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Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1836,

BY CHARLES BOWEN,

in the Clerk's office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

CAMBRIDGE:

FOLSOM, WELLS, AND THURSTON,
Printers to the University.

PREFACE.

THE eighth volume of the American Almanac, which is now presented to the public, contains the usual quantity and variety of matter. For information relating to the astronomical department, the reader is again referred to the Preliminary Observations of Mr. Paine. Explanations relating to various other topics treated of, may be found in different parts of the work.

This volume of the Almanac, besides the usual register of the national and state governments, an American and foreign obituary, and chronicle of events, contains, among various other matters, a valuable treatise on the "Use of Anthracite Coal," an account of "Public Libraries," a "Statistical View of the Population of the United States," a series of tables relating to the "Cultivation, Manufacture, and Foreign Trade of Cotton," and Meteorological notices of Seasons and the Weather; but the subject more especially treated of under the Individual States, is that of INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT, particularly CANALS and RAILROADS. This is a subject which has of late engrossed a great deal of attention in the United States. Within a few years, extraordinary changes with respect to travelling and the facilities of intercourse between the different parts of the country, have taken place; and many further important improvements are now in progress. A brief general view of these changes may be seen in the Preliminary Observations prefixed to the notices of the Individual States.

The limits of the Almanac are such as to require every thing to be treated of in a very brief manner; but it is desirable that each state should receive due attention. The notices of some of the states will be found to be very imperfect; for, although efforts have been made to procure the necessary information in relation to each, yet we have, in some cases, relied on the attention of gen

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