PRICE OF LAND. 345 



the potatoes, on the produce of which the family might live. 

 In East Lothian a widow or young family, after being ruined, 

 would be turned adrift on the world. 



In the eastern parts of America land may be purchased and 

 stocked for nearly the sum an East Lothian farmer expends 

 in stocking and improving a farm, namely L.7 per acre. But 

 if the land has great local advantages, the price will be con 

 siderably higher. In the western parts of the United States, 

 prairie land of the best quality, without the least obstacle to 

 cultivation, and to any extent, may be had. For the sum of 

 three hundred pounds sterling a farm of 200 acres could be 

 bought and stocked in the prairies of western America. In 

 East Lothian farming is a hazardous calling ; in America 

 there is no risk attending it. In East Lothian L.2000 is re 

 quired to stock a farm; in the Western States L.300 will 

 purchase and stock one nearly of equal size. In East Lothian 

 a farmer has mental annoyance with bodily ease ; in America 

 he has mental ease with personal labour. In East Lothian a 

 young farmer commences his career in affluence, and at middle 

 age finds himself in poverty ; in America he begins with toil, 

 and is in easy circumstances by middle age. 



But however favourable American farming may appear 

 when simply viewing the quantity of produce, the country has 

 many disadvantages deserving of consideration, and one of the 

 most important is its unhealthiness. The whole of North 

 America is liable to ague and fevers of various kinds, and the 

 chief difference of situation in these respects seems to be 

 owing to cultivation. The more cultivation is extended, the 

 healthier the climate becomes, but occasionally ague and fever 

 prevails in all situations. I found fever and ague at Hyde 

 Park, on the banks of the Hudson, at Niagara, Whitby, and 

 Chatham, in Upper Canada. The inhabitants on the prairies 

 of Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri, were suffering 

 much from fever when I was amongst them. Almost every 

 person you meet with in America tells you of the healthiness 

 of his situation, and the unhealthiness of other parts of the 

 country. The cause of fever and ague in America does not 

 appear connected with marshes or stagnant waters, as the 

 inhabitants residing on the dry open prairie of 100 miles in 



