w 2 
oe 
the stains of fammer before the -hay-har- 
veft comes into interrupt it. This latter 
is an indifpenfable duty, as the length of 
the winter_obliges the American farmer to 
have an ample ffock of forage ; and even 
if the labour of the plough be not finithed,- 
it muf be laid afide to make way for the 
» Ecythe.- 
It therefore requires more experience, 
health, ftrength, perfeverance, and cou- 
race, than is generally imagined, to fup- 
port the folitude of the foreits; to fweep 
the furface cf the earth of thofe gigantic 
trees, befide which man appears fo weak ; 
to clean and burn every thing which en- 
cumbers it; to drain the fwamps; to 
plant and inclofé fields and orchards 3 to 
epen communications, and build dwelling- 
bow'es acd barns. This is a fummary of 
what one man alone mui undertake, and 
what two or three followisg generations 
will perhaps bring to fome degree of or- 
der ; but if he be not an enthufiait— 
it he ever experiences one fingle difgufl, 
which is the forerunner of difcouragement, 
let him ttop ; he is never deftined to be-- 
come an experienced and thriving coloniit. 
On the excefive Cheapnefs of American 
Lands. 
The lands which formerly belonged to 
the patentees of the Britifa Crown, and 
thofe of the loyalifts, which the Govern 
ment General or the different States feized 
into their hands after the revolution ; 
Hkewile thofe tra€ts of land which they 
hare acquired by treaty or purcha‘e from 
the aborigines, form the bafis of an im- 
meafe fpeculation. Government allotted 
one hundred acres to each private foldier 
as an incemnity for the depreciation of 
the paper-money which he had received 
for his pay during the war, and fo ina 
riing proporticn through all the fuperior 
gradations of the army. The reft of 
thefe lands are fold, as purchafers can te 
found, to anfwer the exigencies of Go- 
vernment. Of one of theie fpeculations, 
made by Mr. Merris, notice has already 
been taken ; as alfoof the immenfe advan- 
tage now reaping by the Pulteney family 
from the moiety of that fpeculation, al- 
though they gave forthat moiety alone a 
fim equal to five times the amount.of the 
original price of the whole. I fhall take 
this [peculation as an inftance in proof of 
my aficztion, that, ifa proprietor of Ame- 
tican back-lands were to give away nine- 
tecths of them to aétual fettlers, he would 
make an immenfe profit by the remaining 
tenta. The lands fold in an carly flage of 
the {citlement, have produced from thrée 
Ot fervations rofpeting Emigration to America. [July 7, 
to fifteen pounds per acre, or, uponan ave-. . 
rage, nine pounds. Now, if the tenth 
part of one million, that is, one hundred 
thoufand acres, be fold at even the loweft 
price, or three pounds per acre, they will 
produce three hundred thovfand pounds, 
or fifty thoufand pounds more than_ the 
cof of the whole one million of acres.— - 
This is all net profit, becaufe the pur- 
chafers difburfe the improvements, and - 
pay intereft upon the'purehafe-money of. 
their lands, as well as for their paflage, if 
Europeans, and travelling-expences, until 
the whole principal be paid off. But as 
the fettiements are now eftablithed, feve- 
ral towns built, anda great quantity of 
lands cleared, it will be ftili valeulating 
‘the fpeculation much bereath its real va- 
lve to take the fale as the average price, 
or nine pounds per acte, which will give 
a profit of one hundred and fitty thouiand 
pounds upon two hundred and fifty thou- 
fand pounds, or fixty per cent. If, there- 
tore, by the fale of one-tenth only, the 
proprietor will -reimburfe himfelf bis 
whole purchafe-money and fixty per cent. 
can he not well afford to give away the 
other nine-tenths to thofe from whom he 
derives all this profit ? , 
It is not ufual, I know, to talk of a 
man’s giving away his property, neither is 
it a proper term for the tran{aétion ; it is 
rather a mutual exchange of land for ac- 
tual fervices 5; as the Jand is worth no- 
thing without actual fettiement, the fettler 
may be faid to refign all the fecial com- 
forts of life, and doom himfelf to a perpe- 
tual hard labour, for the fake of leaving 
a farm to his poferity ; and the propri- 
etor can only be faid to bettow upon him 
that ufelefs land, which his own indultry 
is to bring into a fate of cultivation, for 
the fake of having the reft of his lands 
benefitted by the vicinity of a fettlement, 
which generally attraéts other purchafers 
and fettlers, to the proprietor’s immenfe 
profit. To make this more plain to the 
Englifh reader, } will afk the queftion— 
What man is there, who, being pofleffed 
of an unwholefome, inaccefible, and fetid 
fen, tothe extent of one hundred thoufand 
acres, which brings him in no profit, 
would not be glad to clofe with the pre- 
pofal of a company of men to drain, and 
render the whole’ firm, falubricus, and ha- 
bitabie, if he will allow them nihety 
thoufand acres? Will it not be better 
¢ 
for him to have ten thoufand acres, yield- ~ 
ing an immenfe produce, than one bun- 
dred thoufand which do not produce him a 
penny ? - There-can be bat one aniwer to 
the queftion ; and in this, which is the 
true 
