330 



American Produce in England. 



Vol. X. 



Charles City county.* We met a most cor- 

 dial reception from the distinguished proprie- 

 tor and his family, and enjoyed their splen- 

 did and generous hospitality for a couple of 

 days. This estate consists of about eight 

 thousand acres, nearly one half of which is 

 in cultivation. About eight hundred and 

 fifty acres were in wheat, which promised a 

 yield of twenty to thirty bushels per acre — 

 adjoining this, a field of 525 acres was in 

 corn, in which thirty ploughs were at work — 

 more than one thousand acres were in clover 

 of luxuriant growth, most of which is to be 

 ploughed down for the next crop of wheat; 

 in addition to these five lots of twenty-five 

 acres each, near the Mansion-house, are in 

 high condition and present a miniature of 

 the large farm. The cultivated land fronts 

 on the James' river for several miles, while 

 back of it lies the timber — nearly four 

 thousand acres of primitive growth and ex- 

 ceedingly valuable. The mansion is de- 

 lightfully situated on the bank of the river, 

 and commands a view of it for many miles 

 in both directions; the lawns and garden arc 

 adorned with shrubs and trees, and cultivated 

 in a style that rivals the most tasteful in the 

 vicinity of the Northern cities. At a short 

 distance above the house is a large and hand- 

 some brick barn, with thrasmng machine, 

 fans, corn-shellers, mill for grinding corn, 

 saw-mill, &c., &c., all worked by a neat steam 

 engine. The houses for the labourers, sta- 

 bles for the stock, the stock itself of horses, 

 mules, oxen, cows, sheep, and the roads 

 through the estate, all evince the taste and 

 care of the proprietor, and deserve the high- 

 est praise. If any one doubts the capabili- 

 ties of the soil in this region of the State, a 

 visit to Sandy Point, and the estates on the 

 opposite side of the river — Lower and Upper 

 Brandon — will convince the most sceptical. 

 Yet in passing down the river the next day 

 in a steamboat, we met a highly respectable 

 citizen of Chester county, Pa., who told us 

 he had just purchased eleven hundred acres 

 within a few miles of the latter named places, 

 on fine navigable water, well timbered, with 

 abundance of the best marl, having on it a 

 grist-mill in good preservation, and water 

 power suSicient for a saw-mill, in addition ; 

 for which he pays but S2 per acre. The 

 writer of this has received direct offers of 

 near one hundred thousand acres, in very 

 desirable localities, at prices varying with 

 the state of the improvements, from !?1 to 

 $30 per acre. S. S. G. 



Moorestown, N. J. 



* See a notice of this estate on pages 19 and 79, vol. 

 7, of the Farmers' Cabinet, 



American Produce in England. 



As the demand for articles of our manufacture or 

 growth is extended, it nill, we trust, be found that our 

 ability to satisfy the demand, is also increased. With 

 a great variety of climate, and vast extent of territory 

 —with our industry and skill and free institutions, 

 who shall limit, under Providence, the amount to 

 which we are able to feed and to clothe the world? 

 The following extract is from a letter in iiiQ Boston 

 Traveller, dated London, April 3rd, 1846. — Eo. 



Within two or three years a great many 

 articles of food, the produce of the U. States, 

 have been sent to England in large quanti- 

 ties, and they have commanded good prices. 

 American cheese, when it was first intro- 

 duced here, was not esteemed, and only the 

 poorer classes would purchase it, the quality 

 was so ordinary; but now the leading cheese 

 mongers always have a large supply of Ame- 

 rican cheese, and take care to inform the 

 public of its superior quality. Indian corn 

 is another article of food that is just now 

 talked about, and great efforts are making 

 to introduce the bread made from wheat flour 

 and Indian meal, not only amongst the Irish 

 people, but in the United Kingdom. It is 

 coming rapidly into favour in all the large 

 towns. Dr. Thompson recently read an able 

 paper at a meeting of the Glasgow Philoso- 

 phical Society, on the nutritive qualities of 

 Indian corn, which he ranked very high, and 

 said it made " an agreeable article of diet." 



The luxuries, too, of the U. States, have 

 made their appearance in the metropolis of 

 England. To say nothing of the great value 

 of American ice, and its extensive use by the 

 nobility and gentry, the tables of the West 

 End aristocracy can now be supplied with 

 canvass-back ducks, wild turkeys and veni- 

 son ! The " American Ice Company'''' re- 

 cently astonished the epicures of the clubs 

 by the following announcements : " Ameri- 

 can Forest Venison. A few saddles, of very 

 superior quality, in fine condition, just re- 

 ceived by the American Ice Company, 106 

 New Bond street." Again : " Wild Tur- 

 keys, from the American forest, domesticated 

 turkeys, wild geese from the American lakes, 

 mongrel geese, and a superior lot of capons, 

 just received in fine order, at 106 New Bond 

 street." Here is another announcement, and 

 it is probably the first of the kind that ever 

 appeared in a foreign newspaper: ^^ Canvass 

 back ducks, from Chesapeake bay. A very 

 fine lot of this celebrated water-fowl, just 

 received from America, in excellent preser- 

 vation, for sale by the American Ice Com- 

 pany, 106 New Bond street." 



The American ice trade must prove ex- 

 ceedingly profitable the present season, as 

 the remarkably mild winter here prevented 



