1837] 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



US 



4th. As to the quantum of labor to be coni- 

 hiaiidecl I'or pay, I know not how to answer. 

 Many who have small liirnis, either on rent, or 

 their own j)ro|)erty, can spare a portion of their 

 thne to assist their nei<j;hbors lor hire. The chiss 

 of people merely laborers is not very numerous, 

 and by no means stationary or collected. The in- 

 dependent situation they can place themselves in, 

 by removino; to the frontiers, is the cause of the 

 scarcity of laborors in the settled parts of the 

 state. Nor is th.e demand so reirularas to delrtin 

 unconnected laborers in any spot. Whether the 

 considerable improvements we are about under- 

 takiuiT, by roads and canals^ will operate so as to 

 attract laborers from other slates, or Irom Europe, 

 in hopes of constant enifiloyment, is yet proble- 

 matical. If these works employ none but our 

 own people, the price will increase on the farm- 

 ers. 



There is no doubt but that the rates of labor 

 are, and will, for a lony; time, contaiue to be high- 

 er than they are in England. Our people live bet- 

 ter than those of the same rank in life in any part 

 of the world. The employer pays lor the habits 

 of the hireling, who not only eats and drinks well, 

 when provided lor, in addition to his wages, but 

 out of his wages must (if he has one) provide lor 

 his lamily, according to the custom of the coun- 

 try. Even an English laborer, who lives better 

 than one in any other part of Europe, would be as- 

 tonished at the fare ot one in A(nerica. 1 do not 

 believe Mr. Young much mistaken, when he says 

 that the rate is, comparatively, 100 per cent, high- 

 er than in England, and the habits of living are 

 as much the cause of it, as the easiness of the 

 passage over the mountains. I am not displeased, 

 ias a citizen, at this circumstance, though, as a 

 iarmer. it is against my profit. Some things miiiht 

 be retrenched, but I am happy when I know that 

 our common people are better fed and clothed than 

 in any other part of the world. 



5th. The prices of lands are so extremely vari- 

 ous, that there is no fixing afi average. The situ- 

 ation and improvement always add to value. 

 Knowing so little as our farmers do, of the means 

 of renovatirsg lands, the Icnirer they are cleared 

 the less valuable, tor the most part, they are. I 

 gave to Colonel Hamilton, an exact account of 

 the debtor and creditor of lour firms, in my neigh- 

 borhood, taken from the knowledge 1 have of the 

 general circumstances of this part of the country. 

 The result is very unlavorable to the characters of 

 our fiirmers. Be pleased to ask Colonel Hamil- 

 ton Jbr ir, as I have not a copy. 1 believe Colonel 

 Hamilton, who, in some project he had sent for 

 information to all quarters, could most easily give 

 satisfaction in this point. Mr. Young does not 

 know that, in parts where there are no slave*, 

 the farmer and his family do the greater portion of 

 the work of their farms within themselves. This 

 is the reason why they can get forward and live 

 well. If calculations were made of every thing 

 being hired, l(5w iarms in Pennsylvania would 

 clear a farthing. A man here saves money by a 

 crop of 10 bushels, and in England he would per- 

 ish under it. There he rents and hires — here, for 

 the most part, the farm is his own, and he hires 

 little, or none at all. 

 I The products of wheat can be all sold. 



Barley not in great quantities ; our people not 

 being as fbnd as they ought to be of beer. 

 Vol. V-44 



Rye may increase in demand by domestic dis-- 

 tillatiofi ; at present it is no great object. 



Butter, fluctuating, but all may be sold now 

 ])roduced. 



Bee\', a good article ; and, when we know bet- 

 ter how to cure it lor exportation will increase irt 

 demand. 



Mutton, no sale for any great quantities. For 

 some lime hence this will not be a great sheep 

 country ; the dryness of Our seasons burns up the 

 pasture for a great part of the year ; we keep too 

 many dogs, who destroy them ; and our country 

 is much intersected with mountains, inhabited 

 by wolves, which cannot be extirpated. It is a 

 profitable article, so far as you can extend it, but 

 no great capital can be employed in it ; and if the 

 business was more extensively carried on, thd 

 profit would be reduced to nothing. Our long 

 winters are inimical to sheep ; they render the 

 keeping expensive, and subject the animal to 

 numberless disorders. We can have no succulent 

 or green forage — turnips are out of the question; 

 our snows and severe weather destroy or cover 

 them; nor is their culture certain; I have tried 

 the English sheep, which soon degenerate, and 

 stand the climate but badly. As to fleece, it is but 

 scant, 3 lbs. per sheep being rather an over calcu- 

 lation. Wool is now in some demand, but I have 

 known it unsaleable. I ho|)e manufacturers will 

 continue to increase the demand ; but the prospect 

 of this is distant. Mr. Young's calculation upon 

 waste land, might be well enough, if the circum- 

 stances before stated, as to sheep, did not forbid 

 our going extensively into them. Sheep have 

 most enemies where there could be most range ibr 

 them ; and they require care as well as range. I 

 know none who have tried the sheep business that 

 have succeeded. Folding is very well, but it re- 

 quires labor; and the sheep, crowded together 

 here, have often perished. I cannot ascertain how 

 many an acre Will support ; for none are kept,- 

 within my knowledge, but in small rmmbers, and 

 as a variety in a farmer's stock. They are close 

 feeders, and destroy pasture prodigiouslj^* 



Excuse me, air, for this hasty and imperfect 

 sketch ; I should have gone more deeply into the 

 subject had the time you allot permitted. 



Unless one could find, as it is in England, the 

 business carried on in difierent branches, system- 

 atically, it is difficult to make calculations, or even 

 observations, generally applicable. Few people' 

 here do all their business by hiring, and some! 

 scarcely hire at all. 



The race of tenantry is miserable indeed. 

 1 am, with the greatest respect, 



Your obedient servanf, 

 RicHAJiD Peters* 



P. S. — =Should you think of any particular pointj 

 and would be pleased to mention it, I will pay 

 particular attention to it. Mr. Young's letter 

 would require a very extended discussion. 



Philadelphia, Oct. 20, 1792. 

 Sir: 



I must beg your acceptance of my best thanks 

 for the book that accompanied your poiite letter 

 of the 9th of June, which came duly to my 

 hands. 



* This idea shows how htfl* they know of sheep,-^'' 



A. y. 



