CAPITAL NEEDED BY EMIGRANTS. 93 



little as he likes, for an immediate payment of only 3s. an acre ; 

 and his next payment is not due until he has been two years 

 in possession, by which time the produce of the land ought to 

 be much more than sufficient to meet it. The travelling ex- 

 penses, the expense of maintenance, the building of a house, 

 and the necessary outlays for stock, are nearly as great to start 

 a small farm of forty acres as one of four times the extent. A 

 man with his wife and four children, could not transp( rt him- 

 self and them from this country to Illinois, and place himself 

 comfortably even on a forty acre farm, for less than 1007. But 

 20/. more would suffice to place him in a farm of 160 acres. I 

 cannot, therefore, advise men who are unable to scrape more 

 together than will merely pay their travelling expenses to go 

 to Illinois. And far less can I advise them to go farther west. 

 Suppose they could obtain land in Iowa or Minnesota, 400 miles 

 farther away, at only half the price, the saving of Is. 6d. an 

 acre in their deposit, would never compensate even the cost of 

 travel for the additional distance, while every article which 

 they require to purchase must bear an enh%nced price from the 

 same cause. 



But there is one class of our labouring population, for whom 

 Illinois offers great encouragement. Young men of intelligence 

 and prudence, who have been brought up to agricultural pur- 

 suits, and are acquainted with the management of land and 

 live stock, may do very well by hiring land from the owner. 

 They get the farm fenced, stocked with necessary buildings, 

 and with all requisites, except labour, for carrying it on. They 

 furnish the labour, and share the produce with the owner. This 

 is a transaction which is very common in Illinois ; it answers the 

 purpose of both parties ; and a prudent active man who enters 

 upon it, will generally in a few years realise enough to start 

 himself in a farm of his own. I heard of many instances of 

 great success attending this sort of arrangement, and from my 



