3jgQ JYetef on 
infancy, disease, old age, and physical 
or mental incapacity. 
I have been led into these observa¬ 
tions from having received a long and 
circumstantial letter from a near rela¬ 
tion, who left this country with all his 
family for America, in the autumn of 
1S20; and who resided in Philadelphia 
during the whole of the last winter, 
and is now making a tour through 
various districts of the United States. 
As the information contained in this 
letter may be fully relied on, I have 
thought it may be acceptable to the 
readers of the Monthly Magazine; with 
this view I have made tiie following 
extracts, which it should be remem¬ 
bered, relate chiefly to Philadelphia , 
or the immediate neighbourhood. 
London , Sept. 182i. J. Jennings. 
NOTES ON AMERICA. 
The price of every description of 
property is sinking here, except funded. 
America answers my fullest expec¬ 
tations. 
The tailors complain of the badness 
of their trade, and yet men from Eng¬ 
land cannot be prevailed upon to make 
a coat for less than five dollars. 
There was no occasion for Mr. M.’s 
returning from this country for want 
of employment as a tallow chandler, as 
he would stand upon the same footing 
as the most established : for the greatest 
part of the candles sold here, are bought 
at the door, and made by men who at 
first cannot command a capital of five 
dollars. But Mr. M. was, as the greater 
part of those who come to spy out the 
land without their wives are, home¬ 
sick. 
It is a question with me, whether 
there ever was a more favourable period 
for farmers to emigrate ? but it requires 
patience to look about to secure cheap 
lands, which are to be had iu abun¬ 
dance. 
Every 7 description of handicraft busi¬ 
ness is very dull* We can buy shoes 
cheaper here than in England. House 
carpenters, who used readily to obtain 
Id dollar per day, now with difficulty 
obtain f. All those who come depen¬ 
dent on tlieir trades will have much 
difi)culty in finding employment. [This 
of course applies to Philadelphia and 
its environs.] 
I have just received a letter from 
J. W. in Indiana , where he settled as a 
tanner. He quotes raw hides at 65 cents 
peril).; calfskins, 12 f cents per lb.; 
bark, 3 to 4 dollars per ton ; sole lea- 
Ammm, [Nev, }, 
ther, prime, from Spanish hides, 50 cents 
per lb ; wheat, 37£ to 50 cents ; Indian 
corn, from 25 to 30 cents per bushel; su¬ 
gar, from the maple, from 8 to 10 cents 
per lb.; butter, 12 | cents per lb.; 
fowls, 8 cents each ; beef 2£ to 3 cents, 
per lb.; pork the same; bacon and 
ham, G cents per lb. 
The Cincinnati bank, will give a 
premium of from 30 to 40 per cent, 
011 exchanging their paper foi that of 
the United States. Labourers wages 
at Cincinnati, are 50 cents per day’, 
and their'food. 
Labourers have been to be hired here 
(Philadelphia) for half a dollar a day, 
without food or liquor; but the usual 
price is f of a dollar, net money. 
We have the London monthly publi¬ 
cations at the Athenccum here, about a 
month after you; y 7 ou must not sup¬ 
pose that you can ever furnish us by 
letter with any public news ; you will 
be constantly forestalled. 
We have at the Athenoeum (which 
is similar to your Surrey Institution) a 
good library, extensive set of maps, 54 
different American, four London, and 
two French newspapers ; 18 American 
periodical works; 21 English ditto; 
3 French and 1 German ditto. The 
terms of annual subscription, eight 
dollars. Books are sold out of the 
regular way at half the price they are 
sold at in England. 
Almanacks 3 cents each: courts of 
law, conducted here with the greatest 
propriety and deliberation ; five times 
as much time taken up with the deci¬ 
sion of a case as in England. 
Soft soap 3 cents per quart. Our 
servant has made several gallons of 
soft soap out of some kitchen fat; this 
you must not do. Female servants are 
hired by the week ; from f to 1 £ dollar 
are the wages for this period ; they are 
for this boarded, lodged, and washed in 
the house. 
I bid 1| cent per acre, for 990 acres 
of land, which was knocked down to 
me. I find the deed of conveyance for 
this lot, will cost from 3 to 4 dollars, 
and 2 dollars the enrolment. This land 
is situated in the centre of the state of 
Pensylvania; it is part of a large lot 
of 30,690 acres, the fee of which ave¬ 
raged about five cents per acre. I find 
upon subsequent inquiry, that this land, 
which I bought at one cent and a half 
per acre, is on the first fork of Price 
Creek on the Surquehannah, near the 
settlement of the late Mr. John Hey’s, 
from 
