316 HISTORT OF OHIO. 



STATE OF AGRICUIiTUEE, PRICE OF LANDS, PROVISIONS AND LABOR. 



The state of agriculture has improved greatly within a few 

 years past. There are farms in the vicinity of all our larger 

 towns, in a good state of cultivation, and our farmers every 

 where, either have already, or soon will have good substan- 

 tial houses, barns and out houses. These are not only com- 

 modious and substantial but sometimes even elegant. In New 

 Connecticut, almost every farmer has an elegant dwelling 

 house. In that part of the state, we see more framed than 

 brick houses; in some parts, though, brick houses predominate, 

 In the remainder of the state, brick is preferred as the cheap- 

 est, most durable and best. The materials for brick are near 

 the spot when they are needed; the wood to make fuel, and 

 burn them, needs to be cleared off, and the farmer and his 

 sons can make the brick without hiring any of the work done. 

 Within a very few years, after the farmer had settled down 

 in the woods, we generally see around him a well fenced, well 

 cultivated farm, with good buildings, and a good orchard com- 

 ing forward. In a few more years his children will be grown 

 up, married and settled on farms of new land like the one on 

 which they were brought up. Thus the forest recedes before us, 

 and a highly cultivated country smiles far and wide around us. 



Farmers in parts of New Connecticut, in Washington coun- 

 ty, and along the upper part of the Scioto country have, du- 

 ring twenty years past, turned their attention to dairies and 

 the manufacture of cheese. The business has been profitable, 

 but enongh is not made yet for our own consumption. 



The apple tree flourishes in all parts of the state, and cider 

 is so abundant some years, as to sell for only one dollar a 

 barrel. Many apples are carried down the Ohio river to New 

 Orleans, and the lower country. 



The price of land varies from one dollar and twenty-five 

 cents, to one hundred dollars an acre. 



The price of labor is fifty per cent, higher than in the Atr 

 lantic states, and provisions are about fifty per cent, cheaper 

 than there. 



