, too, unquestionably permits a more
rap