b 
1807.] 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
@®BSERVATIONS made during «a TOUR 
through the UNITED STATES of AME-~ 
RICA.—NO. XIV. 
ETTLERS in a new country are in- 
variably compelled to build tempo- 
rary or log-houfes, as their firft thelter 
againft the inclemencies of the weather : 
thefe houfes are run up in a few days, 
and at a {mall expence. Although their 
appearance is very uncouth, they make 
avery good thift, as they are warm and 
dry. They are made by logs croffing 
each other, and filling the interitices 
with clay. Their windows are generally 
fmall, and flide in a trame: whilft the 
fire-place is an immenfe opening, in 
which, when necellary, moitt’ enormous 
fires are burnt The chimney is of clay, 
and the houfe covered with bark. They 
generally contain two rooms on the firit 
floor, and a lott which is, or may be, 
divided into two apartments. 
them have a cellar, and mott a kitchen, 
adjoining the houte, built in the fame 
manner, and with the fame materials. 
In thefe a new fettier {pends his firtt two 
or three years; and if they contain not 
as much iplendour, [ hefitate not to fay, 
they potieis as much happinefs, fecured 
on republican finmplicity and manly in- 
dependence, the retult of fuccetstul ap= 
plication, and often even as much ici- 
ence, as your more lofty palaces. After 
having cleared as much land as the far- 
mer deems neceflary, his firit object is 
to build his barn, ftables, &c.; and here 
lies his vanity,—inditferent to the look 
ot his houfe, whilit his table is plenti- 
fully fupplied, he will ftretch his purfe- 
lirlgs to the utmoft to have his out- 
houles the beft poffible: when that is 
accoimpliihed, he has time to think about 
his dwelling-houte, but that is with him 
a very fecoudary confideration to his 
barn. ‘The permanent houtes at pre- 
fent inv ‘Trumbull are all frame-build- 
ings, roomy and commodious. At Po- 
land, where we entered this county 
(Trumbull), there were already 84 fas 
milies fettled ; and 12 more, having pur- 
chated land in the: townthip, were daily 
expected. Five of the fettlers had 
built their barns and frame-houfes, and 
the inhabitants generally appeared to 
have fubdued molt of the inconveniences 
of a new country. 
Leaving Poland on the 20th of May, 
we entered Boardman, not fettled, the 
proptictor refuling to fell at the prefent 
Some of 
Observations made during a Tour in the United States. eae 
price of land: thence to Caulfield, in 
which were 70 refident families; we faw 
feveral refpeétable frame-houfes, parti- 
cularly that of General Wand{worth’s, 
the commander of the militia of the 
ftate of Ohio, which is a very excellent 
hocfe, and in which the refpectable ve- 
teran enjoys domettic happinefs, amidtt 
improvement direéted by his own tatte, 
and now nearly pertetted by his own 
judgment. 
Leaving Caulfield, we palfed chrowate 
Elfwood, which had but fix families, 
and Mather, entirely unfettled ; and ar- 
rived the fame evening at Deerfield. 
Each townfhip in Trumbull being a 
{quare of five imles, has a road from eatt 
to weft; which, in the centre of the 
townthip, is croffed by another road, 
running from north to fouth. The farm- 
houfes are generally placed about 100 
yards from the road, fo that the paffen- 
ger fees every houfe as he paties along. 
In the front of the houfe there is fuft- 
cient room for entrance, on each fide of 
which are planted peach and apple or- 
chards; and at the back is the kitchen- 
garden: this is the common, though not 
the invariable diftribution, of the pro- 
perty neareit home. The roads were 
very bad; and in fome places the horfes 
would plunge up to their bellies in mud, 
formed by the rotting of the roots of 
trees, in avery rich marrowy foil. The 
white pine, or (asit was by fome. called) 
the fatin wood, is very abundant in 
every part of Trumbull: this cigantic 
tree rifes ftraight as an arrow for 60 
feet, without:a branch, and fmooth as a 
mait; after which it fupports an enor-~ 
mous head, the extreme point of which 
is from 100 to 130 feet above the furface 
of the earth. The oaks; chefnuts, &c. 
&c. alfo grow to a prodigious height. «” 
The roads, though now bad, will ra- 
pidly improve, as the land gets cleared, 
and admits the fun and air: befides, ote 
half of the ftate-taxes are applied to 
make new and improve old roads, and 
to erect bridges. The only tax known 
in the ftate of Ohio 1s a land-tax, which 
is ratied in the followmg manner :—The 
land is divided into three ciafies, and 
defignated firft, fecond, and third qua- 
lity “of land; the firlt is taxed 40 cents 
the hundred acres, the fecond 60, and 
the third clafs pays annually 80 cents for 
every hundred acres. As this is the only 
tax paid, and as half of it goes into the 
public treafury, and the other half is 
applied in each county for the purpoies 
1 above 
