Having looked in vain for the appropriate niche where a brief account of the United States Navy Yard might be introduced, we insert it here. In 1801, the government purchased fifty-five acres of ground located on Wallabout Bay, now lying between the Eastern and Western Districts of the city of Brooklyn. Subsequent purchases have increased the amount to about two hundred acres, which cost originally $40,000, and is now valued at twenty millions. The Navy Yard proper covers about fifty acres, is laid out with paved streets and walks, which are kept very clean.

The Dry Dock, begun in 1841, is a vast structure, capable of taking in a ship 300 feet long, and cost between two and three million dollars. It is emptied by steam pumps. The yard Contains large buildings to cover ships of war while in process of building, extensive lumber warehouses, great numbers of cannon, pyramids of shot and shell, shops, foundries, etc., etc. A Naval Museum, filled with curiosities sent home by officers, a Marine Hospital, with barracks for troops, cottages for officers, and other necessary appendages, are spread around the premises. It is a place of curiosity, and is visited by many thousands annually, but as it occupies nearly the heart of the city, the enterprising property-owners would gladly see it removed. Congress has begun to debate the matter of its removal, and it will probably be accomplished before many more years elapse.