~ 
wards the fhores of the Ohio and Miffiffip- 
pi, where the foil is really fo rank, that 
there is a fpecies of wild clover lee 
grows between three and four feet in 
height, on a ftem equal in circumference 
to that of a little finger. That the prin- 
cipal part of the foil of the United States 
is compofed from this decayed vegetation, 
is evident from this—that all {pots on 
which pine-trees grow, and on which 
there can be no fall of the leaf, will really 
bear nothing elfe; and there are many 
fpots like thefe (particularly in Georgia) 
which are for miles.in exten it, and are de- 
nominated by the Americans pine-barrens. 
This luxuriance, however, inflead of 
being a blefling to, is r@lly the bare of, 
the frit fettlers ; as the breaking up cf 
fach a putrid heap of decayed vegetables, 
which, from its thick cover of foref. 
trees, could never before have been ex- 
pofed toa free current of air, muft he 
very unwholefome,* if not, in a great 
meaiure, the caufe of that dreadful epice- 
mic calied yellow-fever, which never fails 
to make its appearance in fome part or 
other every {pringand fall, at the coming 
in and going-out of warm weather. This 
Bepusiances) or rather ranknefs, alfo choaks 
all the crops of regular hufbandry, until, 
as has been already faid, it be reduced by 
2.culture of tobacco, and other ftrong 
veeds, and is-one of the principal di fad- 
vantages a new fettler will he’ to over- 
come, particularly Europeans, who know 
nothing of fuch culture, which, in the 
hands of thofe uled toit, turns-out very 
precaricus, owing to the unfavourable- 
nefs of the weather for curin ng it. An- 
other very great difedvantage is the fo- 
reft-trees over his head, thouglf ftyled in 
American advertifements magnificent.— 
_ They are the moft infuperable bar to agri- 
culture until deftroyed, which muft be 
cone by infinite labour and immenfe ex- 
pence, either by cutting down one by one, 
and burning them, er elf by another 
mode practifed by the Americans, and 
called ringing, that is, cutting the bark 
off the whole circumference of the tree 
as néar the ground as poffible, by which 
* I was ftruck with its wild appearance 
(fays M. Volney, fpeaking of the new fettle- 
ment of Gallipolis); and the fallow complexi- 
ons, thin vifages, fickly looks, and uneafy 
air, of all its inhabitaats. They were not 
defirous of converfing with me. ‘Their 
houfes, though whitewafhed, were nothing 
but huts made of trunks of trees, plaftered 
with clay, and covered with fhingles, and 
confequently damp ard badly theltered from 
the weather. 
Otfervaticns refpecting Emigration to America, 
fApril ly 
means the fap lofes its conduéter, the up- 
per part of the tree perifhes, and it is 
blown down by the wind. The ftumps 
yet remain in the ground to be riven and 
duz up, and they are fo clofe to each” 
other as to prevent the ufe of the plough, 
and neceffitate the cultivator to turn up the 
ground by hand, which is an incredibly 
laborious and reais procefs for himielf, 
as well as extravagantly expenfive, if he is 
able te get and to pay for affiftanee, as 
may be colie€ted from what has been 
already faid relative to the high rate of 
wages in America, The latter method, 
however, fhould feem preferable ; becaule 
if a fettler was to ring the trees on fuch a 
quantity of grovud as he might wifh to 
cultivate, and, after removing the tops, 
was to leave the ground, thus uncovered, 
expofed for a feafon or two to a free cur- 
rent of air, much of its ranknefs and un- 
wholefomenefs might evaporate and be 
dilperfed. 
Such is the nature of thefe uncultivated 
lands; and the fituation of an emigrant 
landing on the Atlantic fhores is precifely 
this: he has two or three hundred miles 
to go through a country, for the greateft 
part a wilderne{s, without a conveyance, 
a road, or a guide: he muft be at a con- 
fiderable expence to procure the deputy- 
furveyor of the diftriét in which his pur- 
chafed land ites, togo with him to pointout 
its boundaries, which are only imaginary 
lines run by the compafs:: 
vey his family, and build a thelter for 
them, as he can : he is to get implements 
of hufbandry, cattle, and provilions (the 
latter of which he cannot poflibly raife for 
himfelf during the firft year), as he can : 
he is to deitroy thefe magnificent foretts 
and break up this /vxurious {foil with his 
own hands, or at an immenfe expence, if 
he can: and when all thefe Herculean la- 
bours are performed, what is his reward ? 
A life fearcely fuperior to that of an 
American favage for himfelf and his po- 
fterity for ages to come. 
As, in my fecond Paper -on the fitua- 
tion of emigrants to America, I have 
enumerated moft of the principal cbftacles 
to fettling backwards, and pointed out the 
hardfhips to be encountered, I fhall pafs 
onto what the American adventurers cal] 
the diver fons of hunting and fifhing. The 
former is always a matter of neceflity to- 
pre cure viétuals, and rather confidered a 
hardfhip than an amufement : to traverfe 
thefe pathlefs wilds at the hazard of ioling 
himfeif (which is frequently the cafe if a 
fetter ventures out without a pocket. 
compals) is a tafk fitted only for the moft 
hardy 
he is to con-_ 
: 
4 
i 
oe ek tee e e 
en 
ays 
