1. Agriculture is the chief occupation of our people. Let us take a journey extending north from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada, and notice what the planters and the farmers are raising.
Raking and loading hay by machinery in Indiana.
First of all, we pass through the belt of warm Southern states, where snow and ice are seldom seen. Here we find groves of orange and lemon trees, and fields of sugar-cane, rice, and cotton. In some parts of this belt the pineapple and other tropical fruits are grown.
We enter next a belt where the weather is cooler. This belt begins a little above the line marked 35 on the map. We are now surrounded by fields of corn, tobacco, hemp, and wheat. In some parts of this belt grapes and peaches grow abundantly.
Carrying cotton down the Mississippi river.
Still journeying northward, we cross the line marked 40 on the map. We are now in a third belt, in which the winters are very cold. More wheat and hay are grown here than anywhere else in the country. Vast numbers of cattle are raised, and much fine butter and cheese are made. In the far north a great deal lumber is cut.
2. Manufacturing.—In the extreme east a large number of people are employed in manufacturing. Some of them make muslins and calico from the cotton that grows in the South; others make clothing, boots and shoes, watches, clocks, farming tools, and machinery.
3. Mining is an important occupation in the mountainous regions. The United States has silver, gold, and other metals. Its coal will last for many years.
4. Commerce and Transportation.—In all parts of the country, many of our people are engaged in commerce. Some of them buy things made or grown in one part of the United States, and sell them in other parts. This is called domestic commerce.
Some merchants sell to other countries the cotton, wheat, and petroleum that we do not need, and buy of them silks, linen, coffee, tea, and spices. This is called foreign commerce.
Loading cotton at Galveston, Texas, to send abroad.
The work of carrying goods and people from place to place is called transportation.
For Recitation.—What is the leading occupation in the United States? What crops are grown in the warmest belt? In the cooler middle belt? In the northern part of our country? Name some of our manufactures; some of our mineral products; our chief exports; our chief imports.
