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of the Union. The best judges have pronounced it particu- .
larly valuable for wool-growing, and already some of the
best of the northern wool-growers have selected it as a loca-
tion for the pursuit of their calling.

The Patapsco and Patuxent river, with their tributaries
on opposite sides of the county, furnish magnificent water-
power, which has been already improved by the erection of
many first class cotton and woolen factories, flour, paper and
other mills devoted to almost every branch of manufacture.
These lying immediately on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad,
enjoy every convenience for the obtaining of the raw material
and the exportation, to market, of their manufactured pro-
ducts.

The county has large deposits widely diffused, of most val-
uable limestone of the best varieties for agricultural and
building purposes, of most convenient access, besides several
varieties of the finest granite for building purposes, with
most excellent house-brick clay. It enjoys the advantages
of numerous schools and colleges.

From its contiguity to Baltimore, its county town Ellicott's
Mills, being only distant nine miles, it enjoys excellent fa-
cilities for supplying the dailymarkets with farm products,
which advantage is greatly enhanced by the demand for them
in the numerous manufactories with which the county is
studed.

The lands though, as a general thing well improved, yet
sell at prices far below their intrinsic value, varying in price
from ten to one hundred and fifty dollars per acre; in the
latter case with most excellent improvements. This county
has the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad extending through its
whole north-western border, and the Washington & Balti-
more Railroad on its eastern limits. Besides being thus sur-
rounded on two sides by admirable Railroads, it has passing
through it no less than three turnpikes, important adjuncts
to its transportation.

It is well wooded and has abundant of the purest and best
water. It enjoys the conceded health of the healthiest por-
tions of the Alleghany Range, and has always been dis-
tinguished for the high social characteristics of its inhabi-
tants.

Any law-abiding immigrant, from anywhere, will have the
hand of fellowship extended, and may feel secure in the full
fruition of his labor and skill in this county.

MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

This county is adjacent to the last named county on the
south, from which if is separated by the Patuxent river; its
southern boundary is, the Potomac, which separates it from