1S37] 



F A R M E K S' K K G 1 S r E II. 



337 



who are riDt always as kind, and as attentive to 

 their wants and nraije, as tht>y onixlu to bo; for 

 by these they are teil upon bread aione, which 

 does not, on an average, cost more liian seven 

 dollars a head per annum faliout ;^2s\ sterling.) 



From these data, in aid of my last c.ommuuica- 

 tions, you will be ai)le to Ibrm an idea of the cost 

 Of'iabor in this country. It varies, however, in tlie 

 ditierenr states, as [ iiave already observed, and 

 eometimes in the same state; but may be said to 

 vibrate with white men, between ten and fifteen 

 pounds; and for black men, between ciirht and 

 tvvelve potmds sterlin<;, per animm, besides their 

 board. No dilTir.ulty, I should conceivej woukl 

 be lijrmed in obiainins; those of either description) 

 t)n the terms here mentioned; bat I do iioi; ad- 

 vance this with certainty^ not havinii: been in the 

 habit of hirin<i^ any myselt', ibr several years past. 

 Blacks are capable of much labor, but havino; (I 

 am speakin<T <^enerally) no ambition to establish a 

 good name, they are too reijardless of a bad one, 

 and of course require more of the master's eye 

 than the former. Formerly, I have^iven to sA'/7- 

 ful and careful cradlers, a dollar a day, durinfj 

 harvest, which was a sixth more than the usual 

 price; but then, I knew the men, and that they 

 would obliire themselves to cut clean and lay loell, 

 four acres of wheat a day {W it did not stand very 

 heavy on the ijrnuntij; or, if I preferred it, they 

 would cut by the acre payin<^ them at the rate of 

 a dollar Ibr evers^ four acres. There are men, 

 who will rake and bind as fast as (he cradlers will 

 cut the i;raiii, but to do this is deemed hard work, 

 and when done, entitles them to cradlers's wages. 

 These people eat three tiuips a day (once, perhajjs 

 of milk,) and are allowed a pint of spirits each 

 man. A barn-tloor, with -straw and a blanket, 

 serves, them, at harvest, for lod<ring. 



When I observed in a former letfrT, that "all 

 our labor was performed by ne^i'oes," I must 

 have alluded to tlie custom in Virj^inia, the state in 

 which I then lived, and from which I wrote; but 

 my last communication to you, was on a more ex- 

 tensive scale, comprehendinsT the practices and | 

 prices of Pensylvania, and Maryland as well as j 

 different parts of Virnrinia; which (latter) is ai 

 state of great e.xtent, diHering much in its products j 

 and culture. | 



The Enirlish statue acre is the measure by which I 

 we have hitherto bought and sold land; and the price 

 of land, as hantled to you in my last includes { 

 buildings, fences, arable, meadow, in sh.ort, the im- i 

 provements of" every sort appeftaininir to the tract ! 

 on which they are placed. To a si ranger at a ; 

 distance, this aggregate mode of estiniatinir the; 

 value of a farm is, it must be confessed, dark and ! 

 unsatisfactory; but to the parties present, who see 

 and examine every thing, and judge fiir themselves 

 it is quite immateiial. The seller warrants the! 

 title and quantity which he, sells, and boih fi'oin 

 an opinion of the total worth of the premises. J 

 It rarely happens, b.owever, that buildings and oth- i 

 er improvements are estimated by the purchaser 

 at near what they cost the seller, especiallv on old 

 farms, which have been a ffood deal worked; the 

 received opinion being, that fresh land, without ' 

 improvements, is more to be desired, than worn 

 and much abused land is, with such as are usually ' 

 found lhfreon;buliliisisto be considered as a gene- 

 ral, not an invariable rule; tor the better and more j 

 attentive farmers keep their farms in hi^h order, 1 

 Vol. V— 43 



I and value the improvements accordingly. Ne- 

 I ver having been in England, I ought not to hascard 

 an opinion, or attenijit a comparison between the 

 t soil of that country and this, in ilieir virgin and un- 

 improved slate; but liom what I know of the. one, 

 and have heard of the oiher, I should decide irl 

 liivor of liie, latter, a! a <listaiice fi-um the Sea- 

 board; which, liom ihe, hi^li lands of the Never- 

 i sink (in east Jersey,) to Florida inclusively, is flat 

 1 and, with but linv exceptions, sandy, and general- 

 i ly of mean (luality. From ilie falls of the rivers to 

 the moantains, which is generally fron» sixty to 

 one hundred miles, and above the latter — except 

 the ei'aL''gy hills and mountrtins vvhicli lie be- 

 tween the eastern and western waters — the best 

 lands are to befbnrid. They are slronii, and afler 

 havinij been used, and abused in a shameful man- 

 ner, will, with a little repose, get covered with 

 white clover. The upper country is heialthiest 

 also. 



You seem surprized, and no wonder, to hear 

 that many of our fiirmeis, if they can be so called, 

 cultivate much irround for little profit, because 

 land is cheap, and labor is high; but yon will re- 

 member, that when I informed you of this fiict, I 

 reprobated, at the same time, both the practic.e 

 and principle. T'^^ history, however, of it is this 

 — a piece of land is cut down, and kept under 

 constant cultivation, first in tobacco, and then in 

 Indian corn (two very exhausting plantsj, until 

 it will yield scarcely any thing; — a second piece 

 is cleared, and treated in the same maimer, then 

 a third, and so on, until probably, there is bat lit- 

 tle more to clear. When this liafiperis, the own- 

 er finds himself reduced to the choice of one of 

 three things — either to recover the laud which he 

 has ruined, to accomplish which he has perhaps 

 neither ihe skill,, the industry, nor the means — or 

 to retire beyond the mountains — or to substitute 

 quantity for quality, in order to raise somethinff. 

 The latier has been iren^rally adopted, and, witli 

 the assistance ol' horses, he scratches over much 

 groundj and seeds it, to very little purpose, as you 

 may suppose, and have been informed; for I pre- 

 sume an English liirmer would bestow more labor 

 on o'lc acre, by dee[) ami frequent ploughiti2;s, be- 

 sides the dressings, he gives to the land, than the 

 other doeson five acres, ft is but jusiice, howe- 

 ver, to Pennsylvania, to de(;.Iare, that lier hus- 

 bandry (thouixh not perfect) is much better, and 

 her crops proportionably greater. The practice 

 above mentioned, applies more particularly to the 

 tobacco stales, which, happily, are yielding more 

 and more, every year to the srrowlh of wheat; 

 and as this prevails, the husbandry improves. In- 

 stances could be enuirieratcd, and where no extra- 

 ordinary dres.sings or management has bee^i used, 

 of land yielding from thirty to forty bushels of" 

 wheat per acre, that has been very much ex- 

 hausted. 



Your mode of calculating the faxes in this 

 country, being unusial with vs, I may not accu- 

 rately understand; aiul as the Virginia method 

 was, if I recollect rightly, detailed in my former ac- 

 counts, I know not how to give yon a more dis- 

 tinct idea of' them, than by exhibiting the items 

 of the specific charges on every species of taxa- 

 ble property, viz. on land, negroes, stock, &c. 

 This, as it respects an esiate in Virixinia, witii 

 which ( am verv well acqnainied, I am enabled to 

 do, aud will do. We have a road-tux besides, but it 



