October the 1st. The gnats which are very troublesome at night here, are called Musquetoes. They are exactly like the gnats in Sweden, only somewhat less, and the description which is to be met with in Dr. Linnæus’s Systema Naturæ, and Fauna [[144]]Suecica, fully agrees with them, and they are called by him Culex pipiens. In day time or at night they come into the houses, and when the people are gone to bed they begin their disagreeable humming, approach always nearer to the bed, and at last suck up so much blood, that they can hardly fly away. Their bite causes blisters in people of a delicate complexion. When the weather has been cool for some days, the musquetoes disappear. But when it changes again, and especially after a rain, they gather frequently in such quantities about the houses, that their numbers are astonishing. The chimneys of the English which have no valves for shutting them up, afford the gnats a free entrance into the houses. In sultry evenings, they accompany the cattle in great swarms, from the woods to the houses or to town, and when they are drove before the houses, the gnats fly in wherever they can. In the greatest heat of summer, they are so numerous in some places, that the air seems to be quite full of them, especially near swamps and stagnant waters, such as the river Morris in New Jersey. The inhabitants therefore make a fire before their houses to expell these disagreeable guests by the smoak. The old Swedes here, said that gnats had formerly been [[145]]much more numerous; that even at present they swarmed in vast quantities on the sea shore near the salt water, and that those which troubled us this autumn in Philadelphia were of a more venomous kind, than they commonly used to be. This last quality appeared from the blisters, which were formed on the spots, where the gnats had inserted their sting. In Sweden I never felt any other inconvenience from their sting, than a little itching; whilst they sucked. But when they stung me here at night, my face was so disfigured by little red spots and blisters, that I was almost ashamed to shew myself.
I have already mentioned somewhat about the enclosures usual here; I now add, that most of the planks which are put horizontally, and of which the enclosures in the environs of Philadelphia chiefly consist, are of the red cedar wood, which is here reckoned more durable than any other. But where this could not be got, either white or black oak supplied its place. The people were likewise very glad if they could get cedar wood for the posts, or else they took white oak, or chesnut, as I was told by Mr. Bartram. But it seems that that kind of wood in general does not keep well in the ground for a considerable time. I [[146]]saw some posts made of chesnut wood, and put into the ground only the year before, which were already for the greatest part rotten below.
The Sassafras tree, or Laurus Sassafras, Linn. grows in abundance in the country, and stands scattered up and down the woods, and near bushes and enclosures. On old grounds, which are left uncultivated, it is one of the first that comes up, and is as plentiful as young birches are on those Swedish fields, which are formed by burning the trees which grew on them.[25] The sassafras grows in a dry loose ground, of a pale brick colour, which consists for the greatest part of sand, mixed with some clay. It seems to be but a poor soil. The mountains round Gothenburgh, in Sweden, would afford many places rich enough for the Sassafras to grow in, and I even fear they would be too rich. I here saw it both in the woods amidst other trees, and more frequently by itself along the enclosures. [[147]]In both it looks equally fresh. I have never seen it on wet or low places. The people here gather its flowers, and use them instead of tea. But the wood itself is of no use in œconomy; for when it is set on fire, it causes a continual crackling, without making any good fire. The tree spreads its roots very much, and new shoots come up from them in some places; but these shoots are not good for transplanting, because they have so few fibres besides the root, which connects them to the main stem, that they cannot well strike into the ground. If therefore any one would plant Sassafras trees he must endeavour to get their berries, which however is difficult, since the birds eat them before they are half ripe. The cows are very greedy after the tender new shoots, and look for them every where.
The bark of this tree is used by the women here in dying worsted a fine lasting orange colour, which does not fade in the sun. They use urine instead of alum in dying, and boil the dye in a brass boiler, because in an iron vessel it does not yield so fine a colour. A woman in Virginia has successfully employed the berries of the Sassafras against a great pain in one of her feet, which for three years together she had to such a degree, that it almost hindered [[148]]her from walking. She was advised to broil the berries of sassafras, and to rub the painful parts of her foot with the oil, which by this means would be got from the berries. She did so, but at the same time it made her vomit; yet this was not sufficient to keep her from following the prescription three times more, though as often as she made use thereof, it always had the same effect. However she was entirely freed from that pain, and perfectly recovered.
A black Woodpecker with a red head, or the Picus pileatus, Linn. is frequent in the Pensylvanian forests, and stays the winter, as I know from my own experience. It is reckoned among those birds which destroy the maize; because it settles on the ripe ears, and destroys them with its bill. The Swedes call it Tillkroka, but all other woodpeckers, those with gold yellow wings excepted, are called Hackspickar in the Swedish language. I intend to describe them altogether more exactly in a particular work. I only observe here, that almost all the different species of woodpeckers are very noxious to the maize, when it begins to ripen: for by picking holes in the membrane round the ear, the rain gets into it, and causes the ear with all the corn it contains to rot. [[149]]
October the 3d. In the morning I set out for Wilmington, which was formerly called Christina by the Swedes, and is thirty English miles to the south west of Philadelphia. Three miles behind Philadelphia I passed the river Skulkill in a ferry, beyond which the country appears almost a continual chain of mountains and vallies. The mountains have an easy slope on all sides, and the vallies are commonly crossed by brooks with crystal streams. The greater part of the country is covered with several kinds of deciduous trees; for I scarcely saw a single tree of the fir kind, if I except a few red cedars. The forest was high, but open below, so that it left a free prospect to the eye, and no under-wood obstructed the passage between the trees. It would have been easy in some places to have gone under the branches with a carriage for a quarter of a mile, the trees standing at great distances from each other, and the ground being very level. In some places little glades opened, which were either meadows, pastures, or corn-fields; of which latter some were cultivated and others not. In a few places, several houses were built close to each other. But for the greatest part they were single. In part of the fields the wheat was already sown, in the English [[150]]manner without trenches, but with furrows pretty close together. I sometimes saw the country people very busy in sowing their rye. Near every farm-house was a little field with maize. The inhabitants hereabouts were commonly either English or Swedes.
All the day long I saw a continual variety of trees; walnut trees of different sorts, which were all full of nuts; chesnut trees quite covered with fine chesnuts; mulberries, sassafras, liquidambar, tulip trees, and many others.
Several species of vines grew wild hereabouts. They run up to the summits of the trees, their clusters of grapes and their leaves covering the stems. I even saw some young oaks five or six fathoms high, whose tops were crowned with vines. The ground is that which is so common hereabouts, which I have already described, viz. a clay mixed with a great quantity of sand, and covered with a rich soil or vegetable earth. The vines are principally seen on trees which stand single in corn-fields, and at the end of woods, where the meadows, pastures, and fields begin, and likewise along the enclosures, where they cling with their tendrils round the trees which stand there. The lower parts of the plant are [[151]]full of grapes, which hang below the leaves, and were now almost ripe, and had a pleasant sourish taste. The country people gather them in great quantities, and sell them in the town. They are eaten without further preparation, and commonly people are presented with them when they come to pay a visit.
The soil does not seem to be deep hereabouts; for the upper black stratum is hardly two inches. This I had an occasion to see both in such places where the ground is dug up, and in such where the water, during heavy flowers of rain, has made cuts, which are pretty numerous here. The upper soil has a dark colour, and the next a pale colour like bricks. I have observed everywhere in America, that the depth of the upper soil does not by far agree with the computation of some people, though we can almost be sure, that in some places it never was stirred since the deluge. I shall be more particular in this respect afterwards.[26] [[152]]
The Datura Stramonium, or Thorn Apple, grows in great quantities near all the villages. Its height is different according to the soil it is in. For in a rich soil it [[153]]grows eight or ten feet high, but in a hard and poor ground, it will seldom come up to six inches. This Datura, together with the Phytolacca, or American Nightshade, grow here in those places near the gardens, [[154]]houses, and roads, which in Sweden are covered with nettles and goose-foot, which European plants are very scarce in America. But the Datura and Phytolacca are the worst weeds here, nobody knowing any particular use of them.