S40 



1^' A R M r: f{ S ' REGISTER. 



[No. 



above c.harired (13/. 

 15?. a heaii on iie- 

 aioi'P,) 



Add (]vii per Gpnf. nn- 

 mia! ris^e in the value 

 of land.s, 



'. four per cent, in- 



creai^e of nei^roep, 

 more than keopiai^ 

 lip original num- 

 ber, - - - 



342 15 10* 



156 5 



GO 



£.559 10 

 extra, or 14 per cent, on 



Real profit, over and 



uhove the five per 



cent, above charnrd, 

 which is nine per cent. 

 the whole capital. 



In the preceedinir eistimafe, I have supposed 

 that 200 hut^hcls of \vhe;\t inav he sold ibr every 

 laborer em[)loyed, Avhich may be thouo'ht too 

 hiyh. I Unow it ig too high for common land, and 

 common management; but I know also, that on 

 good land, and with irood management, it ha.« 

 been done, Ihrouffh a considerable neiirhborhood, 

 and for many years. On llie other hand, I have 

 over-rated the cost of laboring ne£rroe.=, and I pre- 

 sume the taxes also are over-rated. I have ob- 

 perved, that on;' families of ne<rroes double in 

 about twenty-five years, which is an increase of 

 the capital invested in them, of four per cent, over 

 and above keepinir up the oritjinal stock. 



I am unable to answer the querip.?, as to the ex- 

 pense necessary to make an acre of forest land 

 maintain one, two, or three sheep. I beijan an 

 experiment of that kind in the year 1783, clear- 

 inaout the under growth, cnttintr up the fallen 

 wood, hut ieavino; all the good trees. I got 

 throu<ih about twenty or fhirtv acres, and sowed 

 it with white clover, and green sward; and intend- 

 ed to have irone on ihrouirh a forest of four or five 

 hundred acres. The land was excessively rich, 

 but too steep to be cultivated. In spite of total 

 neglect, during my absence from that time to this, 

 most of it has done well. I did not noie how 

 much labor it took to prepare ii : but 1 am ^ure it 

 Avas repaid by the fuel it yielded fiir the family. 

 The richnes of the pasture to be thus obtained, 

 will always be f)roportionpd to that of the land. 

 Most of our flirosts are either middling or poor. 

 Its inclosure with a wood fence costs little, as the 

 wood is on the spot. 



I8th June, 1792. 



(Signed) Th. Jeffkrson, 



Bucks County, Pennsylvania, ? 

 29//i .August, 1791. 5 

 Drar Sir: 



Your lelterof the 13th inst., I received this day 

 week. I have endeavured to comply with your 

 request in the best manner I was capable, yet not 

 allogethpr in the way you mentioned. The no- 

 velty of the subject, and never having kept any 

 rejjular account of the annual produce of my 

 lands, nor knowing any [lerson to whom I could 

 apply for such minute information, made it neces- 

 sarv for me to consider the different objects ; and 

 taking to my assistance an intelligent neiiihborinir 

 farmer, without letting him into (he object of my 



"5 1-2 per cent, on capital. 



pursuit, we together have formed an esliraate, of 

 what may be supposed the averaoe annual pro- 

 duct of the different articles raised on the lands 

 here, as you will perceive by the paper herewith 

 transmitted : have added some articles not nien- 

 lioned by you, and omitted what may be con- 

 sumed by the fi^inily who occupy the farm, not 

 doubting but in that jjarticular, you imist be muchi 

 more competent to judge than I am : have there- 

 fore onl} mentioned what I suppose the average 

 number of" persons on a two hundred acres form. 



Although I have not filled the colunms in the 

 form you sent me, yet am in liopes you will be 

 able to extract the necessary information, and re- 

 duce it into such Ibrm as wdl be most convenient 

 Ibr your purpose. 



fiappy in an opportunity afibrded me, at least 

 to endeavor to serve you. and anxious for the suc- 

 cess of every measure which may tend to promote 

 the general interests ol" our country, 



I am, &c. &c. 



To jllex. Hamilton, Esq. 



Bucks County, Pemisylvania. 



Quaniity, 200 acres: Value, 3200 dollars.—. 

 Two hundred acres being nearly the average 

 quantity of the fiirms in this quarter, have lakeni 

 that as I he most convenient portion from which ta 

 form the recjuired estimates. 



jJrable Landy 125 acres. — The arable land, di- 

 vided into five fields, of twenty five-acres each, 

 makes in the whole 125 acres. 



Pasture, 50 acres. — The course of cropping 

 pursued here requiring three fields to be under 

 tillage, two of course will be left lor pasture, vvhiclif 

 make 50 acres. 



Orchard, &c. 10 acres — Orchard, garden, house,, 

 and barn, yards, lanes, &c. ; supposed to occupy 

 10 acres. 



Meadow, 15 acres. — The natural meadows in 

 this part of the country being fiiw, yet as every 

 fitrnier finds means for allotting some portion of 

 his land ibr that use, suppose the nearest average 

 15 acres. 



Woodland, 5Q acres. — Timber being an article 

 indii?pensably necessary for fuel, fencing, building,. 

 &c. have allowed 50 acres Ibr that use. 



Wheat, 200 bushels, at 90 cents* per bushel, is 

 180 dollars. — One of the aforesaid fields is allotted, 

 in rotation, Ibr wheat and rye; suppose twenty 

 thereof to be sown with wheat, will yield, commu- 

 nibus annis, ten bushels per acre ; for although in 

 seasons, on well improved grounds, twenty, thirty, 

 and even thirty-five bushels may be produced 

 from the acre ; yet from the many casualties to 

 which land tillage is exposed, so that in some sea- 

 sons the best improved ground may not produce 

 even five bushels, have, from my own observa- 

 tion, and that of an intelligent neighboring farm- 

 er, taken (he above as the nearest supposed me- 

 dium, making two hundred bushels; which, at 

 90 cents per bushel, is 180 dollars. 



Pyc, 50 bushels, at 60 cents per bushel, 30 dol- 

 lars. — Rye likewise, ten bushels to the acre ; the 

 remainder of the field, being five acres, will yield 

 fifty bushels, which, at sixty cents per bushel, 

 make 30 dollars.— N. B. The field on which the 

 wheat and rye is sowed, is, generally, also put in 

 with grass, and lays for pasture two years. 



* One hundred cents make a dollar. 



