CHAPTER IX. 



PRICES OF LAND, LABOUR, FOOD AND RAIMENT. 



310. Land is of various prices, of course. But, as I am, in this 

 Chapter, addressing myself to English Farmers, I am not speaking 

 of the price either of land in the wildernesses, or of land in the 

 immediate vicinage of great cities. The wilderness price is two 

 or three dollars an acre : the city price four or five hundred. The 

 land at the same distance from New York that Chelsea is from 

 London, is of higher price than the land at Chelsea The 

 surprizing growth of these cities, and the brilliant prospect before* 

 them, give value to every thing that is situated in or near them. 



31 1 . It is my intention, however, to speak only of farming land 

 1 his, too, is, of course, affected in its value by the circumstance 

 of distance from market ; but, the reader will make his own 

 calculations as to this matter. A farm, then, on this Island, anv- 

 \vhere not nearer than thirty miles of, and not more distant than 

 sixty miles from, New York, with a good farm-house, barn, 

 stables sheds, and styes ; the land fenced into fields with posts 

 and rails the wood-land being in the proportion of one to ten of 

 the arable land, and there being on the farm a pretty good orchard 

 such a farm, if the land be in a good state, and of an average 

 quality, 13 worth sixty dollars an acre, or thirteen pounds sterling 

 ot course, a farm of a hundred acres would cost one thousand 

 three hundred pounds. The rich lands on the necks and bays 

 where there are meadows and surprizingly productive orchards, 

 and where there is water carriage, are worth, in some cases three 

 times this price. But, what I have said will be sufficient to enable 

 the reader to form a pretty correct judgment on the subject In 

 JNew Jersey, in Pennsylvania, every where the price differs with 

 tne circumstances of water carriage, quality of land, and distance 

 from market. 



312. When I say a good farm-house, I mean a house a great 

 deal better than the general run of farm-houses in England. More 

 neatly finished on the inside. More in a parlour sort of style- 

 though round about the house, things do not look so neat and tight 

 as m England. Even in Pennsylvania, and amongst the Quakers 

 too, there is a sort of out-of-doors slovenliness, which is never 

 hardly seen m England. You see bits of wood, timber, boards 



