2798.) 
The fpeculation in Jand finds employment 
for a great number of adventmrers, fome : 
‘few of whom acquire immenfe fortunes, at 
the expence of the major part, who ruin 
themfelves. | 
I know of no work, ‘publifhed in Ame- 
rica, deferving of, particular mention, ‘in- 
a grand national point of view. Their 
Journals are.a chaotic aflemblage of lies, 
where even commercial advertifements 
are altered and disfigured. Some Angto- 
American authors have written efteemed 
mora! works ; but thefe are fo voluminous, 
fo dear, and fo little read, that they ferve 
here, as in Europe, to fupport the pomp 
of a library, which is viited from a morive 
of curiofity, without reaping any utility 
from it. - 
The grand fource of. the riches of the 
Amerigans refults from the 
of their territory, the temperature 
of the climate, and the cheap price 
of land, which holds out an irrefiiii- 
ble temptation to emigrants from other 
countries. The traffic in lend ts the 
firft cbjeét of attentian with the monied 
men, who may purchafe acres by the 
thoufand, at the rate of three fols per acre. 
This land they afterwards fell to fome 
poor emigrant for two francs, who is fre- 
quently obliged to relinquifh his purchafe, 
for want of hands and money to cultivate 
it, and fells it for twenty fols per acre, to a 
new adventurer, before « fingle plough 
has pafled over it. Agriculture is, not- 
withftanding, in general eftimation ; bur it 
is only in the interior of the United 
States that it is purfued with proper aéti- 
vity. The frontiers-of this vat empire 
confift of a meré affemblage of deferts, in- 
habited by a few ftraggling, unfortunate 
fanatics, who fubfift upon milk, potatoes, 
and [ndian corn. 
The American manufadiures, although 
_difcouraged by commercial defpotifm, are 
in a flate of gradual, though but flow, 
improvement. Inventions, and machines for 
manufaéturing purpoles, are daily brought 
Mearer to perieCtion, and it mzy, with 
ftriét truth, be affirmed, that America, in 
this refpeét, far furpafles Europe. The 
truth of this affertion, I hope to eftablifn 
by a colleétion of defigns, taken from 
actual pieces of mechanifm, which I have 
in agitation to publifh. Atthe diflance of 
about three miles from Philadeiphia, is a 
water-mill, belonging to a Mr. Jonnfon, 
formed upon a very ingenious. conftruc- 
tion, which, with the afiiltance of only 
two men, performs as much work as could 
be executed on the common principie by 
the united efforts of 300 perfons. Thefe 
Moontuty Mac. XXViI. 
United States... Query on Brewing. 
fertility- 
25 
machines, which fimplify labour, diminith 
the expence of the commodities, fave a 
multitude of hands, and multiply the 
manufaéturer’s profits, are permanent 
fources of opulence and-property, Frank- 
lin, Rittenhoufe, and other. ingenious 
mechanics, have enriched the American 
States with an incredible variety of ufeful 
machines, of which Europe has not 
the fmalleft idea. I havein my poffeffion 
exact pians of a great number of them. 
I have frequently been in. conipany 
with Voiney. Our difcourfe generally 
turned upon the fubject-of our travels.” J 
am at prefent lodged in his apartments, 
from whence J write this letter. He had 
undertaken a journey to-Carolina and fome 
of the fettlements.on the Ohio. J had 
vifited this-year the northern diftriéts of 
the United States, Long Hfiand, the ftates 
of New York, Jerfey, Conneéticut, and 
Maryland. I have entered into an agree- 
ment with VOLNEY ro wifit this fpring 
the fouthern provinces,with the weftern fer~ 
tiements, having'been appointed, in the laft 
general aflembiy of the Quakers at Phila.. 
delphia, one of their deputies to vifit the 
Indiao nations, and to eftablith, if poffible, 
fome handicraft baufinefs among them, as 
labourers,-fmiths, carpenters, éc. in hopes 
of introducing fome degree of civilization 
among the weftern tribes, which we 
charitably are in the habit of diftinguith- 
ing by the appellation of favages, though, 
in faét, they poffefs more humanity than 
many civilized nations. My. intention is 
to vifit the Mohawks, the Delawares, the 
Shawanefe, in one word, to glean, among 
the indian tribes and aborigines of North 
America, all the moral and phyfical imtel- 
ligence which may fall ia my way. 

To the Editor of the Monthly Magaxiné. 
SIR, 
F it is not making an improper ufe of 
your valuable Mifcellany, and occupying 
a place that might be more ufefully em- 
ploved, it would greatly oblige: me, and, I 
doubt not, add to the comfort of many 
families in the country, that brew’ their 
own beer, if any of your numerous cor- 
‘refpondents would anfwer the two follow- 
ing Queries :—In brewing ale, at what 
degree of heat, on Fabrenheit’s feale, oughe 
the water to be when it is Jet off into the 
mafh-tub to the malt? Likewife, at what 
degree the wort thould be, when the yeaft is 
added to excite fermentation ? ‘Thefe two 
points are well known to all public brewers, 
but Lhavenot met witheny treatife on brew. 
ing in which they are aivertained) Come 
bron is become fo fcarce, I have not been 
& ave 
