74 
REVIEW OF THE NOTES OF A FOREIGNER ON AMERICAN AGRICULTURE CONTINUED, 
REVIEW OF THE NOTES OF A FOREIGNER ON 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURE CONTINUED. 
Notwithstanding the length to which this no¬ 
tice has been extended we hope it will not prove 
uninteresting to our readers. We could not 
give the article entire, on account of its great 
length; because, among its many good things, 
it contains so much crude and incorrect matter, 
that it should not be republished without cor¬ 
rection. We do not accuse the writer of inten¬ 
tionally misrepresenting things; he is by far 
too honorable and high-minded a man for that; 
but it shows how difficult it is for a stranger to 
learn facts about a country where everything 
is so new and strange to him, and where he 
has so little opportunity during a mere flying 
visit to make himself acquainted with the minu- 
Jise of matters concerning the people. 
The following contains a due mixture of truth 
and error:—■“ It is worthy of remark, that the 
real American farmer is amazingly fond of 
change; he may be said to be always emigrat¬ 
ing, never settling. However comfortable he 
may be, he is always contemplating the possi¬ 
bility of being off,sooner or later, to other ‘dig- 
gins.’ An offer of cash down will decide him 
at once; he will soon strike a bargain and be 
off. Often as they change, they are ‘ cute ’ 
enough to change always for the better. Amer¬ 
icans are considered to be the best original 
settlers; they seem to have an aptitude for 
clearing land. On the other hand, they fail 
generally in improving lands; probably from 
the want of trying, or the requisite knowledge. 
English farmers make poor original settlers, 
but they almost invariably succeed in improv¬ 
ing cleared or partially-cleared lands.” 
It is also worthy of remark that some Ameri¬ 
can farmers are fond of change; but the idea 
conveyed is, that all are so, which is by no 
means the fact. Neither is it a fact that they 
are always “cute” enough to change for the 
better. In our estimation, one fourth, at least, 
of those who emigrate from the old states to 
the new ones, do so to their decided disadvan¬ 
tage, both in property, comfort, and health. 
That they make the best “ original settlers,” 
just as they do every original undertaking, is 
one of the self-evident facts to be seen all over 
the country. We are willing to grant the palm 
to English farmers for being the best improvers 
of land at home, but they do not invariably 
succeed in America, by a wide difference. 
Roads and Plank Roads .—It is no wonder the 
writer was surprised at the “awful” condition 
of our roads. But what would he have thought 
if he had seen them at the worst ? such as we 
have often seen in the new western and south¬ 
western states, where they are not only almost 
impassable, but quite so for loaded teams. What 
he says of plank roads as being excellent con¬ 
trivances, is not half what might have been 
said in their favor. “ The roads leading from the 
farms to the villages, and even to the large 
towns, are very badly constructed; they are 
really, as a Scotchman gravely remarked to 
the Avriter, ‘ awful.’ In summer, the quantity of 
dust is positively amazing; in winter, the mud 
is equally striking. In the * fall ’ and ‘ spring ’ sea¬ 
sons; that is, at the beginnings of the rainy 
seasons and the breaking up of the winter, 
they are sometimes almost impassable. A 
farmer informed us that, having occasion to go 
to a mill some two miles distant, it took him 
nearly three hours, and his horses were quite 
exhausted with their efforts. In districts suffi¬ 
ciently populous to pay for their construction? 
a species of road is laid down, called a ‘ plank 
road.’ These roads are excellent contrivances, 
and facilitate the communication between farms 
and market towns very much. Although they 
are of comparatively recent introduction, im¬ 
mense tracts of country are laid with them. 
They are supported by tolls, those in the state 
of New York demanding six eents, (threepence,) 
for a single-horsed gig or buggy, for a run of 
eight or ten miles. The mode of laying them 
down is very simple, and may be briefly de¬ 
scribed : The line of road is marked out and 
levelled as much as possible. As they are gen¬ 
erally laid down in the track of roads previ¬ 
ously made, the centre is raised, leaving a hol¬ 
low on each side, into which the water may run 
off from the planks through small holes or 
drains. A track little broader than the breadth 
of a coach or wagon, (if for a single line,) is 
marked out; and on each side of this, planks 
some eight or nine feet long, eight inches broad, 
and three thick, are laid parallel thereto. These 
are laid end to end, thus forming a double line 
of planks along the road. On the top of these 
side supports, the planks on which the car¬ 
riages run, forming the roadway, are laid ; these 
project a little beyond the side supports; they 
are generally some ten to fourteen inches 
broad, and two or three thick. The side of the 
embankment is brought up so as to cover the 
ends, and the road is complete.” 
To this we add, the planks are usually seven 
feet long and so laid that the ends form an un¬ 
even line to facilitate loaded wagon wheels ris¬ 
ing when coming on the road, or in passing 
