184 Br. Rujh on the Progrefs of 



have been taken for many centuries in Europe, 

 that I flatter myfelf the following account of the 

 progrefs of Population, Agriculture, Manners, 

 and Government in Penfylvania will be accept- 

 able to you. I have chofen to confine myfelf, 

 in the prefent letter, to Penfylvania only, that 

 all the information I fhall give you may be de- 

 rived from my own knowledge and obfervations. 

 Thejirfi fettler in the woods, is generally a man 

 who has outlived his credit or fortune in the cul- 

 tivated parts of the ftate. His time for migra- 

 ting is in the month of April. His firft objed. is 

 to build a fmall cabin of rough logs, for himfelf 

 and family. The floor of this cabin is of earth, 

 the roof of fplit logs, the light is received 

 through the door, and in fome inftances, through 

 a fmall window made of greafed paper. A 

 coarfer building, adjoining this cabin, affords 

 a flicker to a cow and a pair of poor horfes. 

 The labour of erecting thefe buildings is fuc- 

 ceeded by killing the trees on a few acres of 

 ground near his cabin. This is done by cutting a 

 circle round the trees, two or three feet from the 

 ground. The ground around thefe trees is then 

 plo-ughed, and Indian corn planted in it. The 

 feafon for planting this grain is about the twentieth 

 of May. It grows generally, on new ground, with 

 but little cultivation, and yields in the month of 

 Qflober following, from forty to fifty buftiels an 

 acre. After the firft of September, it affords a 



good 



