CHOICE OF RESIDENCE; 399 



Alleghanies the value of an acre of wheat was stated to pay 

 the wages of a hired man about thirty-two days, including 

 board. In the one case, however, manure is supposed to 

 have been applied, and in the other it had not. But in many 

 parts of the west, wheat generally sells considerably lower 

 than 50 cents a-bushel, and in such situations a hired labourer 

 either obtains a greater share of the produce, or the fertility 

 of the soil is greater. In Sangamon county, in the state of 

 Illinois, the soil of which is very fertile, the price of wheat 

 at Springfield was 37^- cents when I was there. Supposing 

 wheat to yield twenty-five bushels per acre, its value would 

 employ a labourer about twenty-five days. In every situation 

 the hiring of agricultural labour ought to be determined by 

 calculation. If the farmer obtains a fair profit from the 

 outlay of capital he need not repine at the wages of the 

 labourer, however high they may be. 



An emigrant will not always find agricultural employment 

 to the west of the Alleghanies from the low price of farm pro 

 duce ; but there is always a demand for labour in towns and 

 villages, at high wages, and he need not remain idle if he is 

 disposed to work. An industrious and sober man must rapidly 

 accumulate wealth by working for hire, and many perhaps err 

 by purchasing land instead of continuing to work under the 

 direction of others. On leaving New York, a gardener, who 

 was working at Haddington when I left Scotland, gave me 

 ten pounds sterling, which he had saved since his arrival in 

 America, to enable his wife and family to reach him. A 

 young man, whom I had often employed at spade-work on 

 Mungosweils farm, at Is. 6d. a-day without board, was earn 

 ing, by sawing stones at Cincinnati, 4s. 3d. a-day with board. 



A person cannot purchase and farm land to the east of the 

 Alleghanies without possessing a considerable portion of capi 

 tal ; and to the west of the mountains land is not likely to be 

 cultivated with profit without personal labour. The luxuries 

 of life being prepared in the east, to meet an extensive demand, 

 are cheaper than in the west by the expense of transport from 

 one market to the other. It is the reverse with the necessa 

 ries of life ; and the agricultural emigrant ought to be guided 



