vicinity of Provo an attempt has been made to cultivate the tea-plant; and on the Santa Clara several hundred acres have been devoted to the culture of cotton, but with imperfect success.  Flax, however, is raised in considerable quantity.  The fields are rarely fenced with rails, and almost never with stones.  The dirt-walls by which they are usually surrounded are built by driving four posts into the ground, which support a case, ten or twelve feet in length, made of boards.  This is packed full of mud, which dries rapidly in the intense heat of a summer noon.  When it is sufficiently dry to stand without crumbling, the posts are moved farther along and the same operation is repeated.

The country is not dotted with farmhouses, like the agricultural districts of the East.  The inhabitants all live in towns, or “forts,” as they are more commonly called, each of which is governed by a Bishop.  These are invariably laid out in a square, which is surrounded by a lofty wall of mere dirt, or else of adobe.  In the smaller forts there are no streets, all the dwellings backing upon the wall, and inclosing a quadrangular area, which is covered with heaps of rubbish, and alive with pigs, chickens, and children.  The same stream which irrigates the fields in the vicinity supplies the people with water for domestic purposes.  There are few wells, even in the cities.  Except in Salt Lake City and Provo, no barns are to be seen.  The wheat is usually stored in the garrets of the houses; the hay is stacked; and the animals are herded during the winter in sheltered pastures on the low lands.

All the people of the smaller towns are agriculturists.  In none of them is there a single shop.  In Provo there are several small manufacturing establishments, for which the abundant water-power of the Timpanogas River, that tumbles down the neighboring canon, furnishes great facilities.  The principal manufacturing enterprise ever undertaken in the Territory—­that for the production of beet-sugar—­proved a complete failure.  A capital advanced by Englishmen, to the amount of more than one hundred thousand dollars, was totally lost, and the result discouraged foreigners from all similar investments.  Rifles and revolvers are made in limited number from the iron tires of the numerous wagons in which goods are brought into the Valley.  There are tanneries, and several distilleries and breweries.  In the large towns there are many thriving mechanics; but elsewhere even the blacksmith’s trade is hardly self-supporting, and the carpenters and shoemakers are all farmers, practising their trades only during intervals from work in the fields.