Book I. AGRICULTURE IN NORTH AMERICA. ig5 



Stockholm, and that of Canada with France, but the temperature of those places is 

 widely different. 



1132. The surface of the country in the United States presents every variety. The 

 north-eastern part on the coast is broken and hilly ; and is remarkably indented with 

 numerous bays and inlets. Towards the S., and along the gulf of Mexico, the land is 

 level and sandy, interspersed with many swamps, and numerous islands and inlets. At 

 the outlets of many of the rivers, there is a large portion of alluvial land, which is par- 

 ticularly the case along the Mississippi. Beyond the head of tide-waters, there is a 

 tolerably rich and agreeably uneven country, which extends to the mountains. The 

 mountainous district, on the Atlantic side of the country, is about 150 miles in breadth, 

 and 1200 miles in length. It extends in large ridges, from N.E. to S.W., and is 

 known as the Allegany mountains. Beyond these the great valley of the Mississippi 

 presents a surface of the finest land in the world. To the westward of this valley are 

 the mountains of Louisiana, and beyond these the bold shores of the Pacific ocean. 



1 133. The soil of the United States, though of various descriptions, is generally fertile ; 

 often on the east of the Blue Mountains, in Virginia, a rich, brown, loamy earth ; some- 

 times a yellowish clay, which becomes more and more sandy towards the sea. There 

 are considerable marshes and salt-meadows, sandy barrens producing only a few pines, 

 and- sometimes entirely destitute of wood. On the west of the Apulachian mountains, 

 the soil is also generally excellent ; and in Kentucky some spots are deemed too rich for 

 wheat ; but the product may amount to sixty bushels per acre. About six feet below 

 the surface there is commonly a bed of limestone. 



1 134. The landed jrroperty of the United States is almost universally freehold, having 

 been purchased or conquered by the different states or the general government from the 

 native savages ; and these, either lotted out to the conquering army, or reserved and sold 

 afterwards according to the demand. 



1135. The mode of dividing and sellinfr lands in the United States is thus described by Birkbeck. "The tract 

 of country, which is to be disposed of, is surveyed, and laid out in sections of a mile square, containing 

 six hundred and forty acres, and these are subdivided into quarters, and, in particular situations, half 

 quarters. The country is also laid out in counties of about twenty miles square, and townships of six 

 miles square, in some instances, and in others eight. The townships are numbered in ranges, from north 

 to south, and the ranges are numbered from west to east; and, lastly, the sections in each township are 

 marked numerically. All these lines are well defined in the woods, by marks on the trees. This done, at 

 a period of which public notice is given, the lands in question are put up to auction, excepting the six- 

 teenth section, which is near the centre, in every township, which is reserved for the support of schools, 

 and the maintenance of the poor. There are also sundry reserves of entire townships, as funds for the 

 support of seminaries on a more extensive scale, and sometimes for other purposes of general interest. 

 No government lands are sold under two dollars per acre ; and I believe they are put up at this price in 

 quarter sections, at the auction, and if there be no bidding they pass on. The best lands and most 

 favorable situations are sometimes run up to ten or twelve dollars, and in some late instances much 

 higher. The lots which remain unsold are from that time open to the public, at the price of two dollars 

 per acre ; one-fourth to be paid down, and the remaining three-fourths to be paid by instalments in five 

 years; at which time, if the payments are not completed, the lands revert to the state, and the prior 

 advances are forfeited. When a purchaser has made his election of one, or any number of Tacant 

 quarters, he repairs to the land-office, pays eighty dollars, or as many times that sum as he purchases 

 quarters, and receives a certificate, which is the basis of the complete title, which will be given him when 

 he pays all ; this he may do immediately, and receive eight per cent, interest for prompt payment. The 

 sections thus sold are marked immediately on the general plan, which is always open at the land-office 

 to public inspection, with the" letters A. P., /. e. advance paid. There is a receiver and a register at each 

 land-office, who are checks on each other, and are remunerated by a per centage on the receipts." 



1 1 36. The price of land, though low when not cleared, rises rapidly in value after a very 

 slight occupation and improvement. Instances are frequent of a rise of ICOO per cent, 

 in about ten years. Cobbett, who resided in 1817, in Long Island, which may be con- 

 sidered the middle climate of the United States, gives the price of a cultivated farm in 

 that part of the country, " A farm, on this island," he says, " any where not nearer 

 than thirty miles off, 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 

 beimg on the farm a pretty good orchard ; such a farm, if the land be in a good state, 

 and of an average quality, is worth sixtj/ dollars an acre, or thirteen pounds sterling; of 

 course, a farm of a hundred acres would cost 1300/. The rich lands on the necks and 

 bai/s, where there are meadows, and surprisingly productive orchards, and where there 

 is loater 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 New Jersey, in Pennsylvania, every where the price differs witii the circumstances of 

 water-carriage, quality of land, and distance from market. When I say a good farm- 

 house, I mean a house a great deal better than the general run of farm-houses in Eng- 

 land ; more neatly furnished on the inside ; more in a parlour sort of style ; though 

 round about the house, things do not look so neat and tight as in England." 



1 1 37. The agriculture of the United States may be considered as entirely European, 

 and chiefly British. Not only is the climate better adapted for the British agriculture, 

 but the great majority of the inhabitants are of British origin. To enter into details 

 of the products and processes of North American agriculture would therefore be super- 

 fluous in a worJc principally devoted to British agriculture. All we shall attempt is, to 



