188 



HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part I. 



a speck of green till May. Ploughing generally begins in the last week of April ; oats 



are sown in that month ; and maize and potatoes about the middle of May.^ By the end 



of May the wheat and rye which has stood the winter, the spring-sown corn, the grass, 



and the fruit trees appear as forward as they are at the same period in England. There 



is very little rain during June. July, and August. Cherries ripen in the last week of 



June ; by the middle of July the harvest of 



wheat, rye, oats, and barley, is half over; 



pears ripen in the beginning of August; maize, 



(Jig. 1 92. ) rye, and wheat, are sown during the 



whole of October ; is cut in the first week of 



September ; peaches and apples are ripe by the 



end of the month ; the general crop of potatoes 



are dug up in the beginning of November ; and 



also turnips and other roots taken up and housed ; 



a good deal of rain falls in September, October, 



and November, and severe frosts commence in 



the first week of December, and as above stated 



continue till the last week of April. Such is the 



agricultural year in the country of New York. 



Live stock requires particular attention during 



the long winter; and unless a good stock of 



Swedish turnip, carrot, or other roots has been 



laid up for them, they will generally be found 



in a very wretched state in April and May. 



1146. The civil circumstances of the United States are unfavorable to the domestic enjoy- 

 ments of a British farmer emigrating thither. Many privations must be suffered at first, 

 and some probably for one or two generations to come. The want of society seems an 

 obvious drawback ; but this Birkbeck has shewn is not so great as might be imagined. 

 When an emigrant settles among American farmers, he will generally find them a lazy, 

 ignorant people, priding themselves in their freedom, and making little use of their 

 privileges ; but when he settles among other emigrants, he meets at least with people who 

 have seen a good deal of the world and of life ; and who display often great energy of cha- 

 racter. These cannot be considered as uninteresting, whatever may be their circumstances 

 as to fortune; and when there is something like a parity in this respect and in 

 intellectual circumstances, the social bond will be complete. It must be considered 

 that one powerfully-operating circumstance must exist, whatever be the difference 

 of circumstances or intellect ; and that is, an agreement in politics both as to the 

 country left and that adopted. For the rest, the want of society may be to a 

 certain degree supplied by the press ; there being a regular post in every part of the 

 United States, and numerous American and European newspapers and periodical works 

 circulated there, Birkbeck mentions that the Edinburgh and Quarterly Review, the 

 Monthly and other magazines, and the London newspapers are as regularly read by him 

 at the prairie in Illinois, as they were at his farm of Wanborogh in Suffolk, and that all 

 the difference is, that they arrive at the prairie three months later than they did at liis 

 British residence. We have seen 193 



sketches of the houses erected by 

 this gentleman, and some others 

 who have settled around him, and 

 we consider them as by no means 

 deficient either in apparent com- 

 modiousness or effect. They re- 

 mind us of some of the best 

 houses of Switzerland and Nor- 

 way. {Jig. 138.) 



1147. The want of domestic 

 servants is a considerable drawback 

 in most parts of the United States ; 

 but especially in the new settle- 

 ments. Families who remove into Western America, Birkbeck observes, should bring with 

 them the power and the inclination to dispense, in a great degree, with servants. To be 

 easy and comfortable there, a man should know how to wait upon himself, and practise it. 

 In other respects, this gentleman and his friends hope to live on their estates at the 

 prairie, " much as they were accustomed to live in England." 



1 148. As a country for a British farmer to emigrate to, we consider the United States as 

 superior to every other, in two respects. First on account of its form of government : 

 by which property is secure, personal liberty greater than any where else, consistently 

 with public safety ; and both maintained at less expence than under any government in 



