THE UNITED STATES FIFTV YEARS AGO. 435 



contiguity to, or remoteness from, navigation ; the nature of the improvements; 

 and other hjcal circumstances. These premises, however, are only suflicient for 

 the furmation of a general opinion, for there are material deviations, as I shall 

 mention hereafter. 



In the New-England States, and to Pennsylvania inclusively, landed property 

 is more divided tlian it is in the States south of them. The farms are smaller, 

 the buildmgs and other improvements, generally better, and of consequence the 

 population is greater. But, then, the climate, especially to the eastward of Hud- 

 son Kiver, is cold, the winters long, consuming a great part of the summer's la- 

 bor in support of their stocks during the winter. Nevertheless, it is a country 

 abounding in grass, and sells much tine beef, besides exporting many horses to 

 the West Indies. A mildew or blight (I am speaking now of the New-England 

 States particularly) prevents them froni raising wheat adequate to their own 

 consumption ; and of other grains they export little or none, hsh being their sta- 

 ple. They live well, notwithstanding, and are a happy people. Their numbers 

 are not augmented by foreign emigrants, yet from their circumscribed limits, 

 compact situation, and natural population, they are filling the western parts of 

 the Stale of New- York, and the country on the Ohio, with their own surplusage. 



New-Jersey is a small State, and all parts of it, except the south-western, are 

 pleasant, healthy, and productive of all kinds of grain, &:c. Being surrounded 

 on two sides by New-York, and on the other two by Delaware River and the 

 Atlantic, it has no land of its own to supply the surplus of its population ; of 

 course their emigrations are principally toward the Ohio. 



Pennsylvania is a large State, and from the policy of its founder, and of the 

 Government since, and especially from the celebrity of Philadelphia, has become 

 the general receptacle of foreigners from all countries, and of all descriptions, 

 many of whom soon take an active part in the politics of the State ; and coming 

 over full of prejudices against their own Governments — some against all Gov- 

 ernments — you will be enabled, without any comment of mine, to draw your 

 own inference of their conduct. 



Delaware is a very small State, the greater part of which lies low, and is sup- 

 posed to be unhealthy. The eastern shore of Maryland is similar thereto. The 

 lands in both, however, are good. 



But the western parts of the last-mentioned State, and of Virginia, quite to 

 the line of North Carolina, above tide water, and more especially above the Blue 

 Mountains, are similar to those of Pennsylvania between the Susquehanna and 

 Potomac Rivers, in soil, climate and productions, and, in my opinion, will be 

 considered, if it is not considered so already, as the garden of America ; foras- 

 much as it lies between the two extremes of heat and cold, partaking in a de- 

 gree of the advantages of both, without feeling much the inconveniences of 

 either, and with truth it may be said, is among the most fertile lands in America, 

 east of the Apalachian Mountains. 



The uplands of North and South Carolina and Georgia are not dissimilar in 

 soil, but as they approach the lower latitudes, are less congenial to wheat, and 

 are supposed to be proportionally more unhealthy. Toward the sea-board of all 

 the Southern States, (and farther south the more so,) the country is low, sandy, 

 and unhealthy; for which reason I shall say little concerning them: for, as I 

 should not choose to be an inhabitant of them myself, I ought not to say anything 

 that would induce others to be so. 



This general description is furnished, that you may be enabled to form an idea 

 of the part of the United States which would be most congenial to your inclina- 

 tion. To pronounce with any degree of precision what lands could be obtained 

 for in the parts I have enumerated, is next to impossible, for the reasons I have 

 before assigned ; but upon pretty good data it may be said that those in Pennsyl- 

 vania are higher than those in Maryland, (and I believe in any other State,) de- 

 clining in price as you go southerly, until the rice-swamps of South Carolina 

 and Georgia are met with, and those are as much above the medium in price as 

 they are below it in health. I understand, however, that t'rom oO to 40 dollars 

 per acre (I fix on dollars because they apply equally to all the States, and be- 

 cause their relative value to sterling is well understood) may be denominated 

 the medium price in the vicinity of the Susquehanna, in the State of l^ennsyl- 

 vania ; from 20 to 30 on the Potomac, in what is called the valley — that is, lying 



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