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land, Frederick and Hagerstown, there are no cities or towns
of any considerable moment, and the employment of the peo-
ple necessarily rural.

LAND.

There is no unsold or unoccupied land in the State, though
there is a very large quantity for sale, at prices ranging from
$5 to $500 per acre. The latter price, however, is only asked
for land contiguous to the city of Baltimore, which it is rea-
sonably anticipated will ere long form part of its corporate
limits. The best farming land in the State can be bought
for $30 to $100 per acre, according to location; and good
land can be bought as low as $10 to $15—worn out land $5.
In certain sections, especially the lower or bay counties, land
is held in large tracts, frequently from one to five thousand
acres. The change in the labor system by the abolition of
slavery, renders these large tracts burdensome to the owners,
and hence a great deal is thrown upon the market for sale,
the terms of which are convenient, rarely more than one-
third of the purchase money being required to be paid in
cash. The poorest of this land is found by experiment to be
adapted to the cultivation of fruit, and with industry could
be made to yield as profitable a crop as the best lands in the
State with the alternating crops of wheat, corn and tobacco.

EDUCATION.

A uniform system of public instruction for the State was
adopted by the Legislature of 1865. It embraces Primary,
Giammer and High Schools, Colleges, Medical and Law
Schools. A uniform series of text books is used. The Pri-
mary and Grammar Schools are free, supported by State and
local tax, and the State Free School Fund. There is also a
college for young ladies in Baltimore; an Agricultural college
and a State Normal School, encouraged, and the latter sup-
ported by State donations.

There are also many excellent private institutions of learn-
ing in the State, among which may be named the Maryland
Institute for the promotion of the mechanical arts, which
sustains schools of design for architectural and mechanical
drawing, schools of chemistry, music and bookkeeping, and
contains a library with over 12,000 volumes; the Medical
School of the University of Maryland, St. James' (Episcopal)
College, near Hagerstown; St. Mary's, near Emmittsburg ;
Loyola (Catholic) Baltimore; Mt. Washington Female Col-
lege (Methodist), and Lutherville Female Seminary, near
Baltimore; St. Timothy's Hall, male, at Catonsville, Prof.
Knapp's Male German Academy, Rev. Dr. Scheib's " Zion "
School (German) male and female; and a large number of
other private institutions of learning, twenty-nine of which
are conducted in the German language.