Book L AGRICULTURE IN NORTH AMERICA. 187 



commodities, not simply agricultural ; of the labor of mechanics of every description ; 

 and hence also the want of local markets for grain, because where three-fourths of the 

 population raise their own grain, (which is the calculation,) the remaining fourth will 

 use but a moderate proportion of the spare produce. The low rate of land and taxes, 

 and this want of home markets, is the reason why the American farmer, notwithstanding 

 the high price of labor, affords his grain so cheap for exportation. Notwithstanding the 

 low rate of produce, the profits of the American farmers are high, on account of the 

 small capital required. With 2000/., Birkbeck calculates that a farm of 640 acres in the 

 Illinois, may be purchased, stocked, and cultivated, so as to return, after deducting all 

 expences, twenty-two percent., besides the value of the improvements made on the land, 

 that is, its increased value, which, as has already been stated, (1138.) is incredible in 

 a very short time. 



1142. The agricultural products of the United States include all those of Britain and 

 France. The British grains, herbage, plants, and fruits grown in every district. What 

 appears at first sight very remarkable, is, that in America the native pastures, (excepting 

 on tlie banks of the rivers,] consist entirely of annuals ; and that is the reason why the 

 country is generally bare and black in winter; but perennial grasses when sown in the 

 uplands, are found to thrive in many situations. The greatest quantity of wheat is 

 grown in Pennsylvania and New England. Maize ripens in all the districts, excepting 

 some of the most northerly. Rice is cultivated in Virginia, and on the Ohio ; and the 

 vine is indigenous in these and other provinces, though its culture has not yet been much 

 attemjited, and some French cultivators are of opinion, that the American soil and 

 climate are unfavorable. This, however, is not likely to be the case, it being a native 

 of the country. The government have established a Swiss colony for iis culture, at 

 Vevay, in Indiana, and another in Louisiana, for the culture of the olive. The mul- 

 berry, tlie cotton, and the sugar-cane, are cultivated in Virginia, but not extensively. 

 Sugar is procured plentifully in the woody districts by tapping different species of acer, 

 especially the saccharinum in spring ; boiling the juice till it thickens, and then granulating 

 it by letting it stand and drain in a tub, the bottom of which is pierced with small holes. 

 The sugar obtained does little more than pay for the lalor. 



1143. Of the Hoe stock of the United States the breed of horses of English extraction is, 

 in general, good, as are the cows and hogs. In many cases there is no limit to the 

 number of these that may be grazed in the unoccupied woods : all that the farmer has 

 to do, is to keep them trom bears and wolves, at particular seasons, and keep them 

 tame, as in Russia and Switzerland, by giving them salt. Sheep are totally unfit for 

 the climate, and state of the country, though a number of proprietors have been at great 

 pams to attempt introducing the Merinos. " Mutton," Birkbeck observes, " is almost 

 a-, abhorrent to an American palate, or fancy, as the flesh of swine to an Israelite; and 

 the state of the manufactures does not give great encouragement to the growth of wool 

 of any kind; of Merino wool less, perhaps, than any other. Mutton is sold 

 in the markets of Philadelphia at about half the price of beef; and the Kentuckian, who 

 would have given a thousand dollars for a Merino ram, wt)uld dine upoh dry bread rather 

 than taste his own mutfon. A few sheep on every farm, to supply coarse wool for 

 domestic manufacture, seems to be all that ought at present to be atten)pted in any part 

 of America that I have yet seen. Deep woods are not the proper abodes of sheep. 

 Vvhen America shall have cleared away her forests, and opened her uplands to the 

 breezes, they will soon be covered with fine turf, and flocks will be seen ranging over 

 them here, as in otiier parts of the world. 



1144. ^Agricultural operations in y/mmm are skilfully performed by the farmers of 

 capital, who have all the best implements of Europe. By the poorest settlers tliis is not 

 the case, for want oi' stock ; and by the native American farmers, from indolence, which, 

 according to all accounts, is their general defect. An American laborer is most expert at 

 the use of the axe and the scythe ; the spade he handles in a very awkward manner, and 

 lias no idea of banking, hedging, clipping, or cutting hedges, and many other operations 

 known to every laborer in a highly cultivated and enclosed country like Britain. But 

 the versatility of talent of an American laborer amply compensates for his inexperience 

 in these operations, and is more useful in his circumstances. In handling the saw, tlie 

 hammer, and even the trowel, the British laborer has no chance with him. Most of them 

 can build a house, mend a plough or waggon, and even the harness, and kill and dress 

 sheep and pigs. 



1145. Field labors in America require to be performed with much greater expedition 

 than in England. The winter is long and severe, and the transition to spring is sudden ; 

 this season in many provinces only lasts a few weeks, when summer commences, and the 

 ground becomes too hard and dry for the operations of tillage. The operations of seed- 

 time must therefore be performed with the greatest rapidity. The climate of New York 

 may be reckoned one of the best in N. America. There the ground is covered with 

 snow, or rendered black by frost in the beginning of December, and continues without 



