-70- 



One was sold in 1793 for $4 an acre, in 1812, at $10, and is now rated $16. 

 The 2d " 1786 " 5^ " 1803 " 10 " 20. 

 The 3d " 1797 " 7 " 1811 " 16 " 20. 



On the whole, however, I suppose we may estimate that the steady 

 annual rise of our lands is in a geometrical ratio of 5 per cent.; 

 that were our medium now in a wholesome state, they might be estimated 

 at from twelve to fifteen dollars the acre; and I may add, I believe 

 with correctness, that there is not any part of the Atlantic States 

 where lands of equal quality and advantages can be had as cheap. When 

 sold with a dwelling-house on them, little additional is generally 

 asked for the house. These buildings are generally of wooden mate- 

 rials, and of indifferent structure and accommodation. Most of the 

 hired labor here is people of color, either slaves or free. An able- 

 bodied man has sixty dollars a year, and is clothed and fed by the 

 employer; a woman half that. White laborers may be had, but they 

 are less subordinate, their wages higher, and their nourishment much 

 more expensive. A good horse for the plough costs fifty or sixty 

 dollars. A draught ox twenty to twenty-five dollars. A milch cow 

 fifteen to eighteen dollars. A sheep two dollars. Beef is about 

 five cents, mutton and pork seven cents the pound. A turkey or goose 

 fifty cents apiece, a chicken eight and one-third cents; a dozen eggs 

 the same. Fresh butter twenty to twenty-five cents the pound. And, 

 to render as full as I can the information which may enable you to 

 calculate for yourself, I enclose you a Philadelphia price-current, 

 giving the prices in regular times of most of the articles of produce 

 or manufacture, foreign and domestic. 



That it may be for the benefit of your children and their de- 

 scendants to remove to a country where, for enterprise and talents, 

 so many avenues are open to fortune and fame, I have little doubt. 

 But I should be afraid to affirm that, at your time of life, and with 

 habits formed on the state of society in France, a change for one so 

 entirely different would be for your personal happiness. Fearful 

 therefore to persuade, I shall add with sincere truth, that I shall 

 very highly estimate the addition of such a neighbor to our society, 

 and that there is no service within my power v/hich I shall not render 

 with pleasure and promptitude. With this assurance be pleased to ac- 

 cept that of my great esteem and respect.... -H. A. Washington, ed.. The 

 Writings of Thomas Jefferson. 6:430-436 (Washington, D. C, Taylor & Maury. 1854). 



