1837] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



347 



additions to properties already built and improved, 

 or tlie in)|)rovements themselves, including the 

 buildinirs, fences, &c. In the instances oC moun- 

 tain-land, the expressions seems lo indicate waste 

 land, unbuilt, and uninclosed. The prices con- 

 verted to sterling, ap[)car to be nearly as follows. 



Below 40s. 

 £110 

 15 

 9 



16 



1 16 



15 6 



1 11 



15 6 



1 2 

 1 

 1 

 1 

 1 

 1 

 1 



2 6 

 17 6 

 11 

 2 

 2 6 

 7 6 

 14 

 19 u 



Gen. aver. £ 2 9 5 



17)£ 18 17 

 Aver. £ 1 2 2 



Which may be thus contrasted with Sufi'olk, 

 the rent of which, is, on an average, nearly that 

 of England. Rent 12s. an acre, at 28 years pur- 

 chase, or 16/. 16s. 



It is impossible to compare the soils without 

 seeing them; but Irom various circumstances 

 touched on in the letters, I am inclined to think 

 American land as good as ours in Suffolk at least. 

 The spontaneous growth of white clover is, Avith 

 us, a sure criterion of good land; we have none 

 of it in Sufi'olk, or at least very little; when our 

 land is worn out by bad management, and left, it 

 runs to what is called water-grass, agrostis sio- 

 lonifera one of the worst weeds any country can 

 be plagued with. American products, it is true, 

 are shocking, and mark a management, which, 

 thank God, we know nothing of. Such crops 

 would not be found in any part of this kingdom. 

 The observation, that in America, farmers look to 

 labor much more than to land, is new to me; but 

 it is a calculation which I cannot understand, for, 

 exacdyin proportion to the dearness ol'iabor, is the 

 necessity of having good crops: a bad one, in ev- 

 ery thing but thrashing, costs as much in labor as 

 a good one. Good crops are not gained by ope- 

 rose systems so well, or so surely, as by reposing 

 the soil under grass, and supporting great stocks 

 of cattle and sheep. Such products as you de- 

 scribe, with dear labor, are absolutely inexplica- 

 ble. A very severe mildew has been known to 

 damage wheat so much in England, that the 

 crop, being calculated at seven or eight bushels 

 an acre, in cheap times, has been mown and cart- 

 ed to the farm-yard, for the hogs to eat it, and 

 make dung. With so small a crop the quality is 

 sure to be bad, if the soil is naturally good. 



I have Slated the price of land" in Suffolk, at 

 16Z. 16s. ; but this price iucludes buildings and 

 improvements ; for mstance, suppose 300 acres j 

 in one farm: 



House, . _ . 



liarns, - . . 



Stable, - . . 



(^)w-house, 



Styes, &c. - _ - 



Cart-lodge, 



Gates and fences, and road 



- £600 

 500 

 200 

 100 

 50 

 50 

 370 



£ 1870 



This, I believe moderate; however, let us call 

 it only Gl. per acre, 1800/. it reduces the price of 

 land to 10/. 16s. There are various improve- 

 ments besides, such as irrigation, marling, drain- 

 ing; but we will drop them at present. 



It should seem that in Virginia, taxes may be 

 calculated in this manner, perhaps not with ac- 

 curacy, 



s. d. 

 7s. 6d. on 100/. suppose 50 acresj this is 



about - . _ . 

 Negro tax may be - 

 Horse tax, 6J. _ . _ 



Parish, and county levies 7s. 6d. a head, 



20 would be 71. 10s. perhap 



acre - _ - . 



per acre — sterling say 

 The price of products contrasted with Suffolk: 

 America. Suffolk. 



7 6 



11 



By means of the enormous demand of London, 

 the three cattle products may be sold in any quan- 

 tities produced, without the least apprehension of 

 wanting a market, and those of corn at these 

 rates also. If 500 stone of beef on a farm at 2^ 

 is made 10,000 stone, can you sell it readily? The 

 West Indies considered, this is probably the case. 

 Mutton is an article of an infinitely greater impor- 

 tance, and that not being barrelled, probably could 

 not be sold. 



You have the unaccountable circumstance, I 

 see, as well as England, of mutton being dearer 

 than beet; horses, not oxen, being almost univer- 

 sal with us, makes it yet more strange. I know, 

 from experiments made with considerable care, 

 that if they were at the same price, the farmer 

 would have more profit by producing mutton than 

 by producing beef; yet is mutton by many per 

 cent, higher priced! but sheep give you another 

 profit in their wool, and a third in their jbld. 

 The former with us is infamously depressed in 

 price, but not in America, for your wool at Is. per 

 pound, is 33 per cent, higher, than it would sell 

 for in England. Why, then, surely you should 

 raise those products, that sell well? And wool 

 sells better (of course, in quantity,) than any 

 thing else you have. With mutton at 3rf. per lb. 

 and wool at Is. there can be no comparison be- 

 tween sheep and any other application of land. 



