1805.] Obfervations refpeSing Emigration to America, 



315 



ir.er. There are, befides, fwarms of in- 

 fefts, io various, voracious, and deflruc- 

 tive, that tijgy feem to rife only to mul- 

 tiply, to injure vegetation, and to die. — 

 In warm and moift years their fecundity 

 is Inconceivable and their numbers incal- 

 culable. The inftinft of fome leads them 

 to gnaw the bark of trees, other* prey 

 upon the leaves, and others again upon 

 the buds. There is nothing fown or 

 planted which hat not its enemy ; and 

 that nothing may be exempted from their 

 ravages, the infcft* of autumn devour the 

 fruit whofe buHg have efcaped the vora- 

 city of their predecefibrs. They fay no- 

 thing of thole worms which a.ttack. the 

 ftalks of the Indian corn, nor of thole 

 Hcfllin flies* which kill thefe plants by 

 arrefling their fap for their own nutriment, 

 nor of thofe fwarms of caterpillar!, 

 which, like a devartaiing conflagration, 

 l^y waffe his orchaids and woods, and 

 in tlie midlt of fummer create the gloomy 

 nskednefs of winter. They have totally 

 overlooked all th.ife enemies, fo foriiii- 

 da' k in power thtugh fo contemptible in 

 fire. 7 hey forget that the years have lio 

 ipring, nor even a fummer and winter of 

 regular duration; and that when to the 

 ravages of fo m:iny inlets are added the 

 ineguhrity and inclemency of the ft-a- 

 Ions, the farmer fuftain* annually confide- 

 derable iofTes, and his only confolation, 

 hope for better luck next feafon, very 

 often proves dek'five. They pafs over 

 that it is dangerous to aim at making im- 

 provements, becaufe, from the paucity of 

 innds, and the little dependence which 

 csn be placed even on ihoie who will work, 

 there is no faying when they will be finifli- 

 ed, and the only certainty is, that of an 

 enormous exprnce in proportion to the la- 

 bour done. They do not fay that the 

 American farmer is afraid to raife larger 



• The inhabitants of Long-lfland, during 

 the r«vo!j:ionary war, having perceived that 

 an infcft till then unknown deftroye-l their 

 crops of corn in the neighbour'nooJ of the 

 Hellian camp, called it the Hefl"nn-fly. So 

 foon as the lialk and the ear are formed, this 

 in(t€t bores the upper and lower parts of the 

 fjrft joint, and /iepofits its little eggs in the 

 aperture. When the young ones are blown, 

 they interc'cpc the fap and ffeii on it, which 

 gtnerally occufions the death of the plant. — 

 from Long-ifland this infcft lias fpread over 

 fevcul dates, and, as ii advances wcftward, 

 it leaves entirely the places it l.is before ra- 

 ViigcJ. It is abfurd to fuppofc that this Infeft 

 was brought from Europe, the whole natural 

 kiliory of which has none of a fimilar fpe- 

 ciej. 

 MONTHLY Mag. No. 135. 



crops than he and his fahiily can confumc, 

 left he fhould get no market for them, or 

 becaufe he is too far diltaiit from any ; 

 and that if he does fell his fupeifluous 

 produce, he is certain of getting no mo- 

 ney, but only goods in exchange, which 

 are commonly Weft-India or European 

 articles of Ivixury, which in his fitnation 

 he had better never know the ufe of.— 

 They omit that the crops in the ground 

 are often loft by the fudden tranfition from 

 winter to fummer, without any interval vf 

 fpring, for want of hands ; and that if 

 labourers could be hired, the crops will 

 not pay iheexpence. They have not lohl 

 us that falt-pork or fifli with Indian bread 

 was their only food, .and milk or water 

 their mgft common drink, for cyder is by 

 no means in general ule. 



Yet all thefe difadvantages are deplored 

 by the American farmers, although they 

 deem them common to every other coun- 

 try, and are fo very apparent, that it 

 mult be wilful negligence to pnfs Chein 

 ever fub Jilentio, or grol's perverfion t.o 

 have reprefented them as not exifting. — 

 Whether \pu view his crops, or make in- 

 quiries of the American farmery you will 

 l«;e or liear of thofe eneiriies at every fteji ; 

 and as it would b^ ridiculot^s to Attempt 

 to draw any jv-raild between his iituation 

 and ihat of an European,, particularly .an 

 Engljlh, farmer, I (hail proceed to (hewr 

 what produiSii.ns thrive in the United 

 States and what do irot. 



The United States are evidently a 

 planting country, and not one adapted tc> 

 tillage. Naturs has fufficiently pointed 

 out iliis faft by (roducing fpontaneoufly 

 tobacco, rice, Indigo, cotton, and maize or 

 Indian corn, the ftaplc commodity of 

 American food, and by denying to them 

 great crops of wheat, barley, oats, &c. 

 which are is reprellntative in the Old 

 Contine :t. Wheat delights in a (iifi^ foil 

 which will .lielter its roois from the ardent 

 I ays of the fun, and the foil of the United 

 Sates is light, loofe, ::nd lb permeable, 

 that brooks, ciec-k-^, and even rivers, b^ve 

 diiappesrsd. Wheat, tiierefore, and every 

 other grain v;hich requires a ftiff f ,il, wUI 

 not thrive there ; but Indian corn, wliich 

 is a Ihong phnt, growing on a llcm of 

 from ten to fifteen feet in lieigh', demands 

 a loofe foil v/hifh will iieely admit liiofe 

 rays to penetiate t < its root. This alio- 

 nilliingly produitive plui't affords nutri- 

 ment to both man and bea'.t, and is the 

 ftaflF of the United State?. For want of a 

 due coMfexlure of the I'oil thcle ItateS are 

 by no mfSiis a prafs country, but nature 

 has prnvlited .lea^nlt every exigency.. — 

 R r " The 



