A tour through North America

Mr Fergusson’s calculations do not appear accurate, and scarcely intelligible in the way he has given them. They shall, therefore, be arranged, without altering his data, as they would actually occur. The entries marked with asterisks are new, and indispensable in practice.

The prospects of the farmer become better after the fourth year, and on the assumed data he would soon become wealthy. At the end of the fourth year, when the land has been cleared, the farm, with buildings, furniture, stocking, and 100 acres of growing wheat, may be valued at L.1200. By the original statement the fourth crop has been reaped, in which case the farm, with buildings, stocking, and furniture, may be valued at L.750. According to my way of arranging Mr Fergusson’s statement, the purchaser of 200 acres of land at the end of the fourth year is only worth L.427, 8s. 2d., or a loser of L.172, 11s. 10d. By the original statement he is worth L.1400, or a gainer of L.800 above his capital of L.600, after maintaining himself and family. Mr Fergusson’s statement of Canadian farming, like the Marquis of Londonderry’s application to Lord Liverpool, may be marked with the words “too bad!”

With due deference to Mr Fergusson’s practical knowledge, I may remark, that he seems to have forgotten the part of the world in which Nichol is situated when framing his statement. How are people to be obtained for thinning turnip in the midst of a forest country, and who is to tend his thrashing-machine?

The data of an agricultural statement must be very fluctuating at all times, as the influence of the season affects the quantity and quality of produce, and consequently prices. Mr Fergusson assumes 25 bushels of wheat per acre as the produce of new cleared land, but the results of my enquiries and observation, including chance of mildew and imperfect cultivation from stumps, do not warrant their being rated higher than 18 bushels per acre. It appears odd that he should fix the price of wheat in Nichol at 4s. 6d., when he quotes the Niagara price at 4s. 3d., and it would require 9d. per bushel to bring wheat from Nichol to Lake Ontario, where it would meet the same market as Niagara. At the time he wrote, Nichol wheat could not be worth more than 3s. 6d. per bushel, Halifax currency. But the price of wheat in Canada is regulated by the prices of Britain. The expense of sending wheat from Nichol to Britain, by way of the St Lawrence, including ensurance, freight, merchant’s profit, and many other charges, will amount to nearly 4s. 3d., Halifax currency, per bushel, and it may be worth in London 7s. 3d., which makes wheat worth about 3s. at Nichol.

Having exposed Mr Fergusson’s statement, one of my own may perhaps be expected, but nothing satisfactory of the sort can be framed. The expense of clearing, fencing, and sowing, depends on the nature of the timber, and varies from L.3, 10s. to L.5 per acre. The succeeding wheat crop, also, varies from 12 to 25 bushels per acre, and prices from 1s. 6d. to 5s. per bushel. Generally speaking, money is not rapidly made by clearing forest land, while patient industry seldom fails of being ultimately remunerated.

The township of Nichol is not, however, such a situation as I would make choice of, being situated too far to the north, and too distant from water-carriage. Supposing the carriage or teaming of wheat, as it is called in the language of the country, from Nichol to lake Ontario costs 9d. per bushel, and that two successive wheat crops are taken from newly-cleared land, yielding 20 bushels each per acre, the carriage of the produce to market will amount to 30s., or double the price of what the land is originally worth, and this charge will operate as a tax, or rent, on every crop that is raised afterwards. The distance from water-conveyance, also, tends to render dear every imported commodity that may be required. When the Ouse or Grand river is made navigable, Nichol will be nearer water-carriage; but, at present, I would rather pay a high price for land in a good situation and climate in Upper Canada, than take a present of land in Nichol, if I was bound to occupy it.

The writers of private letters, the verbal tales of individuals, and the public journals, are often called into requisition to laud and misrepresent the country, and people of Britain ought to consider the accounts well before giving them credence. In a Montreal newspaper, which lately reached me, I observed a paragraph announcing that a yacht club had been formed at Goderich, of which Captain Dunlop was president. At the time of my visit to Goderich, in the end of August, 1833, the population were chiefly subsisting on flour and salt pork, imported from Detroit. The harbour contained three craft of the smallest size, and I did not see a boat or yacht of any description. The youth of Britain, who anticipates displaying at Goderich the uniform of a yacht club, and having the fair sex greeting his triumphant entry into the harbour by the waving of handkerchiefs, may delay his departure for half a century. A steam-boat had appeared off the village in 1833, and could not gain admittance into the harbour for want of water. I did not learn the object of her call, but I am sure all the disposable agricultural produce of the settlement, up to the present time, would not freight a nutshell.

Captain A——, in the township of Blenheim, was told by an agent of the Canada Company, that a stage-coach would convey himself and family from Hamilton to the property he had purchased. No such conveyance existed. On representing the imposition which had been practised on him to the managers at York, an abatement of price was offered. I saw the correspondence on the subject.

If Upper Canada has been too much praised on the one hand, it has also been unnecessarily cried down by some who are anxious to conceal their want of industry, and endeavour to shift from themselves to the country the cause of their return to Britain. Many people emigrate to America who ought to have remained at home, having been inflated by the representations of others and their own imaginations. I have often heard such characters rail against the province; and, on pressing one of them for the reason of his dislike, was answered, “It could not afford a well-cooked beef-steak.” They often lounge about villages, and are a moral pest. Like the fox who lost his tail, they are anxious to involve others in disgrace with themselves; and as most emigrants experience a few weeks’ despondency on first arriving in the country, the society of the idle and discontented ought to be avoided.

A person will find considerable difficulty in choosing a lot of land in Canada. Nine-tenths of the population are interested, directly or indirectly, in the sale of land. The accounts he will receive are more likely to mislead than instruct him; and, if possible, he ought to rely on his own judgment in purchasing. When he has decided on the neighbourhood in which he would like to reside, let him look at all the properties for sale, and take the best bargain. Most of the small landowners, being deeply indebted, are anxious to sell partially cleared estates for ready money; and more favourable terms will be obtained from them than the crown, Canada Company, or extensive proprietors.

The wheat of Upper Canada is sown in autumn, and greatly superior in quality to the wheat of the lower province. It embraces, however, a variety of climates, and the quality of wheat improves as the southern boundary is ascended. In Montreal market, the wheat of the upper province sells from 10 to 20 per cent higher than the wheat of the neighbourhood, and what is grown in the extreme west is of most value.

The expense of transport from the upper to the lower province is not yet reduced to proper terms, especially from remote quarters. But, in a general view, the improved quality of the wheat may be regarded as covering the expense of sending it by water to Montreal, while the climate will produce a greater quantity than the lower province. This may perhaps hold good as far west as the Thames, but on passing that river to the north, both the climate and distance of transport will operate in reducing the value of wheat.

Upper Canada possesses many advantages to the farmer over the lower province. The winter being of shorter duration and less severe, he has more time to prepare the soil. A greater variety of plants can be cultivated, and all of them will attain greater perfection. Animals have a longer summer to fatten, and a shorter winter to pine. Less dry fodder is required for them, and it is more easily obtained. Succulent food might be grown and preserved with greater ease. Still, Upper Canada is not likely soon to become a stock country, both from the limited cleared surface, and severity of winter. Indian corn, too, is not easily grown, except in the southern parts, and it seems to be the chief winter support of animals in America, where labour is high compared with produce.

Notwithstanding labour is high and prices low in Upper Canada, capital and labour may be better employed in cultivation than in the lower province, with exception of the vicinity of Montreal, from the great assistance nature affords. But much capital cannot at present be employed in the cultivation or improvement of land, and perhaps no portion will yield profit without active personal superintendence and assistance.

A British farmer with cleared land would obtain labour to hire in almost any part of the country, and be enabled to afford good wages from the produce. In many situations, however, he would find difficulty in obtaining a cash price, which is at present one of the greatest drawbacks to the country. Barter is often had recourse to, and the farmer being generally indebted to storekeepers, they make their own terms with him, and prey on his vitals. This state of things is, however, soon likely to change from competition; in the meantime, the needy former is sadly imposed on. Labour cannot be divided as in Britain, and cultivation must be carried on in a rude manner. The farmer, however, could find no difficulty in maintaining himself by his own exertions. With two days’ labour in the week on an average throughout the season, he may lead a listless life, without domestic comfort, or care, or anxiety of any kind, and dream of future riches till the close of his existence. With industry, comforts, happiness, and wealth, would be his portion. With forest land the British farmer would be sacrificed, unless in the prime of youth. In chopping, logging, and burning timber, he could not for a time render much assistance, and his previous knowledge would be of little avail. The plough could not be used for seven or eight years. Cultivating merely with the harrow, and mowing with the cradle-scythe amongst blackened stumps, would ill accord with his former habits. In such pursuits he would not, in all probability, find happiness or wealth. The young man of ardour and perseverance, whose habits could be changed, is differently situated, and he may enter the forest with every prospect of success. It is the returns from clearing forest land being distant, though certain, which gives youth great advantage over age, independent of his moral pliancy and physical strength.

The agricultural labourer of Upper Canada finds employment at good nominal wages during summer, but, instead of getting money, he is served with an order on a neighbouring store, from which he obtains goods to the amount, 20 or 30 per cent above real value. In winter his wages are reduced nearly one-half, or he engages in the clearing of forest, on terms of distant payment, and in the interim subsists on store credit. From seldom being paid in money, he sees the hopelessness of raising himself by purchasing land, and the disappointment often leads to drunkenness. At present, it appears to me doubtful if the British agricultural labourer of middle age would greatly better his condition by removing to Upper Canada. It is certain he would obtain more of the good things of life at a sacrifice of some little comfort, and unless he has strong attraction to the country, it is scarcely worth his while to make the change.

It has often been said manufacturers and artisans of all kinds make better Canadian farmers than agriculturists do. This seems to me part of the deception which has been played off on the people of Britain. Knowledge is power in all things, and however prejudiced agriculturists may be, their acquaintance with the time and mode of sowing, harvesting, and many etceteras, must give them advantages over other classes. I can conceive few situations more trying than a person without capital, totally unacquainted with farming, placed in the midst of a forest to live by his own exertions.

The man without capital ought to consider well before engaging with forest land, however cheap and advantageous the terms may appear. Almost all who do so can scarcely avoid being ruined, if interest is to be paid on the stipulated price. At page 363, I have supposed a new settler in the forest to have thirty acres in crop the fourth year. But when all things are taken into consideration, it is found that a settler, unaccustomed to chop wood, does not generally clear more than six acres in a year, and attend to other necessary things. Under these circumstances, it will be impossible for him to spare a fraction of money to pay interest or principal for the first five or six years. This is rendered evident also by the consideration, that the first crop of wheat does not, by the most favourable calculation, even pay the expense of clearing the forest and cultivating the soil. It is therefore demonstrated, that clearing forest is at first unprofitable to a person without capital, if he had the land for nothing, and that every acre which he clears is at an immediate loss. The cleared land, however, continues productive, and would ultimately reward him, if there was no principal or interest to pay. By suffering privations, he may wait like the capitalist for distant returns, which, on arriving, would be paid to the real proprietor of the land; and like an over-rented East Lothian farmer, he would not receive the fruits of his own labour. It is overlooking the difficulties of first settlement, which has involved half the recent settlers inextricably in debt, given the storekeeper such influence over the farmer, and prevented the labourer from obtaining cash wages.

In almost all parts of the country, landowners or their agents will urge people to settle on land, well knowing that every yard which is cleared of trees will ultimately become valuable to the estate, although the settler may be ruined by his engagement. Is it from philanthropic or interested motives the puffs regarding Upper Canada have been circulated? The unthinking poor too often become the dupes of the designing in all parts of the world.

America has been emphatically styled “the poor man’s country;” but Upper Canada does not now merit such a title. The system of store pay, which is so general in the province, operates against the poor man, and does not affect the rich. The system of selling land in large lots on credit has a similar effect; while the late rise in the value of land seems to me to be chiefly destructive to the poor man’s hopes, by diminishing the demand for labour, and increasing his difficulty of purchasing land.

In stating my belief that the middle-aged agricultural labourer of Britain need not change his residence to Upper Canada, I supposed him to be without capital, having constant employment, and living in some degree of comfort at home. The chance of such a person becoming an independent landowner is small, with irregular employment and store pay. The case of the rural inhabitants in many parts of the Highlands of Scotland and Ireland is, however, different, and they would find their condition improved by a change of residence. The sober, the prudent, and the industrious of any country will, however, succeed in Upper Canada, if they can laugh at the hardships of first settlement, and with persevering industry look forward to be ultimately rewarded. It seems to me to be a country chiefly for the young, and those seeking to provide for a family.

Of the unagricultural population of Upper Canada, and their prospects, I am not well qualified to speak. Clergymen, lawyers, and doctors, seem not to be much cared for by the inhabitants, and but indifferently rewarded. Bricklayers find ready employment. Stone-masons are not wanted. Joiners, who can put a great deal of rough work through their hands, are in constant demand at higher wages than other tradesmen, with the advantage of employment in winter. Tailors, shoemakers, and blacksmiths, have good wages in towns and villages. When they commence business on their own account in the country, the thinness of the agricultural population does not always furnish regular employment, and their poverty renders cash difficult to be had. In remote parts of the country, the traffic is carried on chiefly in barter, and many tradesmen in such situations almost never finger money.

The merchants and storekeepers are said to be the most wealthy and influential people in the province, and owe the position they have attained to the situation and character of the inhabitants. The settlers being thinly scattered over an immense and almost inaccessible territory, are necessarily unacquainted with traffic and the price of commodities. Their limited produce does not spur them into active exertion to dispose of it; and the state of the roads only admitting of transport for a part of the year, confines the time of sale to the winter months. During this season, the St Lawrence, which is the only channel of trade, being closed by ice, limits the number of merchants, and drives all out of the market but capitalists. The necessities of farmers do not enable them to hold produce from year to year, and they appear to be at the mercy of the merchants, who obtain thousands and tens of thousands of bushels of wheat, at the head of Lake Ontario, in exchange for shoes and other necessaries, without a fraction of cash being paid on either side. The inland storekeeper has still greater advantages over the farmer, and their profits are said to be excessive; 300 per cent on dry goods having been currently obtained at one time. The merchant and storekeeper is, however, distant from the markets of Britain, which regulates the price of Canadian wheat; and the navigation of the St Lawrence, and transport of goods, are so expensive, that profits may not be so great as is reported. Of their influence in the country, there is, however, no doubt; and that it arises from the pecuniary difficulties of landowners is universally admitted, who, in numerous instances, are irretrievably burdened with debt.

The first settlers, at the close of the war with the colonies, being at too great a distance to admit of much intercourse with each other, and having no outlet for their produce, soon sunk into listless inactivity. Many Germans and Dutch afterwards followed, who commonly settled near each other, and although quiet and industrious people, were altogether without enterprise. The greater portion of British emigrants, who first settled in the province, having little capital or education, and obtaining grants of forest in isolated situations, made small progress in a mode of farming so new to them. Having been nurtured in poverty, they had few wants and were not ambitious to improve their condition. From a people so situated, and composed of such materials, little could be expected. Individuals connected with government seem to have been more solicitous about their own than the people’s welfare, and little was done to call forth the resources of the country, or to rouse the slumbering energies of the inhabitants. The people, however, formed good subjects for active traders, who still gather a plentiful harvest. How long this state of things may last with traders will depend on competition. Their profits will fall with the opening of communication throughout the country, but capital employed in trade is likely to yield a good return, so long as the necessities of the agricultural population continue urgent.

Every inhabitant of Britain, contemplating the commencement of trade in Upper Canada, must be prepared to do so in a new mode, and, while he views high profits, he ought not to lose sight of transacting business on a limited scale, and in an expensive and disagreeable manner.

If the early inhabitants of Upper Canada sunk into indolence, some of the succeeding settlers were ill fitted to improve them, being blended with the scum and refuse of mankind. For many years the bankrupts in character and fortune, the poor, the idle, and the dissipated, departed from Britain. From the United States the knavish whites, and the runaway blacks found shelter, and after having cheated the Canadians again set off. Such a population receiving grants of forest, separated from each other by clergy reserves and large absentee estates, could not be expected to exert themselves amidst the difficulties of first settlement. People of enterprise, who reached the province, soon made a fortune and retired again.

I found some of the oldest settlers treading out their wheat crop with horses; living in miserable houses, and without a particle of sugar to sweeten their tea. This state of things arose from laziness, their possessions being large, their time unoccupied, and the juice of the maple might have been collected a few yards from their residence for the making of sugar.

At the time of my visit nine-tenths of the hotel-keepers and stage-drivers, and most of the active business people, had originally come from the United States. Every horse and ox of size or fatness could be traced to have come from the same territory, and the Canadians appear to me to be much indebted to the people of the United States for any activity and refinement that is to be met with in the province.

The first settlers, the people of business, and almost all travellers for pleasure or health, having come from the United States, their manners and customs have been impressed on the inhabitants of Upper Canada, and I do not think the large influx of British emigrants which has taken place of late years will efface them. I found much less refinement than in the lower province or in the United States, while the coarse manners of the people, and their habits of intemperance, were so prominent, that I heard more oaths and witnessed more drunk people the first few days I was in Canada, than I had met with during my previous wanderings in the States. I must do Upper Canada, however, the justice to say, that such characters appeared to be late importations from Britain and Ireland, and I was sorry to observe intoxication was by no means confined to the lowest class of emigrants.

Knowing that a great deal of moral worth, physical energy, and capital, have lately flowed into Canada, I have no doubt of time producing an important change in the state of the country and people. Indeed, hewing down the forest may be termed mortgaging labour to nature, whose generous returns accumulate like compound interest, and I look on Upper Canada as the germ of a numerously inhabited and wealthy state. Nothing but misgovernment can prevent such a consummation. A number of human beings have, however, been most improperly seduced into the province of late years, and at present I regard Upper Canada as a wretched, an immoral, and a misgoverned country.

I found many of the Canadians filled with inveterate prejudice against the inhabitants of the United States, whom they regarded as a band of cheating and lying democrats. Some excuse might have been found for this feeling, had it alone existed amongst the first settlers, who suffered during the late war; but the greatest degree of inveteracy was evinced by persons lately from Britain, whose conduct, in the intercourse of the world, had not been altogether blameless at home. The prosperity of the people of the United States seems to excite the envy of the Canadians. The same feeling does not exist in the State of New York towards the Canadians, who are there considered indolent and dissipated.

The constitution of Upper Canada is modelled after the British one, and there is a council appointed for life by his Britannic Majesty on certain conditions. The House of Assembly is chosen by voters, twenty-one years of age, British subjects, and possessed of 40s. freehold for a county election, and L.5 for a town qualification. The province possesses the power of taxing itself, and the impositions are as little felt as in any country in the world.

There is a general opinion in Britain that Canada is an excellent sporting country, and almost every young emigrant carries out a gun with him to shoot game. Few people however go in quest of it, the winters being so severe, and food so scarce, that game cannot exist in numbers. In every situation deer is difficult to be had, and I only met with one deer-shooter in my travels. The turkey is found only in the western district in limited numbers. Quails are more plentiful, and confined to the west. There are two kinds of pheasants throughout Canada, and not plentiful any where but in the west. The ruffed grouse or prairie hen has never been found in the country. Ducks are particularly numerous in autumn, and at certain seasons so are woodcocks. I have seen more game in half-an-hour in Scotland than I saw in all my wanderings in Canada, and there is no part where good shooting can be obtained but near the River Detroit.

United States—Climate—Diseases—Productions—Agriculture east of the Alleghany Mountains—Agriculture west of the Mountains—Wages—Choice of Residence—Progress of Wealth—Wages of the United States and the Canadas—Profits of Capital.

The territory of the United States is situated between 24, 27, and 49° north latitude, and 10° east, to 54° west longitude from Washington. Its mean breadth from north to south is about 830 miles, and mean length from east to west, 2500 miles. The area embraces 2,076,410 square miles, or 1,328,902,400 acres, consisting of the following states and territories: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Florida, and the Arkansas, Michigan, Missouri, North-west and Western territories.

A territory differs from a state in not sending members to Congress; and the President of the United States, with consent of the senate, appoints the executive officers. Congress has power to make general laws in the territories, which become states on containing a sufficient population.

Many people in Britain have difficulty in forming a conception of the extent of the United States, and imagine each state something like the size of the counties in their own country. But some of the divisions into which the territory is separated are much larger than the whole island of Great Britain. The United States must therefore be considered a union of countries—each state, having its own government and laws, is divided into counties, which are subdivided into townships.

Having travelled over only a small portion of the United States territory, lying between 37° and 45° north latitude, embracing the states of New England, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and the territory of Michigan, my remarks shall be confined to this region, which might, with propriety, be divided into the eastern, middle, and western states, if particular consideration was intended to be given it.

The climate of that portion of the United States which I travelled over participates of the general character of the continent, having the extremes of heat and cold. The length of winter will of course vary with the latitude, which, in the north, will be nearly six months, and in the southern part, about six weeks.

This region is intersected by the Alleghany mountains, commencing in the state of Maine, and passing through New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, dividing the country longitudinally. Some parts of this range is of considerable height—Mount Washington, in New Hampshire, being 6634 feet above the level of the sea. Monadnock, in the south-west corner of New Hampshire, was the most elevated point which I was near, being 3254 feet in height, and, with the exception of the falls of the Niagara, the only truly sublime object I saw in America. The Alleghany range varies in breadth at different places. Across the mountains in New Hampshire is about 120 miles—in New York, about 150 miles, and in Pennsylvania, 130 miles. In such situations, climate will be affected by altitude as well as latitude.

In the country east of the Alleghanies, north-east winds prevail for a considerable part of the year, especially in the New England states, where they are cold and raw to human feeling in the spring months. To the west of the Alleghanies, the most prevalent wind is from the south-west, and is mild in temperature. The winds blowing chiefly from different directions, on opposite sides of the mountains, have been ingeniously accounted for by Volney and other writers, and thought to be connected with the trade winds, gulf stream, a cold current of air from Davis’ Straits, and the configuration of the country. There seems to be an opinion amongst the writers on this subject, that the climate of the west is two or three degrees milder than the east, under the same parallel of latitude—the winters of the latter being more severe, and the summers of the former cooler. Judging from human feeling, this may perhaps appear to be the case from the influence of the sea air, in the country bounded by the Atlantic, but the thermometer observations which have been published seem to make the temperature nearly alike at the same altitude on both sides of the Alleghanies. The meteorology of the United States has not, however, been properly investigated, and the most important difference to the farmer, in the climate of the two countries, is a deeper fall of snow in the east than in the west, and a steadier winter.

To the east of the Alleghany mountains, where north-east winds prevail in spring, consumption is a frequent complaint with the human race, and more especially near the sea-coast, the air being particularly keen at certain seasons. This disease is most frequent in the New England states, where the cold and dampness of the north-east wind is strongly felt. The inhabitants of New England have not that dark seered complexion so common in other parts of the Union, many of them closely resembling the people of Britain. It is probable the florid complexion of the people, and their proneness to consumption, arise from the dampness of the climate. To the west of the Alleghanies, the most common complaint is bilious fever, in every variety of type, passing by the names of “ague,” “chill and fever,” and many etceteras. Fever is essentially a disease of the country, and seems connected with the luxuriance and decay of natural vegetation. In every part of inhabited America, fever, originating from this cause, must be frequent, and will be more severe towards the south, as the heat and length of summer increase. It is common on the banks of rivers and on the prairies, from exhalations produced by the rays of the sun; and on first clearing wood lands, the same effects are produced. With the progress of cultivation, fever is likely to abate, and I have no doubt the fatality of the disease in this region is at present heightened by the quantities of animal food consumed by the inhabitants. On both sides of the Alleghanies, inflammatory complaints, arising from sudden transitions of temperature, are common. There is no reason, however, to imagine this part of America more unhealthy than the Canadas, unless the prevalence of north-east winds in the east, and the want of cultivation in the west, are more unfavourable than a severe and steady winter.

The agricultural productions are the same as what have been noticed as the growth of the Canadas. A portion of this country may, however, be termed the region of Indian corn, which grows with uncommon luxuriance, and is one of the most important plants in American farming. Mr John Taylor of Virginia called it the “meal, meadow, and manure” of the farm, and it well merits his emphatic description. It is used as human food in a variety of forms; in maintaining and fattening animals during winter it far surpasses every agricultural product, and affords a great quantity of materials for manure. When soil and climate are adapted to its growth, it furnishes more nourishment for man and beast on a given space, and with less labour, than any other plant. It is the only means of fattening animals during winter in remote parts of the country, and, under present circumstances, no district which I visited in course of my tour can become eminent in breeding and fattening live stock, which is not congenial to the growth of Indian corn. It does not seem to be cultivated with success beyond 43° north latitude, and an agricultural emigrant, who values the necessaries of life, ought only to settle where this plant can be successfully grown.

Indian corn seems to differ from most other agricultural plants, by growing vigorously for a succession of years on certain soils without an application of manure. There is much evidence to establish this fact in the Western United States, and amongst the Indians in Upper Canada. I saw it growing luxuriantly on soft prairie soil in Ohio, which farmers assured me could not produce a wheat crop without an application of manure. It is this peculiarity of Indian corn which has given rise to some exaggerated accounts of the fertility of American soil, by producing so many crops without manure. In some parts of the country, Indian corn seems to be like an indigenous plant, and its growth for a succession of years is perhaps no greater test of fertility of soil than grass is in Britain.

The soil on the eastern side of the Alleghanies is generally of an inferior description, with exception of the lands on the banks of rivers. The cleared lands have been long cropped under the robbing system, and are far from being productive. The whole of the land that is worth occupying is owned by private individuals, although a great portion of it is covered with forest; and I was frequently told, that in all situations near a village, or which had ready access to water-carriage, forest land was more valuable than what had been cleared, fuel having became so dear of late years. Much of the land covered with wood is not worth cultivating, and should the forest be removed for fuel, it is likely to remain in pasturage or be suffered to produce trees again. The price of farms varies from L.5 to L.30 sterling per acre, according to quality of soil, buildings, and situation. Labour can at all times be had, and every description of produce finds a ready market. Manures are chiefly employed in growing vegetables, and can be bought from the stablers of New York at 7d. sterling a cart-load, similar in shape and size to the carts used in Scotland. Market gardening is the most profitable department of farming, and the growing of grass ranks next.

Notwithstanding the good markets, command of labour, and low price of manure, the cultivation of grain in this part of the country is attended with little profit, which circumstance, joined to a grass crop being more lucrative, illustrates the parts nature and man perform in the production of farm produce which has been so often alluded to. And a Briton who has been accustomed to pay a high rent will be very apt to overlook, on first reaching America, many circumstances affecting the profits of farming.

Land which has been impoverished by a long succession of crops, under the robbing system, will not yield much grain without a plentiful supply of manure, which the rate of labour may frequently prevent being applied without incurring loss. Suppose an acre of wheat to yield with a moderate application of manure twenty-four bushels of wheat per acre, which is worth $1 per bushel. The cost of producing the crop, including twice ploughing, harrowing, seed, sowing, harvesting, and carrying home, thrashing, dressing, and marketing, will amount to $14, leaving only $10, or L.2, 2s. 6d., to meet the interest of capital employed in the purchase and cultivation of the land, taxes, professional profit, and the purchase and application of manure. If the purchase money of the land and capital invested in cultivation amount to $60 per acre, the interest may be taken at $4, leaving only $6, or L.1, 5s. 6d. sterling, for taxes and manure. The cost of manure is scarcely worth estimating, but the expense of its carriage and application are so high as often to forbid its use. On the assumed data there will only remain about 18s. sterling per acre to meet the carriage and spreading of manure. The expense of labour is strikingly exhibited in contrast with the value of the crop. The wages of a labourer may be stated at seventy-five cents per day, and the value of an acre of wheat would employ a man about thirty-two days. In Britain a wheat crop of similar productiveness, at ordinary prices and rates of labour, would employ a man between eighty and ninety days. The same mode of management is obviously not suited to both countries.

In grass husbandry human labour is but little employed, nature being the chief agent of production, and hence it is remunerating. The difficulty of transporting certain kinds of grass produce from a distance, such as hay and fresh dairy produce, keeps up the price of these commodities, but the small quantity of labour bestowed on their production is the chief cause of their profitableness.

A man with capital may purchase a farm to the east of the Alleghany range, and occupy it with a prospect of having a good return for the capital invested, if he possess prudence and industry. He must not, however, lavish capital on fanciful improvements, or employ much labour on finical operations. Wages are so high that he will require to calculate the value of every day’s labour, and render the closest personal superintendence, and perhaps also assistance. Unless this is done farming will be unprofitable, as a great many of the workmen are idle and unsteady. Farming cannot, however, be pursued on a large scale with a prospect of success, from the difficulty of superintending the operations and forming a proper division of labour with unskilful and untractable workmen. There is, however, an excellent field for prudent skill and industry near all towns. In short, science seems scarcely to have been thought of in American farming, and a cautious application of it in draining and other improvements, in particular situations, would be remunerating.

Land may be rented in many parts of the country on fair terms, more especially near towns. In such situations many British emigrants successfully pursue market gardening and dairy husbandry. Native Americans prefer occupying land of their own to paying rent for the use of a farm belonging to others.

The labouring emigrant does not readily find agricultural employment on the east coast, from the country being thickly settled, and the constant influx of emigrants without funds to support them. He should, therefore, lose no time in pushing back into the country, where wages are higher compared with the price of the necessaries of life and land, and where information necessary to a settler on cheap land, can alone be acquired.

The soil on the western side of the Alleghanies is generally much superior to the eastern, although it is to be found of all descriptions and degrees of fertility. It has not been very long cropped, and the natural composition of a great portion of it will, under any circumstances, render it productive of wheat and Indian corn. Almost all the land in the eastern part of this district is owned by private individuals, but much of it remains uncleared of forest. Towards the west the greater part of the land is held by the United States government, and costs $1¼ per acre. In every part of the country forest or improved land may be purchased, and the price is governed by local situation and other circumstances. Labour can generally be had, except in the extreme west. Farm produce is in constant demand, and prices are regulated by the markets of the towns on the east coast and New Orleans, to all of which there is access by rivers, canals, or railroads. Prices may, therefore, at all times be considered lower than the markets on the east by the expense of transport. Manures are very seldom used except in the neighbourhood of large towns, where the demand for vegetables and shortness of carriage render it worthy of the farmer’s attention.

The money wages of labour may be stated to be nearly the same from the east to the extreme west, but any difference that exists is towards a rise in the west. In the same direction a decline in the price of produce takes place. Therefore, as the distance from the markets on the coast increases, the farmer pays a greater share of produce to the labourer, and must be remunerated either by the low price of land or its natural fertility. Labourers are of a more unsatisfactory description than in the east, land being so cheap that every prudent man is enabled to purchase a farm for himself in the course of a year or two, and it is only the imprudent who continue labourers. The character of the workmen renders labour dearer than is at first apparent.

The country to the west of the Alleghanies is of such extent, and gradually increasing in distance from the seaport towns which regulate the price of the land produce, that farms of equal quality of soil vary from 5s. 4d. to L.12 sterling per acre.

A person possessed of capital may purchase a farm in many situations with advantage. But the exercise of prudence and industry in choice of situation and management is particularly called for. The price of produce is so low compared with labour, that only a small portion of capital and labour can be profitably applied to the cultivation of the soil. In almost every instance where cultivation is followed personal assistance will be necessary to obtain profit. It has already been remarked, that money wages in the west are nearly the same as in the east, and as hired men are generally boarded, the western employer has some advantage from the cheapness of provisions. Supposing an acre of ground without an application of manure yields twenty bushels of wheat, which sells at 50 cents per bushel, and a labourer gets $120 a-year with board, the value of an acre of wheat will employ a man twenty-six days without including board. To the east of the Alleghanies the value of an acre of wheat was stated to pay the wages of a hired man about thirty-two days, including board. In the one case, however, manure is supposed to have been applied, and in the other it had not. But in many parts of the west, wheat generally sells considerably lower than 50 cents a-bushel, and in such situations a hired labourer either obtains a greater share of the produce, or the fertility of the soil is greater. In Sangamon county, in the state of Illinois, the soil of which is very fertile, the price of wheat at Springfield was 37½ cents when I was there. Supposing wheat to yield twenty-five bushels per acre, its value would employ a labourer about twenty-five days. In every situation the hiring of agricultural labour ought to be determined by calculation. If the former obtains a fair profit from the outlay of capital he need not repine at the wages of the labourer, however high they may be.

An emigrant will not always find agricultural employment to the west of the Alleghanies from the low price of farm produce; but there is always a demand for labour in towns and villages, at high wages, and he need not remain idle if he is disposed to work. An industrious and sober man must rapidly accumulate wealth by working for hire, and many perhaps err by purchasing land instead of continuing to work under the direction of others. On leaving New York, a gardener, who was working at Haddington when I left Scotland, gave me ten pounds sterling, which he had saved since his arrival in America, to enable his wife and family to reach him. A young man, whom I had often employed at spade-work on Mungoswells farm, at 1s. 6d. a-day without board, was earning, by sawing stones at Cincinnati, 4s. 3d. a-day with board.

A person cannot purchase and farm land to the east of the Alleghanies without possessing a considerable portion of capital; and to the west of the mountains land is not likely to be cultivated with profit without personal labour. The luxuries of life being prepared in the east, to meet an extensive demand, are cheaper than in the west by the expense of transport from one market to the other. It is the reverse with the necessaries of life; and the agricultural emigrant ought to be guided in his choice of residence on either side of the Alleghanies by his habits, finances, and wants.

All wealth, according to the views I have endeavoured to establish, being the result of nature and labour, the riches of a community must be regulated by the soil and climate of the country, and the skill and industry of the inhabitants. The soil and climate of two countries being equal, the most skilful and industrious people will be the wealthiest—with equal skill and industry the inhabitants of the country most favoured by nature will become the richest. Under a parity of circumstances, with regard to nature and inhabitants, the oldest nation will be the wealthiest, and the progress of new countries in wealth will depend on the facilities of cultivation—a forest-covered surface yielding wealth slower than one clothed with grass. The ratio of extent of territory to the inhabitants of new countries also affects the progress of wealth. With a limited surface capital will rapidly increase, from the cheapness and division of labour that will necessarily ensue, and wealth will be unequally distributed amongst the inhabitants. With an extensive surface capital will accumulate slowly, and all the inhabitants will enjoy an ample share of the necessaries of life, without possessing much tangible capital.

The first settlers in this portion of the United States had to struggle with severe privations. Besides being engaged in warfare with the natives, they settled in insulated situations in the midst of a densely wooded surface, without experience as to the mode of rendering it fruitful, or possessing facilities of communication. They were unable to subsist by their labour, and many perished for want of food. But on every portion of cleared surface nature continued productive, and her exertions being aided by new skill and industry, wealth appeared in the progress of time. There being no rent, and scarcely a burden of any kind to pay, the inhabitants reaped the combined fruits of their own and nature’s labour without division. Individuals had as much land as they chose to cultivate; and having every inducement to render it productive, they rewarded labour with liberal wages. The abundance of land induced labourers to turn landholders, and reward others with high wages, who likewise became landholders. Thus there was a constant progression in society, by the prudent and industrious labourers rising into wealth, and receding from the first point of settlement on becoming landholders. These movements continue up to the present time with the existing cause—abundance and cheapness of land, to which many of the peculiarities of the country and its inhabitants may be traced.

Good land being sold by the United States government at $1¼ per acre, people will not permanently hire themselves for a less reward than can be obtained by cultivating on their own account. When competition depresses wages, operatives commence farming, and wages rise. Thus the wages of labour are regulated by the profits of farming, and will continue to be so until all the good land is occupied.

The profits of farming do not regulate the wages of labour in the Canadas, because land is there held by monopolists, or sold at a monopoly price. And the late rise in the price of land in Upper Canada not only renders the ultimate prospect of labourers becoming landholders more distant, but also lowers the wages of operatives through competition, by tending to confine them to their professions. But supposing land to be equally abundant and cheap in the Canadas and United States, and the wages of labour to be regulated in both countries by the profits of farming, wages would necessarily be higher in the United States, from possessing superiority of climate. Nature performs more towards the manufacture of agricultural produce in the United States than in the Canadas, and the reward of industry, which is divided between the landholder and labourer, is consequently greater.

This view of the wages of labour in the different parts of North America which I visited, is supported by facts, wages being generally considerably higher in the United States than in the Canadas. During the summer of 1833 the carpenters of New York struck work when getting 5s. sterling per day, and by doing so obtained 6s. per day. The future prospects of operatives appear to be good, a vast portion of the best land of the country being still unoccupied, a subject which will be afterwards noticed.

The profits of capital employed in farming do not seem to affect the profits of capital invested in other fields of production. Indeed, the high price of labour, and the difficulty of combining systematically and giving proper effect to agricultural labour in most parts of the United States, render the employment of much capital in farming unprofitable. The high price of labour affects the investment of capital in other channels, and it will be found difficult to manage a large fortune safely and profitably. On this account wealth is seldom accumulated in large masses, while almost all the inhabitants have it in their power to acquire a competency. The customs of the people are favourable to this degree of wealth—a father’s property being generally equally divided at death amongst his children. Capital, however, in many cases, will enter into competition with labour, and its profits in the United States, where the fields of production are so extensive, and its inhabitants so enterprising, cannot be low for many generations to come.