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'i si*i» \ i r/ \ CONTENTa i P Amekica — Divisions and Geography, Emigration Districts, Climate, Money, Becent Emigration, Faok 1 1-3 4 4 5 Cautions applicable to the Passage to various parts of America, G Canada, ------- 10 Divisions, Natural and Political, - - - 10 Topography, -- - - - - 11 Extent of choice to Settlers, - - - - 12 Towns, .-.--- 11-13 Methods of Transit — Lakes, Canals, and Eoads, - - 14 The St Lawrence, - - - - - 15 Productions — Garden, - - - - - IG Agriculture, Timber, &c. ... - 16-18 Productions and Topographical Divisions, - - 18 LowEK on Eastern Canada, - - - - 1 8 Land System there, - - - - - 19, 20 Capabilities for Production, - - - - 21 TJpPEB on Western Canada, - . - - 23 Character of the several Districts, - - 23-25 Purchase and Improvement of Land, Prices, Terms, &c. 25-29 First steps in choosing an Allotment, - - - 29 Question as to Clearing Forest Land, or buying Cleared, 31 Clearing, 32 Progress, - - - - - -'33 Suitableir 38 for Emigration, . - - - 34 Amount and Nature of Emigration, - - - 85, 3G Labour and Wages, - - - - 37 tv CONTENTS. Paoi Lumberorg, ------ 89 Prices of Provisions, &c. - • - - 89, 40 New nRCNSwicK, ------ 40 Description, - " • " - 40, 41 Capabilities, .----- 42 Climate, .-.--- 44 Divisions, Towns, &c. - » - - - 44 Productions, ----- 45 Purcliase and Improvement of Land, - - - 47 Accounts of the Quantities of Available Land, - 49 Situation and Extent of the Settlements, - - Bl Amount of Laud brought in, . . - 55 Districts capable of being made available by Roads, - C7 The Harvey Settlement, - - - - 60 Labour, - - - -- - -68 Emigration, ------ 65 Nova Scotia and Cawj Breton, - - - - 67 Soil, Climate, &c. - - - - - G7, 08 Productions, - ----- 69 Land, ------ 69 Population and Towns, - - - - - 70 Pbtnce Edward Island, ----- 71 Newfoundland, ------ 72 The North- West Terhitoeiks and Vancouver's Island, 78 Boundaries — Character, ----- 78 Hudson's Bay Company, - - - - 74 Eed Eiver Settlement, ----- 76 Vancouver's Island, ----- 77 No Tu So Falkland Islands, 78 United States, - - - Character and Population, Characteristics of the People, Money, - - - Extent of Incomes and Salaries, 79 79 80 83 83 The Constitution with reference to the Privileges of the Settler, 84 I i 40 >,41 42 44 44 46 47 49 51 55 57 60 C8 65 67 r,68 69 69 70 71 72 73 78 74 76 77 78 79 79 80 88 83 r,84 CONTENTS. Representation, - - - - - - Absorption of Scttiers, and Construction of Now States, Defects, ------ Means of Conveyance— Lalcea, Canals, Kaiiwaya, Roads, &c. Lines of Communication for Emigrants, - - - Productions, ------ Amount of Exports, _ - - - - Wheat and otlior Agricultural l^roducc, Topographical Divisions and their Capabilities, - NoHTHERN Atlantic States, - - - - Maine and Now Hampshire, . - - - Vermont and Massachusetts, - - - - Rliode Island and Connecticut, - - - - New York, ------ New Jersey, ..---- Pennsylvania, . - - - - The Western DrxRiCTS, - - - Prairies, ------ Bottom Alluvial Lands, - - - - - Ohio, Illinois, - . - Wisconsin and Iowa, - - - - - Missouri, ------- Indiana, .----" Mandan, - - , - Oregon and Utah, Southern States, ------ Purchase and Employment of Land, - - - System for the Survey and Sale of Waste Land, - Amounts available in the several Districts, - Squatters, - - - - - The Backwoodsmen, - Question between Clearing and Purchasing Old Land, American Tanning, - - - - - Emigrants, ------ Arrangements for the Assistance and Protection of Emi- grants, ,-.--- Hints to Emigrants to New York, - - - Labour, ------- Pecxiliarities of the Artisan's position in the States, - Paob 85 87 88 88 01 05 06 06 or 08 08 09 00 100 108 108 104 104 106 107 108 108 109 109 110 110 112 114 114 115 119 120 121 122 125 127 129 132 133 '!• I HBi f AMERICA. EMIGRATION DISTRICTS. f America consists of two great divisions, North and South Ame- rica, united by an isthmus or neck of land. South America *» having been settled by the Spanish and Portuguese nations, is unsuitable for purposes of emigration from Britain. North Ame- rica, with the exception of Mexico, having been settled by the English, is on that account, as v/ell as its generally temperate climate, the field to which the emigrant will more properly direct his attention. America is bounded on the east by the Atlantic, and the west by the Pacific Ocean. Along its shores on the east lie various islands ; as, for example, the West India group, and the Bahamas. Although these islands present scope for trading enterprise, and also, in some places, for agricultural operations and for fishing, they do not come under tlie character of emigration fields, and thevefore need not form a feature of our present inquiry. The districts requiring notice are chiefly thvose on the mainland of North America, and of these only a select portion come within our present object. The two great emigration fields in North America are the British possessions and the United States. The British possessions consist of Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia— the latter including Prince Edward's Island. There is, indeed, another large tract of country belonging to Great Britam— namely, the Hudson's Bay Territory ; but it is situated in the extreme north ; and being occupied almost exclusively by hunters in quest of furs, is not available for regular settlement. On the west coast lies Vancou- ver's Island, which also belongs to Great Britain : it has latterly A 1 I 1 V H I AMERICA. been opened for iramigratioii, and will afterwards be noticed ; also some minor British fields of emigration. While the United States occupy the southern and middle re- gions of North America, the British possessions are in the north. Each faces the Atlantic ; but the United States, besides havuig a very extensive front to this ocean, stretch across the continent at its broadest part, and present a border to the Pacific. The breadth of land, drawing a straight lino across the United States, is 3000 miles— an extent as great aa the breadth of the Atlantic. Settled by parties of colonists principally under charters from Elizabeth and James ]., North America has now been occupied by an English people for a period of 250 years ; and is therefore entitled to be called an old country. Yet such is its vast size, that it is filled up to a comparatively small extent. The settled population extend, in diminishing density, only about half-way across the continent to the Pacific, on which, as yet, there are only two or three settlements — one of these being the recently- established district of California. Although emigration to North America is proceeding at the rate of about 250,000 per annum, the accession is scarcely observable. Ample space is afforded for all the inhabitants of Europe, and still there would be room to spare. North America diffiers in many respects from the other quarters of the globe. Nature is on a great scale. The dimensions of the country, magnificent in their extent, are a type of its leading features— vast rivers and lakes, resembling mland friths and seas; lofty mountain- ranges, boundless forests, and far-stretching prairies. The climate of so extensive a region is as varied as that which prevails in Europe from Russia to the Mediterranean. In the north, long winters and short fierce summers ; in the south, the gcial temperature of the tropics, and frost scarcely known. With the political history of North America all readers will be less or more familiar. Only a few facts may here be noted. The early English colonists had to contend first with intractable tribes of native Indians, and with the aggrandisuig efforts of the French, who formed a line of settlements from Canada to Louisiana. By a series of military campaigns, England defeated the French, took the most of their settlements, and added them to the group of colonies. By what has ultimately proved a fortunate event for America and England, thirteen of the British American colonies revolted, gamed their independence, and established themselves as the United States, to which fresh additions have since been made. In this revolution of aflFairs the more northern colonies did not participate, and till this day they yield allegiance to the British crown. By the establishment of independence, the revolted 2 I i EMIGRATION DISTRICTS. also colonies entered on a career of prosperity and development of national vigour to which they could have had no prospect under the deadening tutelage of foreign control. The only subject of lamentation is the violence with which American independence was achieved, and the humiliation to which Great Britain was on the occasion exposed — circumstances j\rhich have left an unhappy impression on the traditions of the country that will not be soon obliterated. It will be seen, from these observations, that North America offers two distinct P^lds of emigration : one — namely, the British Possessions, in which the emigrant from the United Kingdom will remain a subject of the crown, with all the attendant privileges of that character; the other being the United States, in which he becomes a citizen of a new power, and cuts all political connection with the country of his fathers. Let it be understood, however, that citizenship in the great North American republic infers to the poor man a certain gain in personal consequence, and that as the language, literature, and social usages of the States are Eng- lish, the exchange of country will cause no essential inconvenience. The expense of transit to the British possessions and to the States dtfifers in so small a degree as to form no matter for serious con- sideration. One peculiarity attends emigration to both countries : this consists in the difficulty in reaching any suitable spot of settlement in the interior regions, after arriving at the place of landing. For the most part, as will be shewn under the proper heads, the emigrant who designs to be a cultivator of the soil has to travel by canal, or some other means, several hundreds of miles to the interior ; so that the cost of this inland journeying requires to be added to the expense of sea-passage, which it wUl generally double. Hence, although America is very much nearer to Great Britain than Australia, the actual money-outlay and loss of time in- curred by the emigrant may be nearly as great in going, to the one as to the other. An exception to this general difficulty of reach- ing emigration fields in North America exists in the case of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward's Island, and New Brunswick, all close upon the Atlantic. On this account these regions may be said to offer the readiest spot for settlement to which the emigrant can look — a circumstance of no small importance to the agriculturist with limited means at his disposal. The population of the whole British North American possessions may be estimated at two and a quarter millions. This is a popu- lation less than thai; (f Scotland for a country larger than Great Britain, and equally iertile. Three things have materially retarded settlement in these possessions — their general inaccessibility, the prevalence of dense forests, and the inclemency of their winters, 3 . I \. m \ ■ AMERICA. during which outdoor labour is suspended, and live-stock require to be housed. In consequence of the severity of the frost, all communication by water is closed during a considerable part of the year. To obviate this impediment, a railway has been pro- posed to be formed from a point on the coast, running through New Brunswick and Lower Canada towards the upper country, where settlers will locate. Surveys have been made of the pro- posed line, but as yet no commencement of this great work has been made. , . , . All countries lying in a state of nature, aud covei-ed with pri- mitive forests, possess a climate which ranges in extremes— fiercely hot summers and intensely cold winters. Such is the CAse to a remarkable degree with the climate of America in its more northern parts. Instead of that diffusive moderation whicli characterises the climate of similar latitudes in Europe, we find the North American climate ranging from the cold of the polar regions to the heat of the tropics. All, therefore, who are unpre- pared to endure great extremes should refrain from going to America. The extremes here spoken of, however, are not con"- sidered to be more injurious to health than the climate of the British islands, where, with a moderate temperature, there is a continual shifting from wet to dry, from haze to sunshine. The very cold winters of North America are always spoken of as periods of exhilaration ; in commerce and agriculture they are inconvenient, but in matters of social concern they are generally prefeiTed to those broken, plashy winters of England, which are so productive of bronchial and other affections. Money. — Money may be safely transferred to North America, by depositing any given amount in banks in Great Britain, and receiving in exchange bills on certain banks in America, which will be paid on being presented. If casli in large sums be taken by emigrants, there is a chance of losing it ; whereas, if bank-bills be lost, their payment can be stopped until fresh bills are pro- cured. The principal Scotch banks grant unexceptionable bills of this kind. Whether bills or cash be taken, they will bring a somewhat higher value than they bear in England. In the United States, the circulating medium is doUai'S in silver, resembling crown-pieces. The dollar, as will afterwards be more specially mentioned, is reckoned to be worth about 4s. 2d. Eng- lish. In the dollar are reckoned 100 cents. The copper cent is about the value of a halfpenny. The United States abound in bank-notes of the denomination of a dollar and upwards ; great caution will be required in taking this paper money. The British American possessions have also a peculiar currency. The same deaominations are employed as in England, but the I EMIGRATION DISTRICTS. I value is different. The money of Canada and the other colonies is stated in Halifax currency, which is 16§ per cent, inferior to ster- ling money. Thence 5s. currency is equal to 4s. 2d. ; £1 currency is equal to 16s. 8d. ; and £100 currency is equal to £83, 6s. 8d. The English sovereign is valued at £1, 4s. 4d. ; the crown at 68. Id.; and the shilling at Is. 3d. All prices and wages are of course reckoned in currency. Therefore when a working-man is told he will receive 4s. a day of wages, the actual value of this 4s. is only 3s. sterling. This distinction between sterling and cur- rency will soon be learned, and is of less consequence to the labouring-classes tlian the practice of paying wages in goods. The most serious complaints are made on this subject. From all we can learn, it is not unusual for an employer, in places remote from towns, to pay his workmen by an order for goods on a store corresponding to the amount bargained for ; and such is the high price at wliich articles are generally sold when such orders are presented, that sometimes a workman, instead of getting 4s. a day, does not in reality get more goods tlian he could buy in England for Is. 6d. Thus an apparently high sum dwindles do\vn to a trifle. Emigrants will require to be on their guard against these pi-actices ; they will ascertain whether they are to be paid in money or goods, and act accordingly. Recent Emigration. — The rate of emigration to North America has been stated to be about 250,000 per annum. Much the larger portion of this flood of emigrants is to the United States, and chiefly through New York. From whatever country they come, the emigrants are welcomed, and acquire the right of citizenship. About three -fifths of the emigrants are from England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, but chiefly from Ireland. The remaining two-fifths are from Germany, Holland, Norway, Sweden, Switzer- land, and France — principally from Germany. There is no accu- rate statement respecting the final settlement of emigi-ants ; many who land at New York settle in Canada, and many who arrive at Quebec and Montreal push across Canada to the States. Only one thing is certain: the United States are preferred by the lai'ger number, and '' f very much in consequence of the more easy acquisition of land. Political considerations are not believed to exert any preponderating influence on the minds of the emi- grating classes. Passage. — Emigrant ships for America sail from almost every port of any consequence ; and advertisements of their period of departure may be seen in any newspaper. At each principal port is a government emigi-ation agent to superintend the shipping of emigrants. He may be applied to in the event of any necessity for seeking counsel or reiress. The charge for a cabin passage, 5 M AMERICA. t I including provisions, to Quebec, New Brunswick, or New York, is from £12 to £20. For an intermediate cabin passage, with pro- visions, £7 to £10; without provisions, £5 to £7. For a steerage passage, with full allowance of provisions, £5 to £6 ; without pro- visions beyond the legal allowance, £3 to £4. The passages are cheapest from the Irish ports ; but the crowding is usually greater, and the accommodation less comfortable. The best season to emigrate to America is in March or April. lAtmher Trade. — Formerly persons emigrated to the British American colonies with a view to cutting down timber, and selling it to merchants for shipment to Great Britain. This lumber trade attained importance in consequence of the admission of colonial timber at a considerably less duty than foreign timber. Altera- tions in the timber-duties have nearly ruined this trade ; and for this cause, as well as the dissolute character of the lumbering pro- fession, emigrants are cautioned against adventuring in it. Cautions and Advices. — By the Emigration Commissioners the following cautions and advices are published relative to the pas- sages of emigrants to any of the North American colonies, and the means of settlement : — * Caution against proceeding to New BrunsicicI:, d'C. vid Quebec. — Emigrants whose destination maybe New Brunswick, Prince Edward's Island, or Nova Scotia, are particularly cautioned against taking pas- sage to Quebec, as there are no regular means of conveyance from that port to any of the Lower Provinces. The charge of passage, by occasional schooners, is to Mird,michi,New Brunswick, .^5s.; to Prince Edward's Island, 20s. ; to Halifax, Nova Scotia, 25s. each adult, with- out provisions : length of passage from ten to twenty days. The route to St John, New Brunswick, is much more difficult, as vessels seldom leave Quebec direct for that port, and the general mode of convey- ance is by schooner to Miramichi, and thence by land. Several weeks may elapse without a vessel offering for any of these ports. * Caution to keep Contract Tickets. — Emigrants ought to keep possession of their contract tickets, as otherwise, in the event of tho ship's being prevented by any accident from reaching her destination, or of the passengers, for any other reason, not being landed at the place named in the tickets, they may have a difficulty in obtaining a return of their passage-money, to which in that case they would by law be entitled. * Caution to provide Means for Subsistence and Transport after Arrival. — Many emigrants having latterly been found to rely on public funds for their assistance in the colonies, they are hereby warned that they have no claim of right on such fund, and they should provide themselves with sufficient moans of their own for their subsistence and conveyance into the interior from the port where they land. * In Canada, a recent law exnresslv nrohibits relief from the 6 1 EMIGRATION DISTRICTS. Emigrant Tax Fund, excepting in cases of sickness on the part of destitute emigrants. * Tdols.— It is not generally considered desirable that agricultural labourers should take out implements of husbandry, as these can be easily procured in the colonies ; but artisans are recommended to take such tools as they may possess, if not very bulky. * Time to arrive in the Colony.— -T^he best period is early in May, so as to be in time to take advantage of the spring and summer work, and to get settled before the winter sets in. * Average Length of Passage.— To Quebec, 40 days ; Prince Ed- ward's Island (say) 40 days; Nova Scotia, 38 days. By the Passen- gers' Act, provisions are, however, required to be laid in for seventy days, to which period passages are sometimes protracted.' Caution not to refuse good' Wages. — Vniil emigrants become acquainted with the labour of the country, their services are of com- paratively small value to their employers. They should therefore bo careful not to fall into the common error of refusing reasonable wages on their first arrival. Route for Emigrants to Canac?a.— Emigrants intending to settle in Panada will find it in all respects more advantageous to proceed by Quebec. As there is competition among the steamboat companies at Quebec and the forwarding companies at Montreal, emigrants should exercise caution before agreeing for their passage, and should avoid those pfersons who crowd on board ships and steamboats, offering their service to get passages, &c. Emigrants destined for Upper Canada are advised not to pause at Quebec or Montreal, but to proceed at once on their journey. If, however, they require advice or direction, they should apply only to the government agents, who will furnish gratuitously all requisite information. Steamers leave Quebec for Montreal every afternoon at five o'clock (Sundays excepted), calling at Three Rivers, Port St Francis, and Sorel, and arrive early the next morning.* The royal-mail steamers leave the Lower Canal Basin every day at half-past ten o'clock for Kingston, calling at all the intermediate places on the route, and completing the passage in about twenty-six hourd. The mail steamers leave Kingston every evening at five o'clock, after the arrival of the boats from Montreal, calling at Coburg, Port Hope, Toronto, Hamilton, Niagara, and Queenston. The steerage passage by this line of steamers from Quebec to Hamilton, a distance of 580 miles, is 21s. 6d. currency, or 17s. 2d. sterling ; time, 3 days. Steamers and screw-propellers leave Montreal every afternoon for Toronto and Hamilton, and all the intermediate landing-places; passage from Montreal to Toronto or Hamilton, 15s. cun-ency, or 12s. * The competition hitherto maintained upon this portion of the main Canadian route has very much influenced the fare for this passage; but it has seldom exceeded 38. 9d. currency in the steerage, and during the greater part of the season of 1849 it was as low as Is. sterling each person. MMMi szs I AMERICA. flterlinff each adult; and occasionally, during the summer of 1850, tiiis cbss of steamers was running direct between Quebec and Hamilton They arc longer on tlie route than the mail steamers ; but emigrants are carried much cheaper, aud they avoid all the expense of transhipment. ^ ^ , j j ■. Steamei-s occasionally proceed direct from Quebec, and goods and passen-^ers arc now conveyed in them from the ship's side at Quebec, withou*t transhipment, tlirough the St Lawrence and Welland ship canals, to any of the ports on Lakes Ontario, Erie, Huron, or Miclii- can The navigation thus opened from Quebec to Chicago, on Lrke Michi<^an, in the state of Illinois, is about 1600 miles, and the time occupfed in the transit would bo about ten days. The expense dur- ing the season of 1849, from Quebec to Cleveland in Ohio, is stated to have been about six dollars, or 24s. sterling per adult ; and it is anticipated that even this charge will bo hereafter reduced. The steamers touch at the ports of Cleveland, Sandusky (whence there is a railway to Cincinnati), and Toledo in Ohio district, in Michigan and Milwaukie in Wisconsin. Tlie entire length of the Welland and St Lawrence Canals is 66 miles. The dimensions of the locks on the former are 50 feet long by 264 ^'"eet wide, and on the latter 200 feet by 45. They are therefore capable of admitting vessels from 300 to 400 tons burden, carrying from 4000 to 5000 barrels of Hour. The length of the Erie Canal, in the state of New York, is 363 miles, with a lockage of 6S8 feet. It is navigable by vessels cairyuig from 600 to 700 barrels of flour. Tliere are eighty-four locks, each 90 feet long by 15 feet wide, with a draught of 4 feet water. From Quebec to Cleveland the expense is supposed to be less than from New York to Cleveland ; as on the latter route there are at least two transliipments, and the time required for tlie journey is a week longer. Steamers leave Montreal daily for Uptown, through the Rideau Canal, to Kingston. This route is seldom used but by travellers to the Ottawa or Bathurst district. The probable expense of provisions may bo taken at Is. per day. The expense of lodging is from 4d. to 6d. per night. I EMIGRATION DISTRICTS. PAnTICULAnSOF ROUTE FHOM QOKHKC TO HAMILTON. Usual Route for Emijjraiits. From Quebec to Montreal, call-^ iiig at Three Hivera — about i Ul miles ; Port Ht Franela, 90 miles ; and Sorel, 135, - J From Montreal to Kingston, vid \ 8t Lawrenec, - - / From Kingston to any Port on ) the Bay of Qiiint«5, - / From Kingston to Coburg, or i Port Hope, - - • J From Kingston to Toronto, From Klnirston to Hamilton, Total from Qiiebec to Hamilton, Uistanee. Fare per Adult. Miles. 180 190 35 to 70 100 180 220 690 Curreney. s. d. 3 D 10 3 6 5 10 12 6 Charge for Baggage. ( No \ charge. Time on Journey. ( 2b, \pcr 6d. cwt. S6 3 About 14 hours, : Say about ' no hours. About 9 hours. About 18 hours. About I 22 hours. About 3 days From Kingston to Darlington, Whitby, or Bond Head, la. 6d.; Oakvill'3, 128. Gd.^ To Niagara or Queenston, 138. 9d. ; and to Ports Burwell and Stanley, on Lake Erie, by schooners through the Wel- land Canal, 78. 6d. to 10s. Land-carriage from Id. to 2d. per mile. The rates here given are for adults or persons above twelve years ; for children between twelve and three years of age, half-price is charged; and children imder three years go free. One hundred- weight of luggage allowed to each passenger. ROUTE FROM MONTRKAL TO BOSTON AND NEW YORK. By the ChampJain and St Luwrencc Railway Distance. Fare. Mile3. Currency. Company, daily:— *, d. To fit John, by steamer and railway \ (twice a day), - - j 25 2 6 To Burlington, Vermont, by steamer, 100 6 3 ... Whitehall by steamer. 150 10 ... Troy and Albany, vid Whitehall, 253 13 9 ... New York, - 390 16 3 ... Boston, vid Burlington, - 320 30 iSB mMmta CANADA. V %^^ ^.^ % *f-*^ I The line of division betwixt the British possessions and the United States is either the River St Lawrence and the lakes whence it proceeds, or an ideal and mutually-arranged boundary. Canada is bounded on the east by the Gulf of St Lawrence and Labrador ; on the north by the territories of the Hudson's Bay Company ; on the west by the Pacific Ocean ; on the south by Indian coun- triesy parts of the United States, and New Brunswick. Until a recent period, Canada was divided into two provinces — Lower and Upper : the Lower being that which was first reached on sailing up the St Lawrence. Now they are united under one local government; nevertheless, they are still spoken of as two dis- tinct sections, with the appellations of Canada East and Canada West — the last mentioned being what was known as Upper Canada. The line of division between the two districts is in one part the Ottawa or Grand River. A considerable portion of Eastern Canada lies on the south side of the St Lawrence, but the whole of WestGrn Canada is north of that river, and of the lakes communicating with it. As Canada tends in a southerly direction towards the interior, it necessarily follows that the Lower or Eastern district, which is first reached by the fit Lawrence, is more northerly than the Western. The entire length of Canada may be estimated at 1000 miles, and its breadth 300. The grand feature of the country is its water-courses. By looking at the map, it will be perceived that there is a series of large lakes communicating with each other : these are unequalled by any inland sheets of water in the world, and are entitled to the appellation of fresh-water seas, for they are not only of great extent, but are liable to be aflfected by storms like the ocean itself. The uppermost, called Lake Superior, is 381 miles long, and 161 broad ; Huron, 218 miles long, and from 60 to 180 broad ; Erie, 231 long, and about 70 in breadth ; Ontario, 171 miles in length, and 60 in breadth. The waters of Lake Erie, on issuing from its extremity, fofux a river of huovo SO miles ia loiigih, uud 10 I iOi^er I CANADA. varying from three miles to a quarter of a mile in breadth, which in its course is precipitated over a precipice to a depth of 16B feet, thus makuig the famed cataract or Falls of Niagara. The river is, at the distance of a few miles below, received by Lake Ontario, whence issues the River St Lawrence, one of the largest streams in the world, and which, after a course of above 2000 miles from its head waters above Lake Superior, falls into the Atlantic. This majestic river, which is 90 miles wide at its mouth, and for some distance upwards varying from GO to 24 miles, is navigable for ships of the line for 400 miles from the ocean. In its upper parts, above Montreal, which, next to Quebec, is the chief port for ocean vessels, its navigation is impeded by rapids, or the rushing of the stream down rooky inclined planes. But these impediments are obviated by means of canals recently cut ; and thus there is now a continued water-communication for vessels from the Atlantic up into the interior, so far as the foot of Lake Superior, where a series of rapids impede the entrance into that lake, and only requiruig a short canal of about half a mile to complete the vast chain of inland navigation. The Welland Canal, a magnificent undertaking, connects Lakes Erie and Ontario, and affords a pas- sage for vessels of large size. Lake Erie is also connected by a canal with the Hudson, a river of the United States, which also falls into the Atlantic. The River Ottawa is next to the St Lawrence in point of sizfe, and is tributary to it. It falls into the north side of the St Lawrence, near Montreal. The Grand River, formerly known as the Ouse, which falls into Lake Erie near its lower ex- tremity, is a very fine and deep stream for some miles from its mouth, and is believed to afford one of the best harbours on the lakes. Kingston, at the foot of Lake Ontario, and this harbour, within the mouth of the Grand River, are the two chief stations for the naval forces of the colony. Canada is generally a level country; at least it does not possess any very lofty mountains : though on the banks of the St Lawrence and the other waters there are bold ranges of hills and banks. The country rises in a series of table-lands, the north-western por- tion being supposed to lie above 1200 feet above the sea-level. Between the Lakes Erie and Ontario, there is a sudden general elevation of one table-land above another, which produces the Fall of Niagara. Great part of the country is covered with the dense uniform forest which is known to be the characteristic of a large portion of North America. Along the St Lawrence and the borders of the lakes, where the settlements are abundant, the scenery attracts all visitors by its richness and variegated beauty. But the most valuable and densely-peopled and cultivated part of the 11 1 iMERICA. of lakes, and coming within the general latitude of the United States. The settler in this country, according to his tastes and capaci- ties, has an ample variety of choice, from the gay, fasliionable, bustling city, to the distant irnpregnablo forest, uncleared, and almost untrodden. Quebec, the capital of Lower Canada, con tains a population between 30,000 and 40,000, chiefly of French origin. Its vast forthications, still kept up, make a conspicuous figure in the history of our dependencies. Its port is available for shipping of the largest tonnage. It has itself been a great shipbuilding port, and it has a large trade, as the centre of tho couunerce of Canada with Britain and tho West India colonics. The town has breweries and distilleries, and many other manufac- tories — such as soap, candle, and tobacco. Tliough chiefly built of stone, there is so much wood-work in tho town that it has been subject to terrible conflagrations. It is situated in the midst of a very rich and beautiful district, pretty thickly settled. The popu- lation of the county in 1848 was 65,805. Montreal, formerly the second city of Low^er Canada, htvs of late risen to higher importance than Quebec, as from its being close to Upper Canada, and more central to the United Provinces, it has become the site of the Legislative Chambers. Its population exceeds that of Quebec, being considerably above 40,000. The English and the French are more nearly balanced ift number; and hence it is to be feared came the riots of 1849, in which the Eng- lish party disgraced their origin by the wanton 'I' stnrtion of the Legislative Chamber and its librsvry. As Queooo i; t' port for the external or maritime communication of tho C'lnr^jHc! lontreal is the centre of the communications with tho Uuited states — a source of still more extensive traflic and transactions, not the least important of which is the * forwarding ' business, by which emi- grants, taking Canada in their route, are passed on to the States. In both these towns a feature which will be novel to an English ,(ir .Icv'ttish settler, and perhaps not expected in an emigration i'".j'' is {' t; magnificent establishments for the worship and other leii^ious purposes of the Roman Catholic church. The Catholic c.ithedral at Montreal is a stately, capacious, and magnificent building, which would do no discredit to any of the French or Belgian cities. Toronto, the capital of Western or Upper Canada, is of a dif- ferent character, a vast majority of its inhabitants being of British origin. Their numbers are now about 30,000. This handsome town is on the northern border of the inland sea, Lake Ontario; and of its great commerce, two-thirds are conducted with the United States across the water. It was the seat of the parliament and 12 CANADA. government offices of Upper Canada before tlio union of the pro- vinces. It has risen with great rapidity during the past twenty- live years, not having two thousand inhabitants in 182G ; and its eucccss has a foundation in the intelligoncc, industry, and energy of its inhabitants, which mere political removals are not likely to injure. Toronto, besides many other public edifices, has a univer- sity with several subsidiary educational institutions. It is m the centre of a richly-cultivated district, full of mansion-houses and valuable farms. Kingston is the name of another considerable town on J.ake Ontario, close to the vast cluster of islands at the efflux of the St Lawrence. It has a busy, bustling, rapidly -increasing popula- tion, which must now amount to about 10,000. For a short time after the union of the Canadas, the united parliament was held here. Here Mr JohnHton, the author of the ' Notes on North America,' attended a show of stock and agricultural implements, pot up under the auspices of a local society : it was not so exten- eive or so crowded as one which he previously attended at Syra- cuse, state of New York; but this was ' more numerously attended by well-dressed and well-behaved people, and rendered attractive by a greater quantity of excellent stock and implements than he had at all anticipated.' - „ , e It is unnecessary to give a minute account of all the towns ot Canada. If it were a completely new place of settlement like New Zealand and some of the Australian colonies, it would belong to a work on emigration to afford a more minute description of these towns, since, in a perfectly new settlement, towns grow not by the natural increase of commerce and population, but by the artificial concentration of the emigrants. But the Canadas arc, to a certain extent, old colonies, and their towns form themselves, like those of Britain, by trade, and the natural increase of population. Un- doubtedly, however, it is a feature worthy of keeping in view, that these towns have very rapidly increased of late. They have done so, partly by an influx through emigration, but also by a concen- tration of business and industrial transactions, which gives promise of the country being adapted for future emigration. Among the other towns are Hamilton, Guelph, and London. This last, to make the imitation and the future confusion more complete, is in the county of Middlesex, and on the border of a river called the Thames. It has only been about twenty-five years in existence, but has a population of some thousands. It is in the centre of the most available district of the province— namely, of that peninsular-shaped tract which, running farther south than any other part of British North America, is nearly surrounded by the lakes. 13 AMERICA. In its social condition Canada has the unfortunate peculiarity that it possesses two distinct races — English in the Western, and French in the Eastern divisions. These races have never amal- gamated. The French retam their own language, also their old French laws and usages, and, for the most j^art, profess the Roman Cathohc religion. The recent attempt to harmonise local discords by a legislative union of the two provinces has not been so suc- cessful as was anticipated ; and time and mutual concessions will alone produce the much-desired result. TRANSIT. Notice has already been taken of the vast system of water-com- munication whicii pervades the provinces of North America. In some respects, however, the means of water-transit are not natu- rally so good as they might seem to be. The terraced character of the country subjects the large rivers to rapids, and even to cataracts. The Falls of Niagara, for instance, completely block up the river-communication between the great lakes. The other great rivers, the St Lawrence and the Ottawa, have many formid- able rapids. One of the great impediments to the prosperity of the provinces was the dangerous navigation of the St Lawrence. Between Montreal and the lakes it was only navigable by the finest and strongest steam-vessels ; but even with these it has ever been a formidable passage, and inferior steamers and trading vessels had to take the circuitous route by the Ottawa and the Rideau Canal. Vast works have been lately carried through for the purpose of making the direct line by the St Lawrence passable, and among these there is one ship canal, twelve miles long, for passing the rapid called the Long Sault. The opening of these works must considerably dimmish the traffic through the Rideau Canal — a long irregular work between Kingston, on Lake Ontario, and Bytown, on the Ottawa. Its chief use for some time must now be in connection with the timber trade. The country through which it passes is not by any means the most available for agri- cultural purposes, and large districts are swamped by the opera- tions for connecting the canal with the chain of lakes. It became, of course, of immense importance to connect Lake Erie and Lake Ontario by a navigable canal. On the British side of the Niagara there was the advantage of possessing a long neck of land with internal waters which might be turned to use, while on the American side there is no such advantage. The enterprising republicans have, nevertheless, projected a canal parallel to the river, and descending the bank of rock which 14 CANADA. causes the cataract by a series of locks, which, on a plan, look like the steps of a stair. In the meantime the navigation has been secured to Britain by the Welland Canal. It was at first thought that the object might be accomplished by connecting the Welland River, which enters the Niagara above the rapids, with Lake Ontario, a distance ot fifteen miles. But the geological structure was found unsuitable, and the works gave way. With true enterprising spirit, a cut was made to Lake Erie, which is the feeder, and connected directly with the Ontario. It has large stone locks, which will make it available for vessels 140 feet long. In the words of a colonial authority : * These ship-canals have been constructed in the most substantial manner; their entire length is about sixty-six miles ; and the navigation which they open from Quebec is 1600 miles, that being the distance to the port of Chicago, in the state of lUinois. Steamers adapted to the canal trade, and possessing comfortable accommodations for cabin and steerage passengers, ply from Quebec to all points on the upper lakes, so that goods and passengers may be conveyed from the ship's side at Quebec, without transhipment, to any of the ports on Lakes Ontario, Erie, Huron, or Michigan.' — {Report — Committee of Executive Council of the Canadas, 5th February/ 1850.) Before these alterationb were mado, it was usual for travellers to Western Canada, to whom a diflference in expense was little object, to proceed to New York, and thence by railway to Buffalo, near Niagara. Matters are now so far reversed, that emigrants for the great western land of the Union, and even for the more central districts approachable by railway, find it convenient to take the St Lawrence route. It is difficult to say how far this line of communication may be employed in conveying to the Atlantic the agricultural produce of the new north-western territories of. the United States. Where so much was to be gained 'by improving the means of water - communication, it might easily be supposed that other means of transit would meet with secondary attention. There are necessarily many roads giving access to the internal settlements, but a vast increase of the lines would make the country infinitely more valuable. There is a good road along the Canadian part of the south bank of the St Lawrerce, and another on the north con- tinued along the margin of the lakes. There are other consider- able roads by the banks of the Ottawa, from Toronto to Lake Simcoe, where a railway is projected, and from the upper end of Lake Ontario, branching in various directions through the peninsular district. 15 ■i£a WSSm AMERICA. PRODUCTIONS. If the proposing rolonist is considering how he can have the luxuries of the garden around him, he will find that almost all the ordinary fruits and vegetables of this country flourish abundantly in Canada ; and he will find the small farmers of the Eastern dis- trict sedulously cultivating t^iem. As a specimen of the capabili- ties of the country for producing fruit, the following passage from Sir Richarl Bonnycastle's fir t work on Canada, published in 1841, may suffice : — 'In my garden ' [at Toronto, on Lake Ontario] ' I had the following varieties of fruit, from whicli the customary gifts of Pomona, in Upper Canada, in favourable situations, miiy bo infeired : — Of apples, the golden pippin, not so good as in England, but healthier; the pomme-de-neige, a ruddy-streaked apple, with wJiitc flesh, and very sweet and pleasant, but which will not keep long, and hettco its name; the snow-apple, keeping sound only until winter snows; the bourossou, a russet and highly-flavoured keeping ajjple; the pomme-gris, or gray apple, also excellent, with many other varieties of inferior kinds— such as codlings, little red-streaksj &c. * The pears were of two kinds— one, the littlo early yellow, and the other a small hard oue, but neither good. * Of plums, there were the greengage and egg plum, the bullacc, the common blue and the common yellow plum, but none of thorn possessing the taste of those in France or England, and more fit for preserves than for the table. * Of grapes I had only the Isabella, and tliese were not productive, requiring in this climate great care and management. * Of cherries, the Kentish and the Morello; the sour Kentish is, however, the common fruit of the country', and very little pains Vs' been taken to improve the stock. 'Raspberries, red and white ; gooseberries, large and small, rough and smooth-skinned ; the red, the white, and the black currant weio in profusion, and yielded abundantly. * Of strawberries, there were several of the European varieties, but they have not the rich flavour of their originals: in fact, tho wild Canadian strawberry, though smaller, is better, and makes a richer preserve.' The settler, however, in a new country generally despises the mere luxuries of the garden, and considers the main staff of life and the exportable produce. The main indigenous production of the soil in Canada is timber. Some account of the position of the lumberer, or timber-cutter, will be found further on. There is a large pro- duce of potash from the burning of the felled trees. At the same time there is a considerable production of sugar from the tapping of the maple-trees : from six to seven million of pounds are pro- CANADA. duced annually. ' Some trees,' says Mr Johnston, in his Nott!s on North America, * yield three or four pounds — a pound being the estimated yield of each coulisse or tap-hole — and some trees being large and strong enoug)' to bear tapping in several places. Some years also are much more favourable to this crop than others, so that the estimate of a pound a tree is taken as a basis which, on the whole, may be relied on as fair for landlord and tenant. These trees are rented out to the sugar-makers at a rent of one- fifth of the produce, or one pound for every five trees.' The same gentleman states that in Upper Canada the sugar weather is more variable, and the crop less certain — probably from the vicinity of the lakes — than in Lower Canada. Besides being an article of produce which the settler may look for in the uncleared portion of his allotment, maple-sugar is a produce of the untrodden forest, where, like any other of the wild bounties of nature, it is sought by adventurers, who take with them their pots and buckets at the proper season. In the cleared and agricultural districts grain will be the staple production of the Canadas ; and the clearer of waste lands may confidently, since the repeal of the corn-laws, look to this crowded empire as an unfailing market for his produce. Indian com is, as in the northern parts of the United States, an abundant and therefore generally a satisfactory crop ; but the main agricul- tural production of the land coming into cultivation will doubtless be wheat. The upper province is the most suitable for wheat, and, according to Mr Johnston, the best samples ' are grown on a belt of some twelve miles broad, which skirts the lake from Niagara round as far as the town of Cobourg, which is about a hundred miles west of Kingston.' From Mr Johnston's book, and other authorities, however, it is clear that though wheat be the most valuable crop under an enlightened system of farming, its immediate prospects are not good, from the exhausting system pursued, and the land receiving little or no artificial aid. He mentions Prince Edward's district, where the land has in some places been wheat-cropped for fifty years, without any other aid than a ton of gypsum per year to a whole farm. Under such a system Canada is not likely to be the immediate granary it is supposed to be, and, indeed, the lower province has already become an importing district : the staple com- modity which supports the country, and enables it to purchase of its neighbours, being the lumber trade. It is known that the changes on the timber-duties are supposed to have an efiect on this article of production. It was our policy to charge a high and almost prohibitive duty on the timber of foreign countries for the sake of our provinces. Now, though there is still an inequality, both sets of duties are low. How far this may affect the question of cropping it would perhaps be premature to decide. Hitherto, B 17 .--aae^- AMERICA. however, tho nature of the Canadian land has not been to aflforcl any valuable commodity other than timber until it has been cleared and worked, and the agricultural productions fall to be con- sidered, to a considerable extent, under the subject of the bringing in of land (p. 27.) Cattle and sheep will spread as the country becomes cleared, and necessarily connect themselves with the farming rotations. Though not naturally a sheep country, yet the quantity of wool exported from the Canadas approaches two and a half millions of pounds. Buildmg-stone and clay abound in the provinces, but the pro- fuse abundance of timber is a great inducement to its employ- ment in all buildings and fences in the country. The mineral resoiu-ces of the provmces are considerable — coal and iron occur in various places ; and a joint-stock company was incorporated for working the coal even in Gaspd, the cold, distant peninsula which stretches out to the ocean between New Brunswick and the mouth of the Gulf of St Lawrence. There are iron-works at Marmora on the Trent, and in other districts. The abundance 01 wood for smelting gives all opportunity for taking advantage of the supply of this mineral ; but very little is yet known of its probable extent — it is not one of the main productions of the colony. There are rich copper ores in various parts of the colony, and indications have been found of other minerals — such as galena or blci'jklead, and gold. The indigenous animals of the colony will be noticed in connec- tion with the clearing of land. Canada is not one of the great North American fishing colonies. Yet the company embodied to work the coal in Gaspd at the same time took powers for conduct- ing fishing operations there. TOPOGRAPHICAL DIVISIONS. It will be observed, by a glance at a map, that the Eastern or French district lies in general farther north than the Western. It is thus subject to a longer and deeper winter; and as the coldness is looked upon as one of the general disadvantages of Canada as a settlement, it would require some counteracting advantages, which it does not possess, to compete with the newer districts beyond the Ottawa. It is at the same time the more mountainous part, the St Lawrence being bounded, on the north side espe- cially, by steep nigged hills, affording openings for large streams to fall into the main river or its gulf. On neither side of the gulf are there settlements to any noticeable extent, and on the northern bank, the forest-clad moimtains merge into the inhos- ■ CANADA. > pitable deserts of Labrador. From the mouth of the river up- wards to the Ottawa, the banks are more or less settled, but the inland regions are little known. The garden of Eastern Canada is the westernmost territory on the south of the St Law- rence, and west of the Chaudifere, meeting the United States at the lately -established boundary. The scenery is varied, being partly mountainous, partly richly -cultivated plain and valley. The French settlers have at all events given a rich, lifelike, old- settled appearance to their districts, from the garden-like cultiva- tion, the fences, the villages, and the churches. Indolent as they are, they give a country a more highly-cultivated air than British settlers, since, instead of covering a large space, and taking the greatest amount of produce with the least outlay of labour and capital — the most economic way of working a new country — they are content, with the simplest hand-labour, to extract the utmost from their small holdings. Their long, lean swine, and their use of the old starvation system generally for their live-stock, attract the unsparing i-idicule of our tourists, especially those who are adepts in agriculture. The west is the popular field of British settlement; but Sir Richard Bonnycastle thinks that among the best speculations for a man not ambitious of making a vast clear- ing, would be the purchase of holdings, with all their feudal incon- veniences, from the Jiabitans, at the rate at which they are gene- rally obtainable. The feudal tenure of land, which applies to a large portion of Eastern Canada, is a matter of importance to the intending emi- grant, as it doubtless is to the Canadians themselves. It is said that this system is in force over about eleven millions of acres of land — part of it of course unproductive. This system is a very remarkable relic of the old feudal law of France. It follows the ' Custom of Paris' — a collection of laws completely obsolete in the capital whose name they bear. The French land system is now as opposite to the feudal as it can be made, estates having been brought as near as possible into the position of goods and chattels. Such has been the effect of the Revolution in tlie parent country; while, under a government like ours, still partly feudal, it has been found impracticable to get the feudal habits of the colonists reason- ably modified. By this system a tract of land was granted by the crown to a seigneur, or lord of a manor, who might distribute it to tenants or vassals. These lordships or seigneuries were more or less in extent. Of old the seigneur was a feudal judge within his lands ; but this power being inconsistent with our notions of the supremacy of the crown, has been for some time obsolete. There were thus two kinds of estate — that of the seigneur or overlord, who held directly of the crown, and that of the rotourier or tenant, 19 AMERICA. holding of the seigneur. Each party paid certain fees and casual- ties, as they are called, to his superior— the crown in the one case, the seigneur in the other. Thus a quint or fifth became payable to the sovereign on a seigneur parting with his estate, and relief, equi- valent to a revenue for one year, was payable on its changing hands by the succession of a collateral relation. The feudal dues from these various estates are numerous and peculiar, and have a great influence on the character and value of the property. Thus it is remarked, on sailing along the St Lawrence and other rivers, that the farms are narrow stripes passing lengthways from the bank of the river; and the peculiarity is explained by a feudal tax being laid on the frontage, according to the old measurement, called the arpent. As the seigneurial lands pay certain casualties or penal- ties on changing hands, so do those of the vassals, according to a somewhat minute and complex arrangement. In general, too, the commerce in land is hampered by a right of pre-emption on the part of the seigneur. There are many little casualties payable in the form of farm produce — pigs, fowls, measures of grain, &c. It is worthy of remark, that the phraseology applicable to such feudal taxes is still kept up in Britain ; and especially in Scotland ; but the economising and utilitarian spirit of the country has led to their being almost invariably commuted into fixed money payments, while the habitans of Canada like to retain them in their pristine inconvenience. There were seigneurial rights connected with the cutting of timber and the produce of fisheries, while the grain required to be ground at the seigneur's mill, paying to him a certain share as his feudal tax. On the other hand, the seigneur was imder certain obligations to his vassal, or rather to the land which his vassal cultivated. These obligations referred to the making of roads, and to the vassal's privilege to obtain, on the fixed conditions, so much waste or forest land. It has been maintained by some writers of this country, that if left in its native purity the system is a good one ; that it establishes mutual rights and obligations tending to make a social system in each estate, and to concentrate population and agriculture in each seigneury; and that it is British interference alone that has exposed its defects. It may be admitted that it is a suitable arrangement for the French, since they will not part with it. An act was passed in 1825, giving facilities, as it were, for the system being worked off by the mutual agreement of partiee. Much fault has, however, been found with this measure, since it is stated that the hahiiam in general would not take advantage of its arrangements to alter their system of tenure, and that it only practically relaxed the counter- obligations on the seigneurs. 20 I, CANADA. I. Near Quebec the land which has been occupied by these French settlers sells high. Mr Johnston mentions a farmer in that neighbourhood who paid £75 currency per acre. But there is uncleared land at no great distance as cheap as in other dis- tricts. ' Formed,' says Mr Johnston in his Notes on Nwth America, ' from softish, somewhat calcareous slates, which in many places are near the surface, and crumble readily, the soil is inclined to be heavy, and rests often on an impervious bottom. Drainage, therefore, generally, and the use of lime in many places, are indicated as means of improvement. The latter, if I may judge by the frequent limekilns I passed on my way to Mont- morency, is tried to some extent by the farmers around Quebec' Near the Ivamouraska Bays there is said to be much rich flat land easily procurable, but sharing in the unpopularity which with British settlers infects the eastern province generally. Mr John- ston, as usual, urges draining and improvmg. ' Though marshy,' he says, *I was informed that this flat is exceedingly healthy — as most places in Lower Canada and New Brunswick are said to be — even where in Great Britain fever and ague would inevitably prevail. But nevertheless, for agricultm-al reasons, it is a fit locality for the introduction of a general thorough drainage. The narrow nine-foot ridges so common in Canada, the open furrows between them, and the large main drains or ditches around the fields, are all insufficient to remove the water which falls and accumulates in the land. To keep the two sets of open ditches in order must here, as elsewhere, annually cost much more than the interest of the sums which the construction of covered drains would require.' Mr Johnston has expressed a high opinion of the capabilities of the land near Montreal. The farm-land near the river he states to produce per acre from twenty to thirty-five bushels of wheat, and from forty to sixty of oats — moderate amounts in this country, but considerably above the ordinary capacity of emigration fields. He values the land when it is good, well in heart, and with sufficient buildings on it, at £16 sterling per aci-e. He particularises in this garden of Canada the farm of Mr Penner, on which there are from forty to fifty acres in hops, which thrive, producing from 800 to 1000 pounds weight per acre. 'Here,' says Mr Johnston, ' as in our own hop-grounds, and 'vc\. those of Flanders, they require high manuring ; and thus, as' a general article of culture, they are beyond the skill of the manure- neglecting French Canadians, and the equally careless British and Irish emigrant settlers. This rich hop-ground is worth £40 an acre.' Mr Johnston found in this neighbourhood some farmers 21 r.e 4.1, /» AMERICA. old Scotch school, and he quotes theif precept thus : ' Lay the land dry, then clean and manure— make straight furrows — clean out your ditches— take off the stones, and plough deepiah: ' With these good mechanical principles,' he says, ' industriously carried out, they have greatly surpassed the French Canadian farmers ; and with the possession of good Ayrshire stock, and the growth of a few turnips, and of mangold -wurzel, which does well even ■with the early winters of Lower Canada, they have raised good crops, extended the arable land of their farms, and kept up its condition.' Finding the land, which near the river especially is rich, loamy, and easily worked, drained by open ditches and cross furrows, he recommends tile - draining. This opens the great question — how far it is more economical in such a country to lay out additional labour and capital on the land in use, or to apply the labour and capital to virgin soil ? It is impossible to make an absolute rule. Each tract of country must be considered by itself, and by the views and objects of its settlers. If the agricultu- rist will draw more produce for his capital and labour in new fields than by working up his old, it will not be easy to get him to abandon the more profitable course, and take to the less pro- fitable. At the same time it is beyond doubt that he may, by exhausting a large tract of country with scourging crops, find that he has outwitted himself by making haste to be rich. His judgment and knowledge must decide the matter on a view of all circumstances. Of tile-draining, as applicable to these lands, Mr Jolmston says : * Although here, as in the state of New York, the cost may appear large when compared with the total value of the land, and the increase of price which, after tile-draining, would be obtained for it in the market, yet, if from the cost be deducted the annual outlay which must be incurred to keep the ditches and cross furrows open, the actual expense of the permanent tile- drainage will rapidly disappear. When a man settles on such land, therefore, as requires the maintaining of open ditches — with the view of retaining it say only ten or twelve years — he will, in most cases, find his pecuniary profit greater at the end of the term, although the price he then sells his land for should really be no greater. Intimately connected with this is the question : whether capitalists farming, by a large expenditure on hired labour, or what may be called domestic farming — the settler and his family doing the whole, or nearly the whole — will be most produc- tive ? Mr Johnston seems to point at a medium. He says : ' It is conceded that a man with 100 acres in cultivation, doing one- half the work by the hands of his own family, and employing hired labour to do the rest, may make both ends meet ; but if a ix larm is to oe worked by the addufy hoiu« foi'Cd) with a Ituger 29 CANADA. i number of hired labourers, it is a question whether it can be done in average years so as to pay. The doubt arises not merely from the high price, but from the alleged, and I believe real, inferior quality of the agricultural labour, chiefly Irish, which a farmer is able to procure.' One of the reasons why the Eastern Province is unpopular as an emigration field may be, that the settler passing through it sees it have the appearance of being thickly settled. The habitans are very neighbourly, and, at a sacrifice to the convenience of their farm operations, live near the high road, which is thus lined with houses running in long strings, separated from each other by a field or two. It is the way in France, except that there the peasantry live in clumps called villages — in Canada they live in streaks along the road. Thus the Scottish and even the English emigrant thinks the district is not for him, as it seems more thickly peopled than even the country he has left. But in reality only a triflmg portion of Lower Canada is brought into cultivation. At the back of the farms which line the highway, the primeval forest often comes close down. Taking together the counties of "Rellechasse, L' Islet, Kamouraska, and Eimouski, of 11,593 square miles, but 4094 have been surveyed, so that nearer two- thirds than a half of the land has not gone through the first step for settlement— in fact, is not known except perhaps to .\q lumberer, and not explored. Even of what is surveyed, it is m> a portion that is even granted; and Mr Johnston, a good .1 xority, states, that of land granted, above two-thirds is still uncleared. Leaving Easter Canada, and taking the districts of the wPistem province, the chief emigration field, successively, it will be seen that the angle of junction of the Ottawa with the St Lawrence is occupied by the Eastern district, and that of the Ottawa, Dal- housie, Bathurst, and Johnstown. The general character of the land bordering on the Ottawa does not make it the most suitable for the farming settler, as it is considered cold and wet, and the timber trade is the chief occupation of the inhabitants. There is in Ottawa, at Hawkesbury, a timber-sawing establishment, giv- ing employment to above 200 hands. Costly works have been carried on, by slides and dams, to facilitate the transit through the Ottawa River; but it is still tedious and imperfect. The Eastern District is one of the old settled countries, having a popu- lation exceeding 30,000, and has but a comparatively small quan- t^.,y of crown-land for disposal. The same may be said as to the good and available land of Johnstown district, which contains a population exceeding 40,000. The Rideau Canal runs through «W llVitXi-TTC3L J^VJLtlUU^ WUt UIUUXX Vi liiU JLCLilU. niilviX TTVLtit.1. VLOAT-i- 28 AMERICA. wise be valuable from its vicinity to the canal or the lakes, Is said to be cold and stony. Dalliousie and Bathurst — the latter espe- cially — arc reported to contain large tracts of forest land. The district town of Perth, in Bathurst, was founded in the year 181G, with the river Tay connecting it, by means of expensive works, with the llideau Canal. In Dalhousie, near the Chaudiore Falls of the Ottawa, is the still more important and flourishing town of Bytown, with a great lunibcr trade, and about 7000 inhabitants. The land on which the lower town is built was bought a few years ago for £80, and was lately computed as worth many thousand pounds. The Midland District, which is the next towards the west, contains the important town of Kingston. Much of the known land in this district is said to be inferior ; but along with the next district, Victoria, it runs into distant northern tracts, far from water-carriage, where, if the land has been surveyed at all, it has been so very recently. A considerable stretch of the surveyed land, of good quality, may, it is believed, be obtained in Victoria at the usual government price. Marble and excellent building stone occur in these districts ; and in Victoria there is iron and lithographic stone. The Newcastle District has a large frontage to Lake Ontario ; while its eastern dividing-line is washed by Rice Luke and the Trent. It is of varied character, part of it having been settled for a considerable time, and producmg heavy grain crops. Part of the land is of the rolling prairie character, and a portion consists of ' oak plains.' The latter were believed to be comparatively worthless and unproducti\'e ; but under a skil- ful system of clearing and culture, they have been found rich and productive, and have brought a high price even when uncleared. Behind this is the Colborne District, stretching into the unsur- veyed country, but having by a series of lakes a ready communi- cation with the Trent and Lake Ontario. It is a great lumber district, and at the same time has a large supply of waste crown- lands for disposal. Immediately westward is the vast district of Simcoe, touching Georgian Bay on Lake Huron. Its population at the census of 1842 was but 12,592, but it must since then have greatly increased. Great tracts of government laud stand for sale ; the quality is believed to be very productive, but the want of roads and other means of communication is a great drag on the progress of improvement. Along with the next district, Welling- ton, it will be the means of communication, through Lake Huron, with the great north-western provinces. Wellington, enjoying the advantage of being watered by the Grand Rivei*, contains some valuable old settlements, and is traversed by good roads. It is partly a rolling country, but contains at least a sufficiency of timber— hardwood, beech, oak, eira, and pine. Guelph, the CANADA. district town, is described as flourishing, healthy, and placed in the middle of a richly-cultivated cojintry. The population of the district is not large, but several of the settlers arc understood to bo wealthy. Whether for the purchase of waste land, of which there must still be a considerable quantity, or of improved clearings, this would appear to be one of the most promising dis- tricts. To the west and south, and approaching nearer to the Niagara centre, are the districts of Huron, Brock, and Gore. If there be any crown-lands still for sale in these districts, they will be in Huron, where the Canada Company have also large stretches at their disposal. The neighbouring districts of Talbot and Niagara are comparatively old settlements, with no government land for disposal. The remaining districts between the Huron and Erie are the London and Western. The former contains some of the most flourishing of the modern settlements. The latter has many advantages in valuable land, and means of communi- cation by water, and will be one of the most available districts for new settlers. PURCHASE AND IMPROVEMENT OF LAND. The parliament of Canada, almost immediately after the union in 1841, made arrangements for the disposal of public lands. It prohibited free grants, valuing those which had been issued but not made available, at 4s. currency per acre. The right to these old grants is represented by scrip-certificates; and it would appear that they may be sold, as they are referred to as land-scrip in the note of the terms for disposal of land quoted below. The act provided that the price of the public lands should be from time to time fixed by the governor in council, who was empowered to make arrange- ments for granting lands as compensation for the making of roads. In paying the price of the land to the district agent, it was pro- vided that the purchaser shall receive letters -patent as his title without farther fee. There is thus no arbitrary price fixed by the home government for the disposal of the waste lands, as in the case of the Australian colonies. The price will vary from time to time, according to circumstances. It does not appear, however, that any alteration has been made since the year 1841 ; and the terms then adopted are set forth as follows, with instructions for the guidance of purchasers, by the Emigration Commissioners in their circular for 1851 : — * By a provincia act of 1841, crown-lands are to be sold at a price to be from time to time fixed by the governor in council. The prices fixed for the present are as follow/: — 25 AMERICA. In Canada East (Lower Canada), for lands Bituated south of River 8t Lawreuco, down to Uiver Chaudidre and Kunnobec Uoad, and includ- ing the township of Nowton, county of Vaudreuil, - 48. por ucro. County of Ottawa — Lands in townships previously advertised, - - 48. Lands in townships to bo hereafter advertised, - 38. East of River Chaudiftro and Kennebec Road, and in- cluding the counties of Uonavonture and Oapp6, - 2s. North of River St Lawrence, from westerly limit of county of Two Mountains, down to easterly limit of county of Saguenay, 2s. ... * One-fourth of the purchase-money will bo payable in fivo years from the date of purchase. The remaining three-fourths in three equal instalments, at intervals of two years between each, all with interest. * No person will bo allowed to purchase on thoso terms more than ~ '* acres. The purchaser must clear, on taking po8scssion,one-half the width of the road on the whole front of his land ; and within four years from the date of purchase, one - tenth part of the lot, and must reside thereon. •No patent will bo issued to the purchaser until it is satisfactorily proved that the above-mentioned settlement duties have been duly performed, nor until the whole of the purchase-money and interest is paid up. In the meantime no timber must be cut without a licence, except for clearing the land, or for farm purposes. < Applications to purchase land are to be made to the respective local agents in the colony. *For Canada West (Upper Canada), 8s. currency (about Gs. 7d. sterling) per acre. * These prices do not apply to lands resumed by government for non-performance of the conditions of settlement on which they were granted, under a former system, now abolished, nor to lands called Indian Reserves, and Clergy Reserves ; which three classes are, as well as town and village lots, subject to special valuation. 'The size of the lots of country lands is usually 200 acres; but they are sold as frequently by half as whole lots. ' The following are the conditions of sale at present in force, as regards land in Canada West : — ' 1. The lots are to be taken at the contents in acres marked in the public documents, without guarantee as to the actual quantity contained in them. '2. No payment of purchase- money will be received by instal- ments ; but the whole purchase-money, either in money or land-scrip, must be paid at the time of sale. * 3. On the payment of the purchase-money, the purchaser will receive a receipt, which will entitle him to enter on the land which he has purchased, and arrangements will be made for issuing to him * The receipt thus given not only authorises the pturchaser to take 26 ^' li CANADA. ! 1 .1 immediato poKSosflion, but onahlos liim, undor the provisionR of the Land Act, to maintain legal proceodinjjH against any wrongful poa- sessor or trcBpassor, as eft'uctually aa if the patent deed had iaauod ou tho day tho receipt is dated. * Government land-agents are appointed in tho several municipal districts, with full power to sell to tho first applicant any of tho advertised lands which tho return, open to public inspection, may show to bo vacant within their districts.' One of tlio means of acquiring waste land in Canada is by buying from tho Canada Land Company or the North American Land Company. The former body, which lias conducted largo operations, was established by charter in 1826. The company purchased about two and a half millions of acres of land from the government (2,484,413), all in Upper Canada, a million being on the borders of Lake Huron, for the sum of £348,680. The chairman of the company, on examination before the House of Commons' Committee of 1841 on Highland Destitution, wher desired to state the object of tho company, explained simply that it was ' the resale of that land, and the outlay of capital to improve it, so as to obtain a profit on the sale of the land.' The company sells its land according to what it deems tho market value; and the chairman stated the range of its prices to bo so wide as between 5s. and 358. an acre. Their lands are partly in scattered lots of about 200 acres each, and in blocks. The largest of these is the Huron block of 1,000,000 acres, now containing a population of 26,000. The other blocks are from 3000 to 4000 acres in the Western District. In their latest documents the company advertise their lands at the following prices, stated in currency. They state them with reference to the new division into counties, but it is more convenient here to take them by the old topographical division, which is laid down in the ordinary maps. The amounts are stated in currency (see above, p. 4) per acre : Huron Tract, from 12s. 6d. to 208. ; Western District, from 8s. 9d. to 20s. ; London, Brock, and Talbot Dis'- tricts, from 20s. to 30s. ; Gore District, from lis. 3d. to 20s. ; Wellington, from 158. to 25s.; Home and Simcoe Districts, 8s. 9d., and upwards; Newcastle, Colbome, Midland, and Victoria Districts, from 88. 9d. to 158. ; Johnstown District, from 28. to 15s. ; Bathurst, Eastern, Ottawa, and Dalhousie Districts, from 2s. to 12s. 6d. The company disposes of land by lease for nine years, at a per- centage on its value. When the price is 28. an acre, 100 acres may be thus hired at 10s. ; when the price is 3s. 6d. an acre, the rent x>f 100 acres is 12s. ; when it is 58. an acre, 188. ; and so on in an ascending scale. When the price of the land ia i7s. 6d. an acre, the rent of 100 acres is £4, 28. 6d. 27 AMERICA. The Canada Company obtained returns in 1840 regarding the progress of the settlers, stating wliat they were understood to be worth when they entered on their holdings, and what they had since acquired. The object wac said to be to test the capacity of the settlers to pay the instalments that would be required of them, and the returns were laid before parliament in the Report of the Committee on Highland Destitution in 1841. They go over the period from the commencement of the company's operations to 1840, about 22 years. One table refen-ed to 724 settlers in 38 town- ships. Of these, 337 had originally no property, and were com- puted to be worth £116,228, 9s. 6d., or, on an average, £334, 17s. 9d. a head. Another class, consisting of 89 settlers — the term ' settler' applies either to a solitary individual or the head of a settling family — originally possessing each less than £20, had collectively £38,213, 10s. 6d.— an average per head of £429, 7s. 3d. A third class, consisting of 298 persons, when they arrived had on an average each £111, 19s. lOd., and were collectively in possession of £169,304, Is. 9d.— being an average of £568, 2s. 8d. per head. The company have lately issued a no less instructive statement — that between the beginning of 1844 and 31st December 1850, they have been the channel of remitting from emigrant settlers £77,661 to their friends in Britain, chiefly for the purpose of enabling them to emigrate. Besides the Canada and British American Company, another body, called The North American Colonial Association of Ire- land, was formed a few years ago for the acquisition and disposal of lands. It directed its attention chiefly to the eastern province. This body purchased the large seigneurial estate of Beauharnois, containing about eight square leagues. In a dispatch from Lord Sydenham to the Colonial Secretary in 1841, he says : ' I under- stand that their efforts will be directed to the improvement of this property by the direct expenditure of capital there, or by advances to the local authorities for the construction of roads and commu- nications, and to affording assistance to the provisional govern- ment in providing means by which some of the great improve- ments in contemplation may be effected. Likewise, that it is not their intention to speculate in wild lands.' According to the geneiai accounts given by Mr Smith in his ' Canadian Gazetteer,' a work which the emigrant will find sig- nally useful, improved lands may be had in the Victoria District at from £4 to £7 an acre ; in Newcastle District, from £2, lOs. to £5— some farms being as high as £10; in the Colbome District the prices will vary from £2 to £6, according to distance from the towns, while wild land may be had as low as from 4s. to 5s. in the less approachable parts; in the Gore District, cleared land will 28 fi^ CANADA. range as high as from £5 to £10 ; in the Wellington District, the amount will be from £3 to £8 ; in Niagara, from £2 to £8 ; while in the Brock District the range will rise from £4 to £10; in London, from £4 to £8. The quantity of land surveyed in Western Canada is estimated at 18,153,219 acres. Of this quantity, it is calculated that a mil- lion and a lialf remain on hand. About ten and a half millions have been miscellaneously disposed of. The clergy reserves form 2,407,687; the reserves for educational purposes exceed half a million ; the Indian re'jerves are 808,540 ; and the Canada Com- pany hold, as we have seen, about two millions and a half. The unsurveyed lands are estimated at thirteen millions and a half. The late movements relative to the clergy reserves will of course tend to bring a new breadth of available land into the market. CHOICE OF AN ALLOTMENT, AND SUBSEQUENT PROCEEDINGS. Tlie first steps to be taken by the intending purchaser of land on his arrival are of the simplest kind. He calls on the govern- ment agent and makes his inquiries as to the allotments surveyed and for sale, or seeks general information. This Avill be a proper step, whether he intend to clear for himself or buy a farm. According as his intentions may turn lo the Western or Eastern province, to the bush or cleared land, he will make inquiry of the agents of the three land companies mentioned above. The advice generally given by old colonists to those following in their footsteps, is not to be in a hurry to buy land ; but to lie by, gain experience, and see how matters stand. It is almost needless to remark, that if it be possible, the settler should see the land he proposes to purchase, and examine it deliberately with a view to its eligibility. Any man will know how a lot stands as to means of communication, but it requires a practised eye to understand the pi'oductiveness of the soil ; and if it be possible, the uninitiated emigrant will obtain the assistance of a well-informed friend. Should he trust to his own resources — if his land contains beaver meadow, or dry alluvium from water subsidence, he may conclude that it is valuable. In general, however, he will have to judge of the capability of the soil by the character, size, and healthiness of the timber. A settler on the Huron Tract, in a pamphlet called * The Life of a Backwoodsman,' says : ' The forest consists of a variety of trees— such as maple, beech, elm, basswood, ironwood, cherry, hickory, white ash, and butter- 29 AMERICA. nut, which grow on dry land ; and when seen to be tall, and branch- ing only near the top, denote the quality of the land to be good. If low in size, and scraggy, the soil is clayey and cold, and inclined to be wettish ; and in this situation will be found the birch. It is a tree which grows healthy and strong (often found from two to three feet in diameter) in land inclined to be wet at the spot where it grows. It is sometimes a mark to discover a spring of water. The birch wiL almost always be found near a spring. Tlie trees which grow on wet and swampy lands are the oak, pine, hemlock, tamarack, black ash, and cedar ; but the pine and hemlock are found also on dry soil. Consider thousands and tens of thousands of acres covered with trees of the above kinds. Maple, beech, elm, and basswood, are the kinds which grow most numerous, and on good land are sure to be found growing tall, and from one foot to three and four in diame- ter. There will be found in dry sandy plains and hills the oak and pine. When the oak grows on soil not sandy, it is apt to be clayey ground In order to direct an emigrant to choose a lot of land, the following marks may bo noted : — First, get, if possible, a lot with a small running stream (called a creek) on it, or a spring of water. Every lot has not a creek or spring on it ; but water can bo got by digging ; and the well, when dug, ought to be lined or walled up with stones. I have known wells built up square with logs ; but this may be done above where the water rises to ; from the surface? of the water and under, stone should be used. Second, observe that tall and strong timber, free of rotten branches or an unhealthy look, grows on good land — I mean elm, maple, beech, basswood, and cherry, and the other timber previously mentioned as growing on dry land. Throughout the bush, on both good and bad land, will be found the lifeless trunk standing ready to fall, " where it must lie." A lot of land should not be rejected if a corner of it, even fifteen acres, is covered with black ash, pine, or cedar. For fencing the cleared fields, black ash and cedar are invaluable. For boards (lumber, as commonly termed) and shingles tho pine is more valu- able. Where the land is undulating — that is, rising and falling — it is likely to be good. Where the butternut and cherry are, the land is rich ; but maple and basswood, with tho elm, denote the same : if much beech, tho land is lighter, but a warmer soil. The more "knolly" the land is (the knolls or small hills being caused by the **turn up" of the trees in falling) the better the soil. Where these are not much seen, the soil is apt to be clayey. The emigrant, how- ever, will find a superior surface mould at which to try his hand and his plough.' Whoever glances at a map of Canada will see that, unlike many emigration fields, the uncleared forest is not far distant from the settled, cleared, and inhabited districts. The St Lawrence and the lakes may be considered as a street passing through the strip of country. Near the edge of the water are the settled districts — the forest is behind : not that the settler is limited in his choice 80 ■TUMlilflmflrH 111' I w CANADA. to the immediate neighbourhood. He may proceed up bv the Rideau. and settle by its side, or on the banks of theoLZ ol lie may pass from Toronto to Lake Simcoe or Georgian Bay or beyond the London Settlement to the Huron Trac?.^ He ifiot however, driven to unapproachable places ; and need not, like the Australian squatter, go hundreds of miles' away from ne ghbours Still, while he has communication by roads, or the greaf naS highways with the centres of colonic civilisation, theX hmint almost the more lonely of the two. He has mo^e accessTo th! means of procuring the necessaries or luxuries of 11^^ not of having society; for in the midst of the lonely forest i is of HttL more consequence to him that there are fellow-mortals a few m les dis ant, with the pathless wilderness of trees between, thanTfThev were so many hundreds of miles off. At the same time the cheerfulness of a wide prospect around, and the presence oT herds s^s^aT^Ltr^^^^^^ From these and some other considerations, the proposuiff settler who takes out a moderate sum to Canada should wdgTwel the question whether he shall buy a clearing in a pleasant neighbour! hood, or proceed and clear in the bush. He must consider Whether he can stand the extremes of heat and cold, damp and exprure of 1.^"; \'"^ ^^'^'■' '^"''^''^ ^^^''''- He must alsoCsfder whether he can resist, in such circumstances of loneliness and tS V •?*• *T '' ;"^TP«r--««- The distance of the squTt ting districts m Australia from towns and distiUeries renders t extremely difficult to procure ardent spirits there. But itTother wise .n the backwoods of Canada, where drunkenness L the loneT; settler's curse and rum. Many a man who, in the cheerfuhiess and with the restraints of social life, never felt himself iSe to such a fate, has become a victim in the bush. In creeks and inlets of the lakes, and by the sides of the rivers and brooks, alluvial patches are to be found whLh havp f W temptation from the absence of wood. Th beaver^damrsom times too, taken advantage of in the manner whTchwHl be ml: tioned m connection with New Brunswick. Where the alluvium IS natural, it will be for the settler to consider the chanc s of Z^ and the facilities for effective rfrainage-as in a timbered couS there IS sddom much free alluvial soil that is not essenS marshy. Nor must the settler calculate on bemg free of such sanitary risks, even where he has to clear the for! st ; and if he he wiJ tZu ^r' Z '"'^ '^' consequences in his own person! he wiU do weU to have the prospect of his clearing being rendered dry and salubrious before he subjects his less hardy fa^Uy if he have one, to these risks. ^ lamuy, u ne 81 i AMERICA. Again, before he fix on clearing for himself, the settler must con- sider his capacity and prowess. He may be clever, muscular, and a good worker, but it does not follow that he is accomplished in felling and logging timber, and grubbing roots. We are not ad- dressing ourselves to the capitalist who wishes to open a large district by employing lumberers, and who of course doec nothing but calculate outlay and returns, and overlook the operations! The man, however, who goes to the woods with a small patrimony, which he desires to improve, must, with his own hand, lay the axe to the root of the tree. It will be almost good economy for the speedy return, in the first crop of grain, to employ an assistant ; but it will be bad economy for the settler not to be able to give his own labour. He should try practically what the task of clearing is ; and if he is not fit for it, invest his capital, however small, m a patch made fit for the plough. To him who is resolved on the bush, Sir Richard Bonnycastle, a gentleman of long Cana- dian experience, says : ' First lay your land in as fine a part of the province as possible, then build your log-hut, and a good barn and stable, with pig and sheep-pens. Then commence witli a hired hand, whom you must not expect to treat you en seigneur, and who will either go shares with you in the crops, or require £30 currency a year, with his board and lodging. Begin hewing and hacking till you have cleared two or three acres for wheat, oats, and grass, with a plot for potatoes and Indian com. * When you have cut down the giant trees, then comes the log- ging. Reader, did you ever log? It is precious work ! Fancy yourself in a smockfrock, the best of aU working- dresses. Having cut the huge trees into lengths of a few feet, rolling these lengths up mto a pile, and ranging the branches and brushwood for conve- nient combustion ; then waiting for a favourable wind, setting fire to all your heaps, and burying yourself in grime and smoke ; then rolling up these half-consumed enormous logs, till, after painful toil, you get them to burn to potash. . . . , Cutting down the forest is hard labour enough, until practice makes you perfect; chopping is hard work also ; but logging— nobody likes logging.' —{Canada and the Canadiam in 1846, p. 73.) It brings the clearer, however, his first increase. The potash -lea from the burning is a regular export from the forest districts, and he can exchange it for commodities down the country. He can thus supply himself with flour until he has it from his o^vn grain and with barrels of pork. The whisky of Canada, if he has been accustomed to taste temperately at good tables old malt spirits at home, wiU taste at first detestably ; but unfortunately too many in his position become speedily reconciled to it : he will do well to give all play to his first disgust. Maple-sugar, which is compared CANADA. to candied horehound, he can procure by tapping. For more luxurious appliances in this early stage, Sir Richard Bonnycastlo says : ' If you- have a gun, whicli you must have in the bush, and a dog, which you may have just to keep you company and to talk to, you may now and then kill a Canada pheasant, yclept partridge, or a wild-duck, or mayliap a deer ; but do not think of bringing a hound or hounds ; for you can kill a deer just as well without them, and I never remember to have heard of a young settler with hounds coming to much good.' The Emigration Com- missioners, in their circular for 1851, estimate the cost of clearmg waste lands at £3 per acre. The shanty or log-hut has cost little more than the price of the shingle for its roofing— some 6s. or 7s. —and has been built by the clearer himself with the aid of his hired assistant or his neighbours. When the ground is cleared, the stumps stick up like so many butchers' blocks. Uninstructed settlers naturally think of blasting nnd burning them, but the former is ineffective, and the latter only tends to preserve them from decay by charring. It is^said that hardwood stumps decay in five or six years, but that thirty elapse ere the pine is mingled with the earth. A machine has been invented, to wliich steam-power may be applied, for the extraction of stumps, like gigantic teeth ; and there is no doubt that the adaptation of machinery to all clearing purposes will in time Revolutionise the system of forest clearings. • Meanwhile the fresh hand, ploughing as he best can among stumps and stones, ha§ soon the satisfaction of seeing the first sproutings of Indian corn or buckwheat on his own land, and of grubbing out a few potatoes. He gets his grain gi-ound for a pro- portion of the meal, and he can now keep .live-stock— fowls, a pig, then a few sheep and cattle, while a garden begins gradually to smile round the rough log-hut, which has been perhaps raised by the settler's own hands, with the assistance of his neighbours. Ere some years are past, if lie be sober, steady, and mdustrious, he IS owner of a hundred or two acres, a great proportion of them productive, and thinks of fences and a larger house. In the purchase of cleared and long-tilled land, the emigrant, if he be not a practical agriculturist, is as apt to be deceived, perhaps, as m that of waste land; and even if he be a practical man, he must be prepared for certain defects peculiar to the district, and characteristic. From what he hears of American agriculture, the purchaser will be warned not to invest in exhausted, worthless land. But there are some peculiar defects which the slovenly husbandry of the country has introduced— as, for instance, the spreading over the soil of a pestilent weed called the stone-weed, pigeon-weed, wheat-thief, red-root, and by various other names. C 33 A MERICA. \\ It 'is said not to be indigenous, but to have been brought from Europe. If it once gets root, it ;-'<'-» i., sp'*°«>'l8, and flourishe* with each crop of wheat, lying . itibie during the spring ploughing, and becoming more ana ^ luxuriant the more pains are taken in the culture of the gram. Mr Johnston says : ' The peculiarity of this weed consists in the hard covering with which its seed or nut is covered; in the thi e at which it comes up and ripens its seed; and in the superficial way in which its roots spread.' The hardness of its covering is such, that * neither the gizzard of a fowl nor the stomach of an ox can destroy it,' and that it will lie for year", in the ground without perishuig, till the opportunity of germinating occurs. * It grows up very little in spring, but it shoots up and ripens in autumn, and its roots spread through the surface soil only, and exhaust the food by which the young wheat ought to be nourished.' This weed is a punishment not only to the careless farmer but to his more industrious neiglibour, if not to the farmer in our own country, since where it greatly abounds, its seed is used in the adultisration of Itntseed cake. SUITABLENESS FOR EMIGRATION. There is no doubt that the natural resources of Canada for the employment of labour are very large ; for all practical pur- poses, lunitless : the great difiiculty is in their effective develop- ment. The immigration in 1841 amounted to 28,086. In thfe en- suing year, which was one of great home depression, it had much increased, amounting to 44,374. It was observed that the excess consisted in a great measure of that hopeful species of migration when people are induced to go out at the instance of, and with assistance from, their relations ; and the chief emigration agent reported that * there is reason to believe that few of the indus- triously-disposed remained at the close of the year without employment.' The numbers in the two ensuing years were 21,727 and 20,142 respectively. In 1845 the number was 25,375 ; and it is stated in the emigration agents' reports, that several of them were possessed of moderate capital, and proceeded at once to purchase partially-improved propei-ties, or enter into trade. Some were small farmers, with sufficient means to establish them- selves advantageously on wild lands ; ' but the great bulk were agi-icultural labourers, many of whom had nothing even for their immediate support.' Yet, along with the immigrants of the ensuing year, 1846, they seem to have all found some satisfactory outlet, many of them proceeding to the United States. The year 1847 was totally exceptional. The number of exiles S4 , i CANADA. who reached Quebec in that year was 89,440. The reports both year, afford a miserable picture of the state in which the S tin Vvrf?'*^ ^u^'K ^* ^"^ ^*^« *^ be mentioned in connec tion with the other British American colonies, as weiras L ks Sd not tl *'h "If ^' ^'''''- ^^"^--" -d ^^- "ere excited not only by the appearance and for the fate of thl miserable objects discharged from the emigrant veiels but for their effect on the health and the supply of food at thi «t-« where they landed, or which they pasfeVin the r rou e Many died on board the vessels; others, helplessly and hopelessly sLk had to be removed to lazar-houses. A large number of these people had been removed with the distinct intentfon that a burden should be removed from the Irish parish or estate and that It might faU where it alighted. Men in ZveuloU ^^^ permanent imbeciles, widows with swams o? chuSen-all wfr^ Bhorf if *'^'-?r' T^ ^'^^^^ '' ^' ^'^^ 0- the Canadi^ shore. It was w,th reference to the burdens thus laid on th^ rn«?^off^® ''^°^''. ? f °'' i'"* ^PP'^'^ t^^* ^e have any right to cast off our social degradation on another shore. StraS wS not receive it : our own colonies ought not to be suS to k Ihe object of a great art of the%migration of that year wai LeS'^andT"./"'"'"^ '^°™ ^^"^^^^« ^^^ rateJayL^'i^ I^tstheAtlin^in Trn'^'l.'PT'^" '' P^^«°°« ^known" across the Atlantic. The Canadians found, in 1847, that in manv instances widows with helpless infant families, we e ent over to them by Irish landlords and relief commit ees. 'They Ire generaLy,' says the report of the emigrant agent for Upper Canada, 'dirty in then, habits, and mireasonable^in theL expec! or Zir? :Tr:' J^^^^P?^- *<> P«««ess but little ambTon wh,VW^ ^P^ themselves to the new state of things with which they are surrounded. The few who possess any money mvariably secrete it, and wiU submit to any amount of s^uffenW iiatmg and pertinacious supplications to obtain a loaf of bread wTtha s'hlr'w^' '' *'^ ^"^^^°* agents, rather than part with a shilling.'-(P«p^, relative to Emigratim. 1847. P. In The United States' authorities required the raUway companies l^nghsh, Scotch, and German emigrants pass, but to stop the Irish- function''^'"''' '' ^'''^'*'" "^"^ ^P"^°"^^ ^'' disregarding the It la ni-fiffxr />loo»i ♦!%«* i.i~^ , « ., • .. ^.^..j . ,,.„ „,„^ ,,,^ ueuurrences oi iLis year must have S5 I *; } I '1 AMERICA. a still disheartening effect on Canadian emigration. The dis- tressing invasion deters the colonists from offering encouragement to people of the labouring class to pass over — the miseries of •which they hear prevent the same class from seeking to try their fortune across the Atlantic. Yet it appears that even in that overflowing year those who were of use were absorbed ; and by this time it may fairly be predicted that all the disorganisation occasioned has been righted. The emigration agent stated it as his opinion, within a few months after they had landed, that two-thirds of them had settled and were employed in various parts of Canada. In the meantime the influence of better regulations is shewn by decrease of mortality. The number who died in 1850 was 213 — not near 1 per cent.; the previous year it was nearer 3 per cent. Of the 213 deaths in 1850 the greater part were children — only 58 were adults. In 1849 the Canadian legislature passed an act, foUowmg on the example set by the U;.iited States, placing, for the protec- tion of the province, restraints on immigration. In its preamble it professed to make such provision ' as will tend lo prevent the introduction into this province of a pauper emigration labouring under disease, and at tlu^ same time to encourage the introduction of a more healthy and useful class of emigrants.' By this act a tax is laid on the master of every emigrant vessel arriving at Quebec or Montreal, amounting to 7s. 6d. currency for every adult, and 5s. for every one between five and fifteen years old, on government emigrants, and 10s. for every other passenger. There is a provision for debiting the tax against the home govern- ment in the case of government emigrants. For any passengers who have joined the vessel after clearing, and are consequently not on the certified list, there is a considerable addition to the tax in the shape of penalty. Lists of the passengers must be given in and certified ; and they must specially indicate all who are lunatic, idiots, deaf and dumb, blind or infirm, stating whether they are accompanied by relatives likely to support them. For every such person who, on inquiry, is officially declared to be unlikely to be so supported, the master of the vessel must find security to the extent of £75 currency, to relieve the province and its charitable institutions from beuig burdened with the maintenance and support of such an immigrant for tlu-ee years. It has been stated in the latest official docu- ments from Canada, that this act has not been found very effective in saving the country from the class of immigrants whom it is not desirable to receive. From the reports of Mr Buclianan, the emigration superin- tendent, it annears thp* ihp »ni»*»V«"~ "^ i ^ '-- ■«- - i ■ rf l UllU l :s" CANADA. S^no^''"^J" 1848 was 27,939; in 1849, 38,494; and in 1850, dJ,^9J; of whom 13,723 went to tho States, from which djb passed that year to Canada. The 38,494 who arrived in J849 are reported to have disposed of themselves as follows, the numbers being in each case approximations by the superin- tendent;— In Quebec and its neighbourhood, 400; Eastern townships, 100; Alontreal, and the district south of tho St Lawrence, 2500— making about 3000 in East Canada. The number who had been ascertained to have gono to the United States by St John was 5305; distributed through the West Canada Districts were 2G,687. The largest portion wont to the loronto. Home, and Simcoe Districts -namely, 11,520. In the Ilamihon Wellington, Gore, Brock, and London Districts, it is calculated that 6330 were distributed. Of those who passed to the west, 5172 are set down as having crossed to the United States; while it appears that 1700 had gone from or through the States to Western Canada. « In the early part of the season ' says the superintendent, 'I had occasion to notice the arrival of a number of families possessed of capital and intelligence, who promised to prove valuable additions to our colonial population. All these proceeded at once to purchase partially -improved pro- perties, or to enter into trade. A proportion of the emigration consisted of farmers whose means will establish them with some advantage on wild lands, for the purchase of which only a small outlay IS required. But the great bulk of the emigration has heen agricu tural labourers; some of them with small means, but very many having nothing even for their immediate support.' LABOUR— WAGES— PRICES. For mechanics, it is perhaps not the least advantage of Canada that It IS close to the United States. The colony, however, affords better openings than the British possessions in the southenl hemisphere, from the greater density of population, and the larger proportional number of towns and public works. Amonff the wages set down in the Official Circular of the Emigration Commissioners for 1851, there are bricklayers from 4s. to 5s. a day • bakers, 3s. m the eastern, and 4s. in the western province; car- penters, 5s. m the eastern, and 6s. 3d. in the western province- coopers respectively 3s. and 5s. ; gardeners, 3s. 9d. to 4s. 6d. ' shoemakers, 3s. m the eastern, and 6s. 3d. in the western pro- yince; sawyers, paid per 100 feet, 4s. 3d. in the eastern, and 6s.. Ill the western province: stonemasons A« a^ +-. Ko . i„:i 43. to 63. 3d., the latter in the western proviiicel pksterers"' a 87 I (( (1 1 AMERICA. trade iu much requisition, 5b. in the eastern, and 6fl. 3d. in the western province. The remuneration to dressmakers and milliners seems to be under some peculiar depression in the eastern province, where it is quoted at Is. a day. Tho amount in the western is 2s. 3d. There is a good deal of employ- ment both for stonemasons and bricklayers— the one being pre- ferred to the other according to the building material, and the habit of tho place. It was long the practice, for instance, in Toronto and Hamilton, to use brick ; while stone was employed in Montreal and Kingston. Farm-labourers are stated to receive 2s. fid. in the eastern, and the same in the western province. For shepherds, the entry is, ' no employment.' In all out-of-door occupations, the nature of the seasons, and their effect on the kind of work, must be kept in view. Canada, in some measure, resembles the United States, in not being a place of refuge for inferior workmen ; and the remarks to be made on the position of mechanics there, apply in a considerable degree to the same class in Canada; since their vicinity to each other keeps the two labour markets nearly on a level. The Emigration Commissioners, in their circular for 1851, have found it necessary in the meantime to say : • It appears by information received from Mr Buchanan, the chief emigration agent at Quebec, that tho demand for labour in Canada continues to bo limited, i general depression of tho trading inte- rests, together with the discontinuance of the expoiiditure main- tained for some years past in tho construction of public works, has thrown out of present employment many artisans and mechanics, and a still larger aumber of common labourers.' The latest infor- mation, however, in the Commissioners' Annual Report is moro cheering; auJ Mr Buchanan is there quoted as stating that the moderate emigration during the last two years is not more than sufficient to meet the demand left by the progress inwards of previous emigrants, and he says in continuation : « Tho province is already extending its resources, and promises to offer a fair field for skilled labour.' The occupation of the lumberer or woodcutter is of couwe open to the Canadian settler; but it is rather a pursuit to which some classes are driven by theur destiny than one to be sought and courted. Its characteristics are hardship, danger, and vice. Attacked by so many moral and physical enemies, it is said that the lumberer rarely reaches the age of fifty. The following description is given by an experienced eye-witness of the ordinary characteristics which surround the lumberer :— 'You stand before the fire made under three or four sticks set up tentwise, to which a large caldron is hung, bubbling and seething, with a very strong odour of fat pork : a boy, dirty and ill-fiavoured, with a sharp, glittering axe, looks very suspf- 88 CANADA. ciously at you, but caUs off liis wolfish dog, who sneaks away. A moment shews you a long hut formed of logs of wood, with a root of branches covered by birch-bark ; and by its side, or near the fire, several nondescript sties or pens, apparently for keeping pjgs m, formed of branches close ro the ground, either like a boat turned upside down, or literally as a pigsty is formed as to shape. In the large hut, which is occasionally more luxurious, and made of slabs of wood or of rough boards, if a saw-mill is within rea- Bonable distance, and there is a passable wood-i-.ad, or creek, or rivulet navigable by canoes, you see some barrel or two of pork, and of flou", or biscuit, or whisky, some tools, or some olJ blankets or skms. The larger dwelUng is the haU— the common hall--and the pigsties the sleeping-places.'— (5onnwca«/xr>.>i»4.:»^ ».., u: quarter of a million. 40 NEW DRUN8WICK. I Tlie Inatory of this province prcsenta little m distinct from that of the otl»er American colonics to affect the interests of the settler. Under the dominion of France, it wan chiefly in military occupa- tion,^ and appears to have been scantily settled. The proportion of French families still remaining is small in comparieon with -the Ilabitans of Canada, but there are still several Acadiana, chiefly in the eastern districts. 'ILo establishment of British settlers began in 1761. Their position was necessarily rendered precarious by the outbreak of the American war, but the staple of the colony was subsequently framed of loyalists and other refugees. The district was erected into a sepa.ate province in 1784. Its subsequent importance has been chictly owing to the fisheries, and to the influence on the lumber trade of the duties on Baliic timber. As an emigration field, it received a terrible check in 1826, from a calamity of a peculiar and appalling kind. The cele- brated fire in Miramichi at once horrified and astonished all the civilised world ; and perhaps, for the first time, conveyed an adequate notion of the vastness and compactness of the North American forests. When first recorded in the newspapers, it appeared like some wild fiction. People were accustomed to hear of tenements being burned down before their unfortunate inhabi- tants could escape, and of several thus perishing m some great city conflagration ; but that the fire should literally travel over a pro- vince—that its influence should be felt for days before it actually reached its victims— and that they should find, with both the land and the water before them, no means of escape from its devastating approach, seemed something incomprehensible. It was stated, that for some time the inhabitants of the settlements along the Miraraichi lliver had been conscious of a strange, sultry, oppressive heat, and heard a sort of distant roaring in the recesses of the forest, mingled with faint sounds like explosions, or the crash of fallen trees. As the heat grew greater, a dense mass of smoke- coloured cloud gathered overhead. The clearings from the forest formed unfortunately a mere strip ; but a quarter of a mile wide— and the great amphitheatre of flame, spread over a surface of several thousands of square miles, filled it with fiery air, which ignited the wooden houses and stores of the hapless settlers. Anything more frightful than the devastation occasioned has never been known, save in the earthquakes of Portugal and South America. The towns or villages — of which one, Newcastle, con- tained 1000 inhabitants — were almost entirely reduced to ashes ; and the burned bodies of the inhabitants lay putrefying among those of wild beasts driven through the forest before the flames. Sucli cciinagraiions on a smaller scale are a caiainity to which this province is always liable. These fires, unfortunately, leave' 41 , M' >i- AMERICA. no compensation for their iramecliate mischief, as their effect is to destroy the fertility of the soil, instead of clearing it for cultivation. There are few great mountains in this territory, but the ground is in general broken by precipitous hills, and large rivers rolling in deep rocky beds. The vastness of the forest-clothing may be imagined from the catastrophe of Miramichi, and this peculiarity prevents the surface of the uncleared parts of the interior from being well known. There are many lakes, some of them pictu- resque, clear sheets of water ; others marshy. The principal river the St John, running near the boundary with the United States' is in some respects a series of lakes. It is navigable for small vessels for -bout 230 miles, when they are stopped by the great falls, and the upper navigation can only be accomplished by canoes. The Miramichi also, a broad, lakelike river, fans into the Gulf of St Lawrence. Four rivers run into Bathurst Harbour in Chaleure Bay, of which the most important is the Nepisiguit, a rapid, full stream, leaping over some great cataracts. ^ The presence of many granitic and other primitive rocks would in general, intimate the absence of a very rich soil. But the granite, with the sienite and trap, are described as generally of the friable kinds, which readily triturate and decompose, becoming elements m the formation of a finely-pulverised earth, suitable for the growth of wheat, oats, and maize. There are at the same time spaces between the emmences, containing deep aUuvial brown mould. Many of these are called beaver meadows, because they have been formed by the draming of the smaU lakes, caused by the dams of these industrious animals, who disappear when man inakes even a distant approach to their abodes. When the settler IS fortunate enough to obtain one of these patches, it may be sud- denly transformed by him, as if by magic, from a cold-looking, half-swampy lake mto the richest garden or agricultural ground producmg a succession of fuU crops without manure. Mr Johnston, in his Notes on North America, describes nu- merous stretches of soft, rich, alluvial soil, of the kmd called in the provmce intervale. It is found often along the banks of the nvers ; and he remarks : ' These lowlands are liable to be flooded r uu ml® °'^^*' "" '1^"°& ^"* ^^^y a'-e. nevertheless, very healthy. There are no agues in the country. I have heard of none mdeed in the whole province, even where water, and bogs, and marshes most abounded. These spring floods no doubt con- tributed to the richness of the land ; but the best-situated or most esteemed farms here, are those which consist partly of this low intervale land, and partly of upland.' From the impetuous cha- racter of the rivers, and the quantity of organic and mineral matter Drought down by them, large stretches of marsh-land have been NEW BRUNSWICK. formed near their mouths, and have been diked in and drained like the Dutch polders. Many of the Dutch settlers, indeed, from native habit, have shewn a partiality for these marshes. Mr Johnston mentions a tract of land, upwards of 1000 acres, thus diked on the St John, consisting of * a black, spongy, vegetable mould,' of inferior quality, and capable of yielding large crops of hay, but not well adapted for cereal cultivation. ' The marsh- land,' he says, ' of St John lies in a narrow valley, bordered by high ground on each side, but itself very little elevated above the sea. The upper end of the flat is only two feet above high- water mark; but as the tide rises here twenty-seven feet, its height is considerably above mean- water level, and the entrance of high tides is prevented by a sluice at the mouth of the valley. I visited what is considered one of the best farms on this flat. It consists of 120 acres of marsh and 100 of upland. The upland is partially cleared, and affords pasture and firewood, but the marsh alone is under arable culture. The whole is rented for £150 a year cui-rency. It requkes high manuring ; but when well culti- vated, any part of it, the tenant said, would produce four tons, and I was assured that five tons of hay was occasionally reaped from such land.' But the same gentleman has noticed a larger breadth of diked marsh-land, of a far superior quality, at the upper waters of the Bay of Fundy, and near the neck of land which separates the province from Nova Scotia. Here at Cumberland Bay four streams near each other make a sort of delta, consisting of stretches of marsh-land, with headlands between. ' I roughly festimated,' s'ays Mr Johnston, ' that there are upwards of 20,000 acres of this flat land, diked and undiked, in the district under my eye, and spread all around the head waters of the Cumberland basin. Where not entirely swampy and barren, the produce varies from one to three tons of hay per acre ; but take the average produce of the whole at only half a ton an acre, and the owners may yearly reap 100,000 tons of hay from these levels, supposing some of them to be in arable culture. This would feed 30,000 head of cattle, which, if raised for beef, and killed at three years old, would supply to the markets of New Brunswick about 10,000 head of fat cattle every year.' At the same time, he considered that every ton of hay so used, along with the marsh-mud, ought to fertilise an acre of upland. This state of matters he justly considered appropriate to the circumstance frequently brought under his notice, ' that New Brunswick does not produce a sufficiency of first-class butcher- meat for its own markets, and that its shipping is chiefly supplied with salt provisions from the United States, because the beef of the province will not stand salt.' AMERICA. ' Tn its climate this territory is of course not exempt from those extremes which characterise the North American couiltries. Ihe variations are not entirely those of the season, for great changes m temperature will take place in the course of a dav-the south wind bringing comparative mildness, while the north wind comes fraught even in the middle of summer, with icy drafts from the pole. At Frederickton, pretty far inland on the St John River the thermometer ranges from 95' to 35° below zero, and yet this OS m the southern part of a province the whole of which lies south thaM&' f- ''" «t^ted, however, by observing settlers, that the progress of improvement is ameliorating the cliSate- the period when frost and snow prevail becoming shorter, as the dense lores covering becomes removed from the surface of the earth and the swamps are improved. Thus it has been observed that abou twenty years ago winter began early in November and remained until the conclusion of April, whilei later years t has not set in with all its rigour until after the middle of December and the early weeks of April have seen the thaw and the symp: toms of opening spring. The severest cold generally extend, from the last week of December to the end of^he las^ week of March. Then, as m the other North American provinces, nature IS sealed up, and the inhabitants-at least those whose pursuis are out of doors forming of course the preponderating bulk-have Isf^nf rtl/' '^}'''''' '' ^^'''^''' Towards the con! a Anrn !/ '^ alternations of thaw and frost are perceived, and as April advances the weather becomes genial. Ploughing then & :r.f ^^ ^^1 '^'^ -gricultoiral and horticultm-, aver- se f ' ^T''^ r^ frost-cleared soil, nourished by the rap^ity of the western hemisphere. With all its varieties-part .Lr J' r^ '°^^' ^""^y '"^^«' "^^''^ «" tl^e air with damp raw- ness and dai-kness-the climate has on all hands the reputation of being extremely healthy. puuuioii oi m^Jl^'r'''''^ ^^™' *'"'^^^'' '^"°*'^«' increasable as population TEnlnd ''P' r^- '^^'" "*"^« ''' ^'"««3^ ''^'- ^^^ those of England-as Gloucester, Cumberland, Kent, &c. There are no great generic differences in their chakcteri tics, renderL k necessary to consider them separately; and the chief dUnS what occurs throughout the greater part of the globe-namely parts of the rivers, or on the sea-shore, where, as will presently great. In tlie surveys for a railway from Halifax to Quebec the sfdered'^Th ''"''^''"^ «"« Province were of course^ fuUy'con! sidered^.^ The 8ur>eyor, m his report, aUuded largely to the NEW BRUNSWICK. favourable characteristics of the district. He observed that it was plentifully watered, and penetrated by streams; and in some parts of the interior, for a portage of three or four miles, a water- communication may be opened Avith the Bay of Chaleure and the Gulf of St La\vrence on the one side, and with the Bay of Fundy on the other. The officers employed to survey the line of the Halifax and Quebec Railway say — * For any great plan of emigration or colonisation, there is not another British colony which presents so favourable a field for the trial as New Brunswick. ' To 17,000,000 of productive acres, there are only 208,000 inhabitants. Of these, 11,000,000 are still public property. 'On the surface is an abundant stock of the finest timber, which, in the markets of England, realise large sums annually, snd afford an unlimited supply of fuel to the settlers. If these should eA^er become exhausted, there are the coal-fields under- neath. ' The rivers, lakes, and sea-coasts abound with fish. Along the Bay of Chaleure it is »o abundant that the land smells of it. It is used as manure ; and while the olfactory nerves of the traveller are offended by it on the land, he sees out at sea immense shoals darkening the surface of the water.' The emigrants landed at Halifax would, by the line of railway, be easily conveyed to the interior, and would avoid what is often the most difficult and dangerous step in the process of an emi- grant's removal. New Brunswick has been an importing district of food. Wheat, the growth of the valley of the Mississippi, is imported to St John, ground there, and consumed by the labouruig population. Two hundred thousand pounds is the estimated ave- rage sum paid annually for provisions from the United States, which it is believed that the province, if opened up by a railway, and otherwise aided by enterprise, would itself produce. Frederickton, on the upper part of the St John, is the seat of government, and so nominally the capital of the province, but it is not the largest town. The population has been rated at 6000. At the mouth of the same river is the largest town of the colony —the flourishing city of St John, said, with its extensive suburbs, to have 30,000 inhabitants. It is the great commercial port, and its name is that by which the New Brunswick timber is known in the market. It has a less agreeable renown from the fearful con- flagrations that have sometimes swept away its streets of wooden edifices. Clo^.e to the harbour there is a curious phenomenon in the course of the River St John. It passes between two rocky eminences over a ledge, or rather dike. It is not so high but that the tide is still higher; and the consequence is, that when 46 HW'li.miia.n ,-.,.»iS-% Mlljlljlll llil 'rirssti^sri^TTT'TI^. AMERICA. the tide has risen pretty far, and is rising, there is a slight fall in the direction of the source of the river ; and when the tide is receding, a much larger and more formidable fall in the direction of the mouth. At a particular point, and for a very short time only, vessels can pass this bar. Produce.— The great staple commodity of this country is tim- ber ; a harvest not requiring to be raised, but affording a double inducement to its removal, in bemg itself useful, and making room for cultivation. The vastness of the forest district may be imagined from the calamity of Miramichi. The trees, besides the predominant pine, consist of maple, ash, oak, beech, birch, and ironwood. About 160,000 tons of timber are annually exported from the colony. We have no recent returns of the saw-mills but in 1834 they numbered 314, and the timber which passed through them was valued at near £500,000 at the place of shipment As elsewhere mentioned, the ready supply of wood had at one time at least given encouragement to considerable shipbuilding in the province. It need scarcely be mentioned that the settler finds it supply him with abundant fuel. Grain is the natural industrial produce of the colony ; but the clearmgs have heretofore been so comparatively smaU, that it is an importmg rather than an exporting country. The lumber or timber trade has hitherto been the staple occupation of the province mterfenng with agriculture. It is, however, pretty clear that its future hopes must rest on the latter occupation ; and Mr Johnston, in his valuable notes on North America, confidentlv predicts that It wiU be found a surer and more satisfactory reliance than lum- bermg. The wheat produced is said to be very heavy, and in every respect of fine quality. On the general productiveness of small clearmgs, Mr Perley, the government emigration agent, thus gave evidence before the Lords' Committee of 1847 :— ' ^J yf " P"' a man down upon a piece of wilderness with two hundred acres of land, how long is it before that man can do any- tlnng with that land, so as to enable himself to live upon it »— Ho should the second season, after securing a crop. I assume that in the hrst season he begins too late to put in a crop. ' How long is it before he secures a crop ?-It depends upon the time the man goes on the land, whether early or late, in the first season. Ihe better course, and which I recommend them to adopt, is to hire themselves out the first season, and at the close of the year, if they do not get employment for the winter, they have some months to work on their own land. During the winter they chop a piece down, erect a log-house, and get upon the land in the spring. If a man is mdustrious and successful in getting his land cleared in the spnng, and gettmg m his crop, he may secure enough that season to « ^.f^^mig^^, NEW BRUNSWICK. maintain himself and his family for the succeeding year. Having done that, he is safe. * * Do you grow wheat in New Brunswick ?— Of the very best quality. "' * What is the weight of your wheat as compared with American wheat ?— It is much heavier. The New Brunswick wheat reaches sixty-five pounds the bushel, and even more. * Do they grow Indian corn ?— It is not a certain crop. We grow buckwheat J but the great crops of the country are oats and potatoes ; oats more especially ; they are a very safe crop. *• ic^?^^® °°^ ^°"'' potatoes failed lately?— They faUed m the year 184o. * Will you state the progress of the potato failure in New Bruns- ■wick ?— In 1844 there was a partial failure of the potato crop. The disease reached us from the westward. It came from the United States. It gradually crept its way over the boundary-line, and got m upon us, and kept proceeding from west to east. In 1845 the crop of potatoes suffered very much indeed ; in fact, as much as it suffered in Ireland last year; but in 1846 the disease disappeared to a very considerable extent, and there was nearly an average crop of very good quality.' As on the coasts of all the North American colonies, fish, abound on those of New Brunswick. Along with the ordinary white fish, herring and mackerel are so profusely found at times as to be used for manure; lobsters can be picked up in cartloads; and in the mud deposits at the mouths of the rivers a very fine kind of oysters is spoken of as being abundant. Inconsiderable eflforts only have been made to take advantage of these resources. The superior energy of the inhabitants of the United States is here developed, since, notwithstanding all complaints of breach of treaty, they fish extensively along the 500 mUes of the New Brunswick coast; and since they apply to useful purposes a field neglected by our colo- nist.,, do good rather than harm to the settlement by the trade they carry on with it. The minerals of New Brunswick are not at present at least of great moment to the emigrant. A coal-field covers nearly t. third of the area of the provmce. It may be doubtful whether raiL,«y operations will lead to its being more extensively worked, but for the needs of a scattered population the refuse timber is generally more than sufficient. Iron ore is abundant ; lead has been found, and rich veins of copper. Limestone abounds and is worked, and a very serviceable kuid of millstone is cut and exported. Mr Johnston appears to think that the va-3t masses of gj'psum, hitherto almost unused and unnoticed, must have great influence in forwardmg the agricultural capacities of the country. Furcliaae and Improvement of Land.— ThQ waste lands of the 47 r^aEtesj^SKKr- AMERICA. i 'A \ crown in this province are sold at a minimum price of 38. currency, or about 28. 6d. sterling per acre. This is the absolute price in reality, as it is only in peculiarly favourable circumstances that there is any competition. The working of the system of sales can be best told in the words of Mr Perley, the emigration agent, when examined before the Lords' Committee of 1847 : — 'Land is now sold in New Brunswick by auction, under tlie Civil List Act, at 3s. currency per acre as the minimum upset price. A party desiring a lot of land applies by petition for the lot that he is desirous of obtaining. If unsurveyed, an order is sent to him for a survey, of which ho hoars the expense. On the return of the sur- vey it is advertised one month to be sold in the county whore tho land lies. If surveyed, upon an application being made, it is at once advertised to be sold at the monthly sale. In the one case, tho party advances the expense of the survey ; in the other, an cstab- iished price of threepence per acre is added to the minimum price of land. The party attends at the sale, and if he purchases and pays down the money, he obtains a discount of twenty per cent, for prompt payment. If he does not pay for the land, he pays one- fourth, and enters into a bond to the crown for the remaining threo- fourths, payable in one, two, and three years without interest, and receives a location ticket. The money is transmitted by tho local deputy to the receiver-general of the province, and eventually finds its way into the general revenues of the country. If a settler pur- chases a piece of ground in the wilderness to which there is no road, he may languish on for years without getting one, because the money which he pays for the land goes into the provincial treasury, and it does not at all follow that it shall be applied to making a road to tho land. It is appropriated generally by the local legislature with other monies of the province.' Those who have the improvement of the province most at heart have long advocated the construction of roads as an essential engine for bringing out its resources. It is obvious that a forest country is more dependent on such perforations than a prairie or pasture country : it is, in fiict, a blank without them. A plan was devised and adopted by the -legislature for connecting the making of roads with the acquisition of lands. A provincial act was passed in 1849 to facilitate the disposal of the waste lands, which in reality does not create a law or system for their disposal, but authorises the governor to sell, as any o\vner may do, as he thinks best in each individual instance, provided no lot be sold at less than 3s. an acre, or contain more than 100 acres. "With this limitation, the act authorises him, * with a view to the early disposal of the vacant crown-lands to persons who are able and willing to improve the same, to cause portions thereof to be surveyed and laid off in such place and in such way 48 NEW BRUNSWICK. and manner as may be deemed most advisable.' The importance of the settlers opening up the means of communication as a part of the value given for their holdings has been felt in this pro- vince ; and in the bargain made with any proposed settler, the price he has to pay may be either in money or the making of roads. An act was at the same time passed for enabling settlers to clear off their arrears of purchase-money by making roads. Mr Johnston, in his tour through the province, found this system in operation. A certain section for settlement is divided into lots of eighty acres each. Any person may get a grant of one of these lots on payment of no more than Is. per acre, to defray the ex- pense of the grant and survey ; at the same time engaging to give labour on the roads, at a fixed price per rood, to the amount of £12— thus making the entire price of his land £16. This sum, however, is in currency : in money sterling, the amount is about one-fourth less. Tn speaking of this advantageous opening for settlers with limited means, Mr Johnston mentions : ' That a body of emigrants arriving in June would be able to open the road, cut down four acres on each of these lots for crops on the following spring, and build a log-house before the winter sets in. Of course they must have means to maintain themselves and families during the winter, and until the crops on their new lands are ripe. Bodies of emigrants from the same county or neighbourhood, going out as a single party, would work pleasantly together, and be good com- pany and agreeable neighbours to each other.' In 1849, a valuable report by a Committee on ' Immigration and the Settlement of Wild Lands ' in New Brunswick, was laid before the governor in council. In noticing the method of allot- ment which had been previously pursued, they find fault with the length of some of the lots— in some instances with a river front- age of thirty rods only, but extending seven miles back. They Und another defect in the large allotments held by individuals who do not intend to improve them, but retain them with the expectation of selling them profitably, as the settlement of the province advances. This report contains valuable information on the resources of the several parts of the colony, and espe- cially on the nature and extent of the unsettled lands ; and its value as information from authority prompts us to give several extracts from this document : — * Some of the prevailing ideas among those who have not seen the province appear to be, that the settlements are very few and remote from each other; that they are separated by dense forests aboundinc^ with beasts of prey ; that tliero are great numbera of Indians, to whose depredations the settlers are constantly exposed : tliat thnrn are no churches or schools, except in the towns; that good roads D 49 AMERICA. are nowhere to be found ; that the cold of our winters is so intense, that the inhabitants are continually in danger of being frozen to death, and very often dare not venture out of their houses ; that no such field crops can bo grown hero as are cultivated in Great Britain ; that our soil is of a very inferior quality ; and bhat we are subject to all the epidemics and agues which afflict the southern and western portion of this continent from Florida to Lake Huron, * It is no wonder, therefore, that with such impressions the emi- jjr.ant seciCS for other countries, and will not cast his lot among us, involved, as lie supposes, in such adverse circumstances. * But these impressions are altogether erroneous : in every part of the province there are extensive and continuous settlements. . . . There are upwards of 500 parish, besides other schools, scattered over the rural districts, and upwards of 200 churches and chapels of different denominations of Christians. There is no danger to be apprehended from beasts of prey, or from the Indians, very few of whom now sur- vive. No colony of the empire, and no state of the neighbouring Union is better provided Avith roads than New Brunswick; every kind of field and garden crops cultivated in England can be grown in this province, with the addition of Indian corn. * More persons, we believe, have perished from cold in England and Scotland in twenty years, in proportion to the population, than in this colony. . . . * Agricultural operations are generally commenced about the middle of April, and cease about the middle of November. From this period the prevalence of frost and snow prevents Jie labours of the husbandman as respects the soil. Yet the industrious farmer can always find employment during the winter, as it is the most favourable season for cutting and hauling fuel, and rails for fences, and for transporting grain and other produce to market ; and so far from condemning the climate because of our winters, there is not a farmer in the country who would dispense with them, although some might prefer them of shorter duration.' .... Mr Johnston gives a description of a farm of 1000 acres on the St John. It contained three kinds of land : ' First,^ he says, * an island in the river of eighty acres, to which I crossed, and found it a free gray loamy clay, full of natural richness, and subject to be overflowed only twice during the last thirty years. Secondj Intervale land, generally light and sandy, but bearing in some places good turnips, and resting upon a loamy clay resembling that of the island, at a depth in some places of no more than eighteen inches from the surface. Third, The rest is upland on the slopes, generally very stony, but on other parts of the farm capable of being easily cleared.' This farm, he said, cost £2000 currency, or £1600 sterluig. ' It had been exhausted by the last holder by a system of selling off everything — hay, com, potatoes — the conuuou system, in fact, of North America, of selling every- 50 KEW BRUNSWICK. thing for which a market can be got, and taking no trouble to put anything mto the soil in return.' He describes another farm of 1U^6 acres, of which but eighty acres were cleared, fifty of them bemg mtervale. The intervale was valued at £15 an acre, the £1500 ^* ^^' ^"^ ^^^ ^^'""^^ ^^"^ *^ ^''''" ^^200 to SITUATION AND EXTENT OP SETTLEMENTS. * The county of St Jo?m, on the western slioro of the Bay of \"" /i^'^nni*'"^ r. '''■'''' °^ ^^^ ^1"*^« ™iles, and a population of about 45,000, with forty-eiglit parish schools. i' i ^"" oi Jm^^ 1*^ °^ ^^ •u,'**'!'' "'cl"ding the suburbs, contains about 30,000, and is accessible by ships of the largest class at all seasons ot the year Although this county is much broken and rocky, yet many fine farms attest the s-iccess which follows persevering in- « Very little ungranted land fit for settlement is found in this county, except at the north-east extremity near the county of Albert, where a good tract, possessing many superior advantages, is open to application. The salmon, shad, and herring fisheries of the liay of Fundy are very valuable; and althougli they yield a larce and profitable return to those who engage therein, they have never yet been prosecuted to that extent which their value and importance 'King's County, the next in order, contains 1328 square miles with a population of about 19,000, and sixty-four parish schools. Many parts of this county are highly cultivated, and present some of the finest scenery in the province. * The principal part has been granted, and the remainder is bein» rapidly disposed of Its proximity to the city of St John has given U a market which has insured a ready sale for its surplus produce. Ihe great road from Halifax to Quebec passes through this county for a distance of seventy-five miles, and a line of railway is projected, and has been recently surveyed, passing through this county from St John to the Gulf of St Lawrence, which, when opened, will unite with the contemplated trunk-line from Halifax to Quebec, and wiU greatly contribute to the general interests of this section of the pro- vince. ^ i«lJ^® "^'^^ °M ^^^ ^*^ '^^^^ ^^^^'^ 's Q'^^«''^ County, containing 1502 square miles, and a population of 10,000, with forty-seven parish schools. ^ * Some of the best farms in the province are found in this county and large tracts of good land are yet undisposed of ' Several leases of coal-mines have been lately granted on the Grand Lake, and extensive operations are being commenced, which proii^sse to crcato a valuable trade, aud to give empioyment to a large number of operatives. *" 61 li I I i II AMERICA. ' A road has been explored botween tbo head of the Grand Lako and Richibucto, in the county of Kent, which will open up a valuable tract of country for settlement, presenting to settlors a choice of markets between St John and Richibucto. < This locality is strongly recommended for immediate settlement if a good class of emigrants can bo had for the purpose. ' The county of Sunbury contains an area of r2'i2 stpiaro miles, a population of 5U00, and twonty-four parish schools. ' Extensive and valuable farms are seen on both banks of the river, and some good tracts of ungrantod land remain for sale. ' The River Oromocto, with its branches, present some flourishing settlements. * This county and Queen's contain an immense extent of the finest alluvial land, and some of tho most productive and fertile islands iu the River St John. * The county of York contains an area of 3440 square miles, with a population of 21,000, and sixty parish schools. The city of Fre- derickton, the seat of governr ent, is in this county, on the right bank of tho river, distant from St John, by the river seventy-hve,, and by tho road sixty-si.x, miles. * Five steamers, with numerous sailing vessels, ply night and day ■with freight and passengers, during the navigation, between Fro- dcrickton and St John. * Tho tract of land granted to the Nova Scotia and New Brunswick Land Company has left but a small portion at tho disposal of the government on the eastern side of the river below the Nacka^vick. Extensive seUlements are found on the Nashwalk and Keswick Rivers, and oii tho rear-land between those rivers and the upper line of the county. On the western side of the river there aro numerous back settlements. * At the distance of twenty-four miles from Frederickton, on the great road to St Andrew's, is the Harvey Settlement, formed in 1837 by emigrants from Northumberland (England), anrl which, by its present thriving condition, proves what can bo done by sober and industrious men even on an inferior quality of soil. * Accompanying this is a tabular return of the state of tho settle- ment in 1843, with the remarks of the commissioner. * With such settlers for our ungranted lauds, the mobt astonishing and gratifying results would soon be manifest. * In the vicinity of Harvey is an Irish settlement, formed in December 1841, under the gratuitous ma:nagement of the same commissioner, whose report and return accompany those of the Harvey Settlement, and furnish an additional proof of tho success attending persevering industry. ' Some good tracts of land are still ungranted beyond the Harvey, on the Magadavic River and its branches and lakes, and in tho vicinity of the contemplated railway between St Andrew's and * A few miles below Eel River, the Howard Settlement is forming, 52 0\ NEW BKUN8W1CK. in the midst of a tract of excellent land, and capable of Eettlinir sevorul hundred additional fanuliee. * • At a distance of forty-oigi.t niiluB from Frederickton commences the county of Carleton, which extends upwards to the frontiei h of (.anada and the United States. This countv has been more ra-idly cleared and improved within the last fifteen years than any other county of the province : it contains an area of 4050 square miles, and u population of 21,000. ' 'On the western side of the river, np to the Arestook, some of the Bctt cmonts extend back to the American frontier, and nearly all the land has been granted. 'Several large tracts belonging to absentees present a great obstruction to the settlement of this district, which will not probably be removed tor a long time, unless by legislative interference. Ihe soil throughout this section of country is deep and rich and under good cultivation would soon render it one of the most produc- tive portions of the province. • This county is rich in iron ore, and a company recently formed Jor the purpose of working a mine near Woodstock, is now in opera- tion; and from the superior quality of the ore, and the facility for working and bringing it to market, an extensive business will ore- Jong be carried on in the manufacture of iron. ' Two steamers now run between Frederickton and Woodstock, and a third will bo put on next year to ply between Woodstock and tho tirand Falls, a distance of sixty miles. ' The Tobiquo River, which empties intc the St John about forty miles above W oodstock, is of great extent, and offers superior facili- ties lor immediate settlement on a large scale. Gypsum and free- stone of the finest quality are found on this river. 'An extensive tract of good land lies on the eastern side of the ht John, Irom the county line upward, past the Grand Falls which it opened by roads, would form an nttractivo and valuable locality lor settlers. ^ ' 1\) the southward of York, Sunbury, Queen's and King's, lies the county of Charlotte, containing an area of 1224 square nnles. with a population of about 22,000, and sixty-nine parish schools. This county contains many expensive and valuable .iettlements. but very uttle good land remains ungranted. 'The counties of WidmordandiinAAlhertWo to the northward and eastward of St John and King's, and contain a population of about ^o,U00, with ninety-eight parish schools, and cover an area of 2112 square miles. The most extensive and valuable marshes in the pro- vince are m Westmoreland, and furnish facilities for grazin.^ of nnnvalled value; and although the agricultural cominunit? of this county is esteemed tho richest in the province, they have never yet availed themselves, as they might have done, of the resources ot thejr uplands, which lie in many instances comparatively ne- ' The shad-fishing of this district is not surpassed by any other in I rx AMERICA. f the world. Connol coal, of a superior quality, has been discovered in Albert, and proniiseH an extensive and valuable trade. * The greater part of Albert is ungrantcd, and ombracos a largo tract of land of the finest »iuality, presenting ono of the most eligible situations for immediate settlement in that section of the province. * The county of Kent covers an area 1260 square miles, and con- tains about 9000 inhabitants, with thirty-live parish schools. * Extensive cultivation is found along the coast, and on the Richi- bucto Biver ; but a largo tract of ungranted land, of a good descrip- tion, still remains, and through which tho line of projected railway from Halifax to Quebec passes. * The coal- formation extends to this county, and may bo worked at small expense. < The harbour of Kichibucto is safe and commodious, and tho river admits of vessels of tho largest class for some distance. ' Norfhumherland includes an area of 5000 square miles, with 20,000 inhabitants, and fifty-three parish schools. * This county presents a large extent of cultivated land, and Bomo of the best specimens of husbandry in the province. * A vast tract of ungranted land is contained within this county, the most eligible 'vhereof, for immediate settlement, is on tho north- west and south-west branches of the Miramichi lliver, in rear of tho front lots. An excellent road aflfords commuuicatiou between this county and tho seat of government. * Gloucester and Jiestigovche, the two most northern counties, lie on the Qulf of St Lawrence and the Hay of Chaleurs, and include an area of about 4000 square miles, with a population of only 15,000, and thirty-seven parish schools. ' The quality of the soil is generally good, and in many parts of a very superior description. For many years past tliis has been the best Avheat-growing district in the province. ' The settlements in these counties are principally along the coast ; but the extent of ungranted land in the rear from Shipi)ogan to the head of the Restigouche River, and the superior quality of the soil, with the valuable fisheries of the bays and rivers, recommend this district as ono of the most desirable in tho province for the immediate settlement of largo bodies of emigrants. * The country above Dalhousie is principally settled b} Scotch, who are in very prosperous circumstances, and contented with their situation. * The projected line of railway from Halifax to Quebec passes through these counties, down the Nepisiguit to Bathurst, and from thence to a point above Canipbell Town, and when opened, will soon render this section of country, in an agricultural point of view, the most valuable and prosperous of any in the province. ' Tho vast tract lying between the Restigouche and the St John Rivers, containing several millions of acres, presents a wide field for settlement, and which could be opened and made available as soon /3C_:_ 1 , _r and cultivate the laud. U rfvx'C lOluiu to vUbcr UpuU NEW BRUNSWICK. • In addition to the imfp-nnted wildornefip lands, there are always in different parts of the province improved lot8,witIi dweiling-houHos and bai-ns, whicii can bo purchased at a reasonable rate ; and if an agency were cstabliHlicd for tlio purpose, a great number of emigrants could bo provided with sucii lots, at a cost ranging from ono to five pounds currency per acre, including the unimproved land. * To persons possessing i'l.'iO and np^vards, this course would be most dosirablo for thomselves, and most advantageous to tlie pro- vince, should the purchasers be skilful agriculturists, as in such case any improved system they might introduco would soon recommend itself, and bo adopted by those around them. • Notwithstanding tho defective system of agriculture generally pursued in the province, the average produce por aero is largo, which proves the natural strength and fertility of tho soil ; but in those cases whoro tho system of rotation has been adopted with high culti- vation, the average produce will compare with some of the best dis- tricts in Great IJritain. * Take, for example, the following crops por acre, which have boon produced in different parts of the province : — Wheat, 40 bushels, some weighing 08 lbs. per Inishcl. Barley, - 40 Oats, 60 Indian Com, 75 bushels pop acre. Buckwheat, - 7« Peas, - 40 Turnips, 1,000 Potatot'g, - 800 Carrots, 30 tons. Mangcl-Wurtzcl, - 30 ... In 1849 the surveyor-general made a report on the condition of the crown-lands, in which he stated generally : — ' It may be con- sidered as a fact, that this province presents eight millions of acres of vacant crown -land, of unexceptionable quality, fit for agricYiltural purposes.' In a view of the then latest transactions as to waste lands, he had to say — * The number of petitions received for the purchase cf land, from 1st January 1848 to 1st January 1849, is 969, which, on an average of 100 acres each, would comprise 96,900 acres. Of this number, 938 have required to be surveyed at the expense of the applicant, of which 510 are not yet returned as surveyed, and consequently no further action has been had upon them. The total number of acres which havo been surveyed within the year is 31,350, at a cost to the applicants of £831, averaging about GJd. an acre, or £2, 14s. 2d. per lot of 100 acres ; a sum far exceeding that for which the same work could be performed by the government under a systematic arrange- rneuL oi survey ~ 'The whole quantity of land purchased during the year 1848 C5 V" AMERICA. amounted to 26,761^ acres, of which 14,777 acres have been paid for in full, and upon wliich £1789, 19s. .3d. have been received; leaving 11,9844 acres which have been sold under tlie instalment system, and upon which £473, 3s. 4d. have been received. ' I feel it my duty at this place to state, that no less a sum than £22,831, 13s. 3d. appears, by the books of my office, to be still duo upon previous land transactions; but many of the original pur- chasers, I have reason to believe, have abandoned the land and lefk the country, and yet their names still remain on the books and plans, of this office, as having a claim to the land in question. The area covered by these claims cannot bo less than 150,000 acres.' Of the extent of the timber licences he gave this account : — ' The timber licences for the past year, and which will expire on 1st May next, cover an area of 2157 square miles, at an average rate of 16s. S^d. per mile, pi-oducing to the end of the year £1992, Ss. The highest rate paid for any one lot was £20, Is. per square mile, being a licence for nine square miles, situate on the left bank of the river St Croix, about twenty-five miles above St Stephen. The quantity of land under licence in 1847 was 6360 square miles, which produced the sum of £3585, 7s. 9d.; the highest price paid per square mile being £5, the whole quantity averaging only 10s. SJd. per square mile. By the above your excellency will perceive that the system of auction has this past year produced some beneficial results, having increased the rate from 10s. to 16s. S^d. per square mile, although only sixty-eight lots were contested.' His estimate of the raining transactions was : — * The mining transactions of this department may be stated to be twenty-three leases now extant — namely, one in Gloucester, four in Carleton, two in York, two in Sunbury, six in Queen's, one in Nor- thumberland, two in Kent, one in St John, one in Westmoreland, one in Albert, and two in Charlotte. The whole have realised the sum of £365, lOs. Two rights only were sold during the last year — one for £35, and the other for £5. All these leases are held subject to the regulations which existed at the sevei*al periods Avhen they wcrer taken out.' In pursuance of the plan already mentioned, of opening up the country by a system of roads, to be made by the settlers a? a sort of commutation of the money-price of their allotments, reports were required in 1848 from the deputy-surveyors of the counties to the surveyor-general. They of course referred chiefly to the practicability of roads in the districts, to the engineering difficulties to be overcome, the materials accessible, the direction to be most conveniently taken, and other matters which would naturally be of great importance to persons already settled in the country, bqt could scarcely be taken into consideration by the class to whom these pages are addressed — namely, persons pro- posing to emigrate, and desirous of knowing whether New Bruns- r NEW BRUNSWICK. '. I r wick generally is a settlement likely to suit their views. It, how- ever, necessarily came within the province of the reporters to notice how far road communication was valuable in their respective counties, from the industrial resources it might develop, and the consequent inducement afforded to settlers. In many of the reports there is thus more or less said on this subject ; and having perused the reports themselves, the general ability and practical application of Avhich give one a high idea of the capacity of the useful class of officers by whom they are made, it is thought that the few passages which seem to bear on the availableness of each county for settlement may be usefully printed. The passages extracted are given in a series, imder the name of the county to which each belongs. They will necessarily have a disjointed appearance, but they have considerable value in this country, as coming direct from the class who know more than any other of the particular locality to which each refers. * King's County does not embrace any large tracts of good land unoccupied. The largest tract lies between tlio road formerly opened between the liead of Mill Stream and New Canaan Settlement and Spring Hill Settlement. There is good land on both sides of this road. The distance between those settlements is about eight miles, and embraces Tiiorn's Brook, &c. In many parts of this tract there is good land for agricultural purposes, and in other parts tho laud is of an inferior quality; but there can be no doubt, that in case those settlements were connected by good roads, eventually the whole would be occupied. There is also some good land between tho Baskin Settlement, north-east of Dutch Valley, and the Mechanics' Settlement. As I have never explored this section of country, all the information I possess is derived from other sources. I am also informed there is good land north-east of the old Sliepody Road, and also south-east thereof, extending nearly to the bay sliore, but I am unable to give any correct statement thereof.' * St John. — After leaving the sea-coast, the road would pass along ft table-land, covered with heavy timber, and possessing a deep soil of good quality. The country is well watered, and in every respect fit for settlement and cultivatioa * There is considerable vacant land at the western extremity of this country as yet almost unexplored and unknown. As there are no settlements with which it could bo connected advantageously, I am unable at present to make any recommendation respecting it. * Albert. — Tho land is very level, and of an excellent quality for settling ' There is nothing to prevent running a number of roads back on a north line to tho Coverdale River, through a large level tract of land, and the best land for settling in the county ; and if roads were once opened through tins tract, I think it would be immediately settled. '67 ( 'i AMERICA. *Carleton.~¥rom the superior quality of the excellent tract of country lying between the first and fourth settlements, I have every reason to believe that the interniediate spaces will be taken up before twelve months. From what I can learn, we shall have the greater part of young Frenchmen (who are now living on the American side) locating themselves on our back settlements. *In all my travelling through the interior of this province' parti- cularly in the north-eastern part of it, I have not met with such a ^ge tract of beautiful country as that lying between the Salmon Eiver and Green River, extending back about from ten to fifteen miles, Whence extending itself on a parallel course with the River St John upwards of thirty miles. Allowing a fifth of this tract for waste land, which may not be probably fit for settlement, it would be capable of contaming 2300 families, giving to each family 100 ' Gloucester.— A line of road from Teague's Brook would pws through a fine rich tract of country; and if surveyed, would be speedily occupied j , ^ u» «The lands extending south from the Innishanon, and the south branch of Caraquet to the Pocmouche River, are of a superior quality; and I think, if a portion of them were surveyed, would soon be occupied. The road leading from Smith's on the Innishanon to the bay shore, passes through a good tract of land, and if surveyed would readily be occupied. ^ * Sunbury.— The roads here recommended would be through land generally very level, not intersected with large streams requirinff expensive bridges, and pass through many good tracts of land for agricultural purposes, which, with its proximity to Frederickton. and other local advantages, surrounded on three sides by mills and manufacturing establishments, and no part of it more than ten miles from an old settlement, affords a field for improvement seldom equalled m other parts of the province. ♦A road opened from the north-west branch of Oromocto River to the Cork Settlement, would te of great benefit to both settle- ments, by opening a communication between them through much good land fit for cultivation. It has proved a great drawback on tbe benefit of emigration to this province, that most of the capitalists among the emi^ants, if they were only able to purchase a pedlar's pack, have preferred speculation to agriculture ; and while the formers could only afford £2 per month, the lumberers would give ±4 to migratory labourers-thus sending the specie out of the pro- vince, and fixing the rate of wages far above its real value Jiesttgouche.-Not\cea of various lines for roads, which would open up « very valuable tracts of land." ' Queen's County.-AB for the question in a general way, whether iri't^'TiP"^ ^'' *^ "'.^^"'^ °^ '^' ^^-^d'' I think^^dmits of no doubt. There are two instances of it paying the government j;ell in this county : I mean the Nerepis Road-great road bSwoen Fredencktoa and St John, for one. How quick were settlmente \f NEW BRUNSWICK. \$ made after this road got into operation, which neither could nor would have been the case if no such roadsi had not first been made ! The other instance is more recent— namely, the road on the county line between this county and Sunbury, extending from the River St John to the Nerepis Great Road, through the Victoria Settlement. I think I am very safe in saying there would not have been 100 acres taken up, at least in this county, if that road had not been previously made. Now there are several settlers there who have bought and paid the whole amount for their land, and applications monthly for more in each county ; for instance, this present month there are 600 acres in this county, and 600 in Sunbury, advertised for sale next month — the applicants in both counties being respect- able farmers' sons, the most of whom will pay the whole amount down ' I would recommend that the front land on the south-east side of Salmon River, to the mouth of the Little Forks, be surveyed for settlement. This land would soon be occupied, and a survey would prevent squatters from improving on land so irregularly. * There is also an excellent tract of land situate between Salmon River and Coal Creek, extending up stream about twenty miles, which, I think, if surveyed, would soon be occupied, and also prevent squatters from settling irregularly, as they now are. * Kent {Iiic?dbucto).— There are no remote settlements of any note in my district, the settlers confining themselves chiefly to the banks of the diflPerent rivers and their tributaries. The greatest obstacle which prevents parties from going farther up the country to settle is the want of roads to encourage them to do so. (Seven lines for roads mentioned leading through good land.) ' Northumberland. — There is an excellent tract of land in rear of the granted lands from Burnt Church to Neguac, extended back towards Stymist's Mill Stream, and easterly to the granted land on the west side of Tabusintack River. There is also a good tract of land on the north side of Little Tracady River, above the head of the tide, extending upwards, and back towards Pocmouche River. There is also an extensive tract of good land between Pocmouche River and the south branch of Caraquet River, extending from tho upper settlement on Caraquet River, I think, to the Bathurst Road ; and if a road were opened from the upper settlement on the south branch of Caraquet to the Bathurst Road, about eleven miles south of Bathurst, it would pass through a fine tract of hardwood land. The whole distance would be about twenty -four miles ; and I am not aware of any bridges, except small ones, that would be required in the whole distance. * Charlotte. — There are several extensive tracts of good land in this county, if through which roads were opened, would soon be settled upon ; and I believe that it is for want of roads that they have not been settled upon before this time. However, the people in tliis county do not seem to be much inclined to settle upon new lands (witness tho few sales of crown-lands which have taken place I AMERICA. in this county for the last two years) ; and where they have settled tliey do not improve very fast. * •The extensive trade in cedar-shingles which is carried on at St Stephen's and Calais has very much injured the settlement of the currounding country. Tlie merchants and traders there en- courage the settlers to manufacture these shingles, for which they generally pay them in goods and provisions. This is apparently an advantage to the settler, as it would seem to be an easy means of providing provisions for the first year ; but in the end it is ruinous to his farming interests, as the merchant generally manages to get the settler into his debt ; so that he (the settler) is obliged to con- tinue the manufacture, to keep his credit good, even at times when he ought to be either sowing or securing his crops, and leaving him but very little time to clear and improve his farm. * This trade has also caused the crown-lands within twenty-five or thirty milet jf St Stephen's to be all pillaged of the very fine ccdar- tmiber it contained, thereby rendering it of much less value when purchased for actual settlement. 'There is one tract of land which I wish particularly to brin? under your notice ; it is situated to the north and west of Canooso Kiver, and is bounded on the north and west by the lliver St Croix • It contains a large quantity of good land, enough to form a parish ot Itself. There is a new settlement on tl;e Canoose River on the cont.auation of the Oak Hill Road, and a bridge was built over the stream at tins place last summer ; and should this road be continued on northerly along the east side of Captain Spearman's grant, and then m nearly a direct line to tlie Little Falls on the St Croix River below I'orter's Meadows, where x bridge could be constructed at a small expense across the river, it would in that distance pjiss throur dearino. planted a^j^t the stumps ?--The laSd beinggood,^ ot.X^ cropped, 200 bushels might be looked for. ' o«^tTf-''^!T,''*'f °f ^^^*"°S ^'^ a» acre, burning the rot-aU wood, ten Ty'^" ^r^ ^ planting ?-Good hardwood land w.' i^ ten or eleven days to prepare it for crop; and if done by the iob would cost from £3. 10s. lOd. to £3. 15s. per a<;re. ^ ^ * .,-_„„ _. „.^,^ ,„, ,^j .^ a^,j.g ^j poiaioesr— The seed being i wf i NEW BRUNSWICK. carefully planted, ten bushels woald be required, at say 2s. Id. per bushel. 'Rate per day of labour if hired?— In a short period, 3s. 4d. without board ; and 2s. SJd. with board. 'Average cost of rough log-hut?— A log-hut 18 feet by 12, shingled, but without chimney or flooring, would cost £8, 6s. 8d., including two windows and one door ; a hut of the same dimensions, with chimney, double-flooring and ceiling, \vith a cellar, would probably cost £15 or £16, 13s. 4d.» Labour.— It is well that it should be at once understood that New Brunswick is not at present a good emigration field for the mechanic or the mere labourer, who has nothing but his work to givo. There is, of course, employment for the workman— espe- cially in the staple produce of the country— lumbering, or timber- cutting, but it seems to be pretty fully supplied. If it were not, it is not one to induce aspiring men of the better class of skilled labourers to follow it. The work is hard. It is of a kind that necessarily demands a lifetime of seclusion in the lonely forest. For its chief characteristics, reference may be made to page 37. In their circular for 1851 they give a rather better account, an- nouncing that ' the immigration agent stated, in a letter dated 10th March 1851, that the demand for unskilled labour was on the increase, and that a moderate number of orduiary labourers and farm - servants might find employment at fair wages in With regard to other labourers, they appear to be already suf- ficiently abundant in the colony. It is not a place where great capitalists who can give much employment go. It has been chiefly colonised by capitalist- workers ; men of small means, who clear and labour in their settlements— and it is to this class only that it is at present suitable. Mr Johnston found an impression there, that if a man had from £50 to £100, with industrious habits and common sense and caution, he was sure to get on ; and the pro- vince was thought much more suitable to this class than to men of large means. He mentions many well-to-do Lowland Scotsmen of this class ; but he does not give so good an account of the success of the Irish and Highlanders. The government agent calculated that nine-tenths of those who landed in New Bruns- wick in the year 1849, passed into the United States, led by the better encouragement for labour. The Emigration Commissioners reported, in 1850, that though there had been a good harvest, and other matters had been on the whole encouraging to the settlers, the demand for farm-labourers was likely to be verv limited, ' if any,' ' while for ordinary or skUled labour,' the resid population was renorted to be ' auite sufficient.' 63 } t t ! ^1 MM»W t V / jj 1 'I AMERICA. The observations of practical men who have been connected with enterprise on the spot, confirm the notion, however, that New Brunswick will not be for some time a field for the absorption of much labour. There are always two opposite views of labour or its reward in emigration fields, and perhaps elsewhere. The em- ployer looks to a sum as the amount at which it should be obtained ; and when he cannot obtain it at that rate, is censorious discontented, almost fierce. The labourer, who has taken the trouble of emigrating, calculates on a golden reward for liis ser- vices, and is mortified and discontented with the employer who cannot afford to give it. Thus what the one party talks of as prosperity, will not be viewed by the other in the same light. Mr Perley, the government emigration agent, was examined before the House of Lords' Committee on Emigration in 1847. He was desired to mention an instance of a raw emigrant rising by his labour and prudence. He mentioned one which he seemed to consider rather an eminent instance ; but though it came to a satisfactory conclusion, the beginning was not what would be an mducement to any but the humblest of the working-classes in this country— and in good times hardly to them. * Can you give any instances within your own knowledge of the pro- gress of an unskilled labourer upon his arrival to the conditio<^ of a skilled labourer receivinjf higher wages, till he readies the pomt of liaving the means of acquiring land, and becoming a landowner?-! can mention one case. I sent a young man to a firstrate fanner in the country, who wrote to me for an active young man. Was the emigrant an Irishman '—From the county of Cork ; the son of a small farmer in that county. He brou. ' f me a letter of introduction, stating that he was of a decent family. 1 sent him up to a firstrate farmer, who gave him 308. currency per month, with which he was not well satisfied ; that is equal to 25s. steriing. Ho had his main- tenance, and washing and lodging, in the farmer's house. He proved himself so active and useful, that in the second month his wages were advanced. Before the close of the season, and the setting hi of winter, he had learned the use of the axe very well, and was onga.^ed ipV"^^®""^ P***"*^ '° ^-^^ '^^""^^ ** ^'^ P®'' month.— Feeding htm- self ?— No ; they found him everything in the woods except clothing ile proved himself so good an axeman, that at the end of the year when the men came down with the timber, and he was paid off, he u fJ* j*° ™® ^ '^""^ °^ ^^^ currency, and wanted to know what he should do with his earnings. I advised him to buy 100 acres of land which would cost him £12 currency ; to put the other £18 in the Savings Bank, and hire out another year, and by that time he would be m a position to establish himself comfortably as a farmer.— In stating that case, do you state it as a remarkable case, or as a case trequently occurring, or as at all ordinarily occurring in the pro- /.'j «."u^r« wiiHin ino lass tmee or four years several 04 NEW DRUNSWR-K. «iich cases. This probably is a strong one ; but I have known many •cases wliure emigrants have gone on nearly as successfully as that, and have had £20 at the end of the first year.' The labour-market being in the meantime of the limited kind wliich we liave mentioned, it does not follow that the opportunities for enlarging it are limited, and that it will always remain thus bounded. There is great room for enterprise in this colony ; it may some day make a great start onward. It is believed that the road-making operations, elsewhere alluded to, will be of great advantage — on the one hand, new emigrants will be occupied ; on the other, good places of settlement will be made move accessible. The contemplated railway operations would tend still more to infuse spu-it and enterprise into the district. Mr Perley stated to *he Lords' Committee of 1847, that * the impression in New Bruns- wick, is, that for every emigrant labourer who may be employed ^ipon the railway itself, four other emigrant labourers would iind employment throughout the province in other works which would spring up in consequence of the construction of the railway — such as the establishment of new settlements ; the founding of towns ; the establishment of foundries, forges, and furnaces ; the erection of mills ; the making of roads ; construction of bridges ; and in an mfinity of other Avays.' On the occasions where active operations have been cai-ried on, ■a stream of labour, Avhich may be said to pass through this colony to the United States, becomes partially arrested. This was the <,ase in 184G, when a more than usual number of working-men remained in New Brunswick. The gentleman just quoted thus accounts for the phenomenon : ' I can explain that. Last year there were large grants from the provincial legislature for the road service— about £40,000. Shipbuilding also was in a very flourish- ing condition. We built a large amount of ships in the province last year ; nearly double what had been built in previous seasons. A number of new steam saw-mills were also erected ; and in St John, what gave employment more than anything else was, that a gas-light company and a water company were each laying down pipes for gas and water in the city of St John. All these circum- stances combined gave employment, at good wages, to a certain extent.' Emigi'ation. — From the limited employment, emigration to this colony has never been great, and is rather decreasing. The number who landed in 1850 was 1507. In 1849 the arrivals were 2671, being less than those of the previous year by so much as 1470 ; and it was the opinion of the emigration agent, that of the vfidnced number nine -tenths had nassed on in the United States. The immigration of 1848—4020 persons — was B C5 -^. I f i k I' AMEUICA. a decrease on that of 1847— the great year of misery and helter- skelter emigration— of 11,249; and was •> decrease on the more moderate year, 1846, of 5745. The number in that year was 9765 of whom about 4500 are supposed to have passed over to the United States, leaving, however, an increase to the New Brunswick population of more than 5000. Along with the other North American colonies, New Brunswick suffered considerably from the wretched cargoes of emigrants fleeing from the Irish famine and all the miseries of 1847. Not only were helplessness and starvation unshipped upon the island appealing clamorously for relief and the saving of life, but conta- gious diseases of an appalling kind were imported in these miser- able vessels, which communicated themselves around, and espe- cially among those who benevolently attempted to mitigate the miseries of the helpless strangers. A better notion could nut be formed of the nature of the sufferings to be mitigated, and of the sacrifices made by the colony, than the perusal of an act of the colony, passed in 1848, ' to provide for the expenses incurred in the support, relief, and maintenance of indigent, sick, and dis- tressed emigrants and orphans who arrived in this province during the past year.' The items shew that the colonists near wh j the livmg cargoes were unshipped had to make great pecuniary sacri- fices to save the lives laid down at their doors. To protect themselves from so costly and dangerous an inunda- tion, the colony passed an act in 1848 iu increase the tax on im- migrants—making it 10s. a head between Ist April and 1st Sep- tember; 15s. between 1st September and 1st October; and £1 from that time to 1st April. If the vessel required to go into quaran- tine for the health of the passengers, an addition of 5s. a boad was mcurred; and if it required to remain in quarantine more than ten days, a further sum of 5s. In reference to this enactment, which of course pressed heavHy on the emigration to the colony— £300 or £400 requiring sometimes to be paid for one vessel— the lieutenant-governor, Sir Edward Head, vrote to the secretary for the colonies in April 1849, that ' there never was a more striking example of the fact, that incautious and Ul-regulated emigration does more than anything else to throw impediments in the way of that which may be properly conducted.' Better symptoms were, however, observable m 1849, the number of emigrants bemg much reduced, and the health and general con- dition improved. In 1850, an act was passed reducing the fees or taxes by precisely one-half. The tax came, then, to be as follows : immigrants arriving between the 1st April and 1st September wiU now pay 5s. : between Ist Sfinf^mKoi- ar,A lo*- rk«*-.u-_ n- i?j . between 1st October and 1st April, lOs.; and vessels placed in 66 i. NOVA SCOTIA AND CAPE BRETON. quarantine will pay, in tho first instance, 28. 6d. a head ; and if detained more than ten days, an additional 28. 6d. a head. *^^%^v^^^*^ I in NOVA SCOTIA AND CAPE BRETON. The old province of Nova Scotia is between the 43d and 46th degrees of latitude, and the 61 8t and 67th degrees of west longi- tude. It is about 320 miles long, with an average breadth of 70 miles, and is computed to contain 7,000,000 acres of Ary land, 2,000,000 of which are barren, and incapable of cultivation. The stormy island of Cape Breton, separated from it by a strait which in some places is not above a mile wide, is supposed to contain about 600,000 acres of land capable of cultivation. The coasts are wild, rocky, and deeply indented; but the province is not strictly mountainous, the greatest elevation not rising above 700 feet above the level of the sea. * Granite and calcareous rocks, with gray and red sandstone, prevail in the northern parts of Nova Scotia, from the Gut of Canseau to the Bay de Vert, and extend across the province to the Bay of Minas, if not interrupted by a granite ridge, which may very probably occur in the Mount Tom range of Highlands. The hard gray or bluish sandstone which occurs in various parts of the province makes excellent grindstones; the light gray granite quarried at Whitehead, near Cape Canseau, makes remar^ ably good millstones ; and a beautiful freestone, most admirably auapted for building, is abundant in several places, par- ticularly at Port Wallsice.'— {Appendices to Macgregor's Commer- cial Reports, Part xxiii. p. 530.) In the same authority it is stated that ' the geology and mineralogy of Cape Breton can only be said to be known in outline. From all that we have observed, however, and from all the information we have been able to ob- tain, it may be remarked that almost all the rocks named in the discordant nomenclature of Werner are found in this island. Among the primitive rocks, granite prevails in the peninsular country )uth-ea8t of the Bras d'Or, nnd it possibly forms the nucleus of the Highlands between this inlet and the Gulf of St Lawrence. Sienite, trap, mica, clay-slate, and occasionally quartz, also appear in the Gulf coast. Primitive trap, sienite, mica-slate, and clay-slate, shew themselves, together with transition limestone, ^^^^-^^®' ^8""»i a^d coal, generally in all parts of this island.* — (P. 632.) Muierals of the agate and jasper kind are found along the coast, as throughout the greater part of North America. But 67 r i i AMERICA. what is of cluoi moment to note in their geology, is the abundance of coal spread over the gi-onter part of both districts. Thi:ro aro large strata of ironstone; copper and load have been met with; and it is believed that when an opportunity occurs for adapting their resources to use, these territories will bo found rich in minerals. Few countries aro so well situated for the exportation of their productions. There are several navigable rivers, with fertile banks the largest being the Shubenacadie and the Clyde ; and with these! and the indentations of the coast, there is no part of the interior above thirty miles from navigation. A great part of the country is covered with dense forest, the effect of which is to keep tho otherwise rich alluvial soil on which it stands in a continual state of coldness and dampness, from the shade, the thick unaired coat- ing of dead leaves, and the quantity of rain thus attracted. The contrasts of season exhibited in North America generally are pecu- liarly violent here, in the length and acerbity of tho Avinter, and the heat of summer. There is some stony and worthless land, but much of it is highly available; and when settlement and cultivation make progress, the disappearance of the forest will bring greater equality and salubrity to the climate. The lands are generally divided into three kinds— upland, intervale, and marsh. The first kind, generally near the river heads, is sometimes a stiff clay ; but it is varied by a friable and productive loam. The intervale land consists of a rich alluvium, and is of a similar character to that known by the same name in New lirunawick. The marsh is sometimes diked like that already mentioned in New Brunswick. Mr Johnston, who saw but a small portion of Nova Scotia, but who noted well what he saw, confirms the previous accounts of the soil of the province, dividing it, like his predecessors, into three cksses. He was of opinion that the wild broken coast- line gave ordinary travellers a fallacious notion of the interior, being * as naked and inhospitable as an inhabited country can well be.' Nor would the interior in the immediate neighbourhood of the capital of the province convey a more promising impression ; for he tells us that there, ' in some places, boulders of various sizes are scattered sparsely over the surface ; in others they literally cover the land; while in rarer spots they are heaped upon each other, as if intentionally accumulated for some after-use.' * One ought,' he continues, ' to visit a country like tins, while new to the plough, in order to understand what must have been the original condition of much of the land in our own country, which the suc- cessive labours of many generations have now smoothed and levelled.' Passing across the neck of land between Halifax and thfi Tiav of Minna Mr .Tnl-inofrvn ttrna n-,,',Ac"*-y" "1— ..~l- 1 Al ! J?i - of the country— it happened to be a very dry season— until he C8 NOVA SCOTIA AND CAPE HRETON. i rnme to tho dike-land. * TIuh land,' ho says, ' bcIIu at present at iVom £15 to £40 Bterling per acre; and sonic of it has been tilled for 150 years without any manure— a treatment, however, of which it 18 now beginning seriously to complain. It averages 300 bushels (nine tons), and sometimes produces COO bushels (eighteen tons) of potatoes to the acre.' Of the intervale land Mr .Johnston says, that with farm buildings it * is rarely valued so high as £20 an acre.' The chief productions are of course grain and live-stock. The timber, though so abundant, is of an inferior quality, and does not compete with that of Canada and New Brunswick. There are, iiufortunately, but scanty statistics of a recent date as to Nova Scotia and (Jape Breton. In 1827 there was an enumeration of the cultivated land and its produce. The acreage was 274,501, on which grew 101,410 bushels of wheat, 799,665 bushels of other grain, 2,434,760 tons of potatoes, and 150,976 tons of hay. The live-stock were 13,232 horses, 100,739 horned cattle, 152,978 sheep, and 75,772 swine. The amount of agricultural produce must have greatly increased since this estimate was made, with the exception probably of potatoes, tho cultivation of which was in a great measure abandoned after the ravages of the disease. By returns to parliament in 1850, the quinquennial value of the e.xport8 of the colony was calculated at £661,581. But it appears that while the amount in 1847 had risen to £831,071, it had fallen in 1849 to £560,947. The quinquennial average of shipping inwards was 476,207 tons ; of shipping outwards, 435,643 tons. It is calculated that the projected railway from Halifax to Quebec would render accessible 1,080,000 acres of ungi-antod land in this colony. It does not appear that much land has lat61y been acquired in the colony, and the Emigmtion Commiosioners have not of late reported any sales. In 1845 there were sold in Nova Scotia 21,921 acres, bringing £2028, 18s. ; and in Cape Breton, 17,700J acres, realising £1669, 13s. The terms on which lands may be acquired here are very easy. A local act was passed, enabling *he governor and council to fix any rate not less than Is. 9d. an acre : but there are ample provisions for rekxing this rule in favour of persons urging any claim for occupancy and improvement. From the excellent means of communication in the great harbour of Halifax and otherwise, it is believed that for a small capitalist contented with the climate this would be an eligible emigration field. With regard to labour, though wages have been hitherto- good, and provisions nhean, yet the Emifratinn CommiHP.injif'rs announce that here, as in New Brunswick, there is but a limited dcinaD4 for workmen. In 1847 the governor represented to tha 69 AMERICA. i!ii vl ! « I ! home government that it would not be desirable to encourage the emigration of workmen to the province. The population of Nova Scotia and Cape Breton is estimated at 300,000. TJiat of Nova Scotia separately was, in 1837, 199,206. The people are of a mixed race. Many of the original French settlers or Acadians still exist, especially in Cape Breton. They much resemble in their character and habits the Habitans of Canada. There is a mixed dark race, the descendants of refugee slaves. Several of the descendants of American loyalists hold lands in the province. There are many Higliland emigrants; and, unfor- tunately for the progress of the colony, they are apt to keep together in communities, as in Canada. Pictou, a territory pene- trated by a beautiful harbour, has 30,000 inhabitants, the greater part of whom are Highlanders. Few emigrants have lately gone to the province. It suffered along with the other North American colonies by the pauper-emigration of 1847, at a time when, owing to considerable internal depression, it was little suited to receive such an addition to its population. An act was passed, as in the otlier colonies, for taxing emigrants, which rapidly reduced the number. They Avere, in 1847, 2000; ftnd in 1848, 140. The number who embarked in the year following was 298. There are several towns in Nova Scotia, the princip?' of which is the fine city of Halifax, a place of great importance to trade. It contains eight good streets, with a very remarkable mass of government buildings, called the Province Building; many hand- some private residences built of stone and plastered wood ; and large conunodious wharfs for its extensive shipping and mer- chandise. It contains about 25,000 inhabitants. Its trade is extensive, but its mercantile classes, probably from their being chiefly of Scottish origin, are celebrated for their prudence and the paucity of bankrupts among them. The trade of the town derives its importance in a great measure from its being an entrepot between Britain and America. It is generally the first American port touched by the vessels crossing the Atlantic, and affords the emigrant the earliest glimpse of American scenery. Many trans- atlantic tourists speak of Halifax, from having had occasion to land there on their way to Canada or the United States, but few travellers have recorded their opinions of the other parts of Nova Scotia. In general, the notices of Halifax have been very promis- ing, both as to the health and comfort of the inhabitants of the province. Mr Johnston, the latest traveller who gives us his im- pression of the capital, emphatically says : ' A European stranger who, on landing in Halifax, looks for the sallow visage and care- worn expression which distinguish so many of the inhabitants of the northern states of the Union, will be pleased to see the fresh 70 PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND. and blooming complexions of the females of all classes, and, I may- say, of almost all ages. Youth flourishes longer here, and we scarcely observe, in steppin?: from England to Nova Scotia, that we have yet reached a climate which bears heavier upon young looks ^ and female beauty than our own.'— {Notes on North America, i. 3.) The importance &i Halifax will be greatly enlarged when the projected railway to Quebec is carried through. Many of the emigrants, not only to the Canadas but to the Western States of the Union, will then disembark at Halifax. ^'VV X. V^ XiV^ ^.^^ %/W owing PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND. This island, in the Gulf of St Lawrence, lies_ between 46^ and 47° 10" of north latitude. Its length, pursuing a course corre- sponding with its winding shape, is 140 miles, and its breadth about 34 miles. It is deeply indented with cheeks, like the west coast of Scotland, so that n'> part of it is far distant from the sea. It is not mountainous, but has some gentle elevations ; and the burface is described as a peculiarly pleasant diversity of gentle rising- grounds, forests, meadows, and water. This was one of the colonies originally belonging to France, and the foundation of the population is French. Many Highlanders have been settled there under the auspices of Lord Selkirk; but they have been too closely associated together, and their position is therefore too Ij'i-e that which they held in their own country. The popula- tion amounts now to about 68,000; it did not much exceed 6000 at the commencement of the century. The capital and seat of government is Charlottetown, with about 3500 inhabitants ; it is neatly built and agreeably situated. In 1848 the lands held in Prince Edward Island amounted to the following :— In absolute property or fee-simple, 280,649 acres ; under lease, 330,926 acres \ by verbal agreement, 38,783 acres ; occupants not freeholders or tenants, being, it may be presumed, of the nature of squatters, held 65,434 acres ; and 31,312 are set down as ' by written demises.' The acres of arable land were 215,389, exceeding by 73,809 the amount of arable land m 1840. In Mr Macgregor's Appendices to the Commercial Reports, pre- sented to parliament in 1850, where the particulars from which ' the above general statement is taken are set forth ac length, there is also an account of the crop of the preceding year. It consisted of— wheat, 219,787 (an increase of 66,328 over the same crop iu 71 AMERICA. 1840) ; barley, 75,521 bushels ; oats, 746,383 bushels ; potatoer^ 731,575 bushels (a great decrease from the amount of 1840, which was 2,230,114 bushels); turnips, 153,933 bushels; clover-seed, 14,900 bushels; and hay, 45,128 tons. There has been little emigration to this island in late years. In 1849 there arrived eighty-four new settlers, chiefly sent thitlier by the Duke of Sutherland. The quantity of land sold in the same year was 79i acres, realising £99, 15s. The price of land in this island had been for some time extravagantly high— wildernesa land at an upset price of 20s. an acre, and ' town, pasture, and river lots at from £10 to £30 per acre.' A reduction of 10 per cent, took place in 1837. In 1848 an arrangement of an unfor- tunately complex kind was adopted, the result of which appears to be, that 7000 acres were offered at 5s, an acre ; 2540 at 10s. ; and pasture lots, of eight acres each, at £5 per lot. These are all I'pset pi-ices. The Emigration Commissioners join this island with Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, as a place where much additional labour is not required. Tt is understood, however, that the settlement would be a suitable one for small capitalists, by whom it could be made very productive in grain. NEWFOUNDLAND. Newfoundland lies between 46° 40' and 51° 37' north, and covers a vast triangular area, forming a sort of barrier across the greater part of the mouth of the Gulf of St Lawrence. It is the part of America nearest to Europe. Though an island, and in the centre of the ocean traffic with North America, little was known of its in- terior character until, in 1822, it was penetrated at great risk, and with much exertion, by Mr Cormack, an adventurous traveller. The impediments which he encountered from the lakes, rivers, and vast impenetrable marshes, shewed the source of its proverbial fogs and damp winds. The geological formation was chiefly primitive, but indications were seen of iron and coal. The wild animals of the north were found to abound. The island has forests of timber but they are not in great abundance. It is not believed that much' good arable land, fit for grain, will ever be found in Newfoundland, but It IS thought that its grazing capacities may be considerable. This colony is mentioned on the present occasion rather to satisfy the curiosity of those who may wish to know whether it resembles the other North American territories, than for the sake of rcconi- 7J il I THE NORTH-WEST TEURITOKY, &C. xnending it as an emigration field. It has scarcely been used for the ordinary purposes of emigration and settlement, the agri- culture of the country being merely raised to feed its shippuig population. In general the soil is covered with a thick coating of mo3s, rendering its cultivation laborious. While the population is about 100,000, the quantity of land under crop in 1845 amounted only to 29,654 acres. No hay appears to have been produced ; but there were, of oats, 11,695 bushels, and of potatoes, 341,165. There were in the island 2409 horses, 8135 horned cattle, 5750 sheep, and 5791 goats. With regard to labourers not agricultural, the settlement is in much the same position as the neighbouring colonies. There is work in proportion to the extent of the com- munity, and it is well rewarded ; but there is no room for a kirge importation of workmen. The great occupation of the place is fishing, and the operations connected with the curing and preser- vation of the fish. The neiglibouring Bank of Newfoundland — the largest submerged island in the world, being 600 miles long, and in some places 200 broad— is the great fishing-ground for cod, ling, and the smaller fish. Whale and seal fishing are largely carried on. The value of the dried cod annually exported is £500,000, and that of the other produce of the fishery— oil, seal-skin, her- rings, &c.-^is about the same, making an export on the whole of nearly a million in value. The Emigration Commissioners, in their circular for 1851, say : 'There exists no oificial return of the surveyed and accessihio land at the disposal of the crown in tliis colony. The area has been estimated at about 2,300,000 acres, of which about 23,000 have been appropriated. By a colonial law, crown-lands are to be sold by auction at an upset price, to be fixed by the governor, at not less than 2s. per acre. Land exposed to auction more than once on different days may afterwards be sold, without further computition, at the last upset price. Although the agriculture of the province is progressively increasing, there are yet comparatively few persons exclusively employed in it, the population being nearly all engaged in the fisheries.* ^«ww^v^^%% THE NORTH-WEST TERRITORY ISLAND. AND VANCOUVER'S The boundaries of the British American possessions, with tlie United States and Russian America, have already been re- ferred to. The former is very vague in its character as it passes 73 ■;if HI AMERICA. west\vard, and may involve unpleasant discussions hereafter. Setting apart, however, the several settle:,nents already considered — the Canadas, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland — the remainder of the vast territory consists of the possessions of the Hudson's Bay Com- pany, and the great North-west Territory. The boundaries of the company's territories are not very distinctly laid down, but they are understood to commence towards the east with the table-land in Labrador, which separates the waters flowing into Hudson's Bay from those flowing into the St Lawrence and its gulf, and to be bounded westward by the Rocky Mountains. In these directions there will probably be little occasion precisely to fix the bounds ; but as the company nominally hold by their charter the country watered by all the rivers running into Hudson's Bay, their nominal boundaries include territories actually within the United States. This vast northern region exhibits great varieties of soil, scenery, and climate. A large part of it is flat and marshy, while the Rocky Mountains rise m granitic peaks to from 10,000 to 16,000 fee;, in height. The more northern portion is partly covered with stone and arid detritus, and contains more marsh, river, and lake, than any other part of the world. In these desolate regions there is but a brief summer and a long dreary w'nter, which requires the servants of the Hudson's Bay Company to exercise the utmost caution to avoid intence hardship, accompanied with danger. In some of their posts and factories, even when there is fire in the room, brandy freezes, and the walls are covered with glittering ice from the breath of the inmates ! A more comfortless life than these hardy adventurers lead it were difficult to imagine. ' The soil at Churchill Fort (one of the Hudson's Bay Company's sta- tions, m latitude 59° north), on the shores of the bay, is extremely barren, rocky, dry, and without wood for several miles inland ; a few garden vegetables are with difficulty reared. At York Fort, in latitude 57° 2', longitude 93° west, the soil is low and marshy, and equally unproductive ; and though the trees arc larger than those inland of Fort Churchill, they are equally knotty and dwarfish. The country around the factory, although elevated above the river, is one entire swamp, covered with low, stunted piiie, and perfectly impenetrable, even in July, when it is infested with clouds of mosquitoes. The land seems to Lave been thrown up by the sea, and is never thawed, during the hottest pummer, with the thermometer at 90° to 100" in the shade, mere than ten or twelve inches, and then the soil is of the consistence of clammy mud : even in the centre of the factory it is necessary to keep on the platfoi*ros to avoid sinking over the anklea:— {Martin's Hud- sorCs Bay Territories aiid Vancouver's Islana, 10.) U / ^ :/ 7i 1.0 I.I 112 ■ 4 2.2 IK 11.8 1.25 1.4 1.6 41 6" ► % . ^^ '^'^ J%\^f' w '^cW oV '^^ ^^ '-y -. '?■: Hiotographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 •S^ l\ k :\ \ _ „ A" fA % %*% '.^ h. l?.r AMERICA. Looking to the social and moral condition of the proper emi- gration states, it may be safely said that nowhere can a refugee find more independence and toleration than by selecting his position over this vast concretion of distinct and dissimilar social systems. This has its evil, doubtless— it aflfords a refuge for crime, and a hiding- place for branded reputations; but so it must be in every advanc- ing prolific country, where people are daily coming in contact with new faces. It has, however, its good and humane aspect. There are bigots and exclusionists of all kinds, and of the bitterest intensity, in the States, if people desire to find them out ; but, on the other hand, those who have what are here called peculia- rities of opinion, will find refuge for them there, as the Quakers and Puritans did of old ; and may even succeed in passing from an arena where they are socially persecuted, and not only be safe from annoyance, but establish a little exclusive community of theur own. The Mormons would never have been allowed in any thickly-inhabited country to bloom out unmolested in all their absurdity, and then fade, leaving their magnificent palace empty and undisturbed, as they did in the West. Mr Joseph Sturge, in his visit to the United States, describes the Weld and Grunke circle of abstainers — a family with many able followers. * In the household arrangements,' he says, « of this distinguished family, Dr Graham's dietetic system is rigidly adopted, which excludes meat, butter, coflfee, tea, and all intoxicating beverages. I can assure all who may be interested to know, that this Roman sim- plicity of living does not forbfd enjoyment, when the guest can share with it the afiluencc of such minds as daily meet at their table.' In the old country, people so ' fanciful,' uastead of being a distinguished circle, would be sneered down to the most abject con- dition in the social scale. The emigrant of the higher classes in this country, before he makes up his mind to proceed to the United States, must consider and weigh with reference to his position, his habits, and his expec- tations, the general equality that pervades the country. It is need- less to speak here of the difficulty of procuring domestic servants and humble attendants out of the i^'ave states— that must be well known. Our tourists tell quite enough about the free, easy, inqui- sitive manners of ' Brother Jonathan ; ' and the English gentleman is generally prepared for any extent of enormity on that point. But he should be prepared for the general influence of equality in fortunes as well as society, and remember that the States are a place to live in, but not to make a fortune in. True there are in- stances of great wealth in the States, especially among the owners of slave properties ; and there are instances where fortunes have been made rapidly. But these instances are exceptional, and there 82 -■w?^-'^^---^-* THE UNITED STATES. is nothing fit for comparison with the vast contrasts exhibited by the social grades of this country. If fortunes are to be made, they are not likely to fall to the lot of our countrymen. A people still more acute and enterpi-ising are in the field before them, sedulously searching out all the avenues to wealth. The Englishman who wants to make a rapid fortune and return with it, will have better chances among the indolent Spaniards and Por- tuguese of the south. He who proceeds to the United States must make up his mind to be content with a competency, and the belief that he will leave to his descendants a solid comfort- able patrimony, ever gradually rising in value. A glance at official salaries readily shews how much incomes just large enough to provide all the comforts and simple elegances of life, but no larger, prevail in America. The highest official salary, that of the president, is 25,000 dollars, or about £5208. This is on a totally different scale from all the other salaries. Thus the highest officers in the ministry — the secretary of state, secretary of the treasury, and secretary of war — have each 6000 dollars, little more than £1200. The chief- justice of the Su- preme Court has 5000 dollars — a trifle more than £1000 of our money ; and the other judges have 4500 dollars each. The Ameri- cans are essentially a practical people. They woul^ have too much good sense to grudge the market-price of efficient public service ; and we must conclude that the general tendency to equality in income admits of the public being ably and honestly served at a price which we would consider likely, in this country, to occasion incapacity and corruption. It would seem that in some of the old slave states, where there is more of a wealthy aristocracy, it has been necessary to adjust the incomes of the local magistrates to the circumstance. While in such states as Connecticut, Delaware, and Maine, the salaries of the chief-justices vary from 1200 to 1800 dollars, the president of the Court of Appeals in Virginia has 5750 dollars, and the chancellor of Maryland, 3000 dollars. Money. — Already we have referred to the American system of dollars. A dollar is equal, speaking roundly, to 4s. 2d. of our money. This is not the precise equivalent, but by an act of Con- gress in 1832 it was so fixed, for the payment of ad valorem duties in the American customhouse. The dollar thus makes about the fifth part of a guinea. It is often useful, when large sums are mentioned in the coinage of another country, to have a formula for guessing at Eomething approaching the value in our own money. When a large round sum is mentioned in dollars, if we cut off a cipher, and double the amount, we know that we are near the truth in pounds cr guineas of our own money. Thus when the amount is 3000 dollars (expressed thus — $3000), 83 AMERICA. if we cut off the last cipher, and double the amount, we have GOO; which, if we say pounds, will be rather below the amount, as COOO pence, or 500 shillings, equal to £25, have to be added to make the exact sum. If the amount be stated in gumeas, it will be nearer the ti-uth, but rather above it. In reading American books and papers, when one does not require to be precisely accurate, yet wishes to have a general notion of the sums mentioned, it is convenient to uso such a rough and rapid mental process. CONSTITUTIONAL PRIVILEGES OF THE SETTLER. The proposing emigrant who selects the United States as his place of destination, will naturally have considered the nature of its constitution as well as its social condition. He must be pre- pared, of course, to find something different from what he is accus- tomed to at home, but not so different as he would find his position under a Russian or Austrian despotism. He ought not to found his anticipations of the state of the country on the picturesque descriptions or indignant outcries of tourists. A despotic country is* the most agreeable to the mere sight-seer— everything is sub- serviency and courtesy in a place where he is going to spend his money in pleasure, not to become an active citizen; and when he gets over some little pedantries about passports and police-books, he will be delighted with the civility and gcod-temper he meets with, and the great attention paid to him. On the other hand, the mere traveller in the United States is allowed to make his own way unaided. Every one looks after himself; and people's avo- cations are too important to give them an inducement to put them- selves at the service of the traveller, like the Swiss guides or the Italian cicoronis. The States, therefore, do not hold out their most prepossessing aspect to tlie ordinary tourist ; but the propos- ing emigrant should look deeper into matters, for he goes not to be a sojourner but a citizen. Such is the peculiarity of this remarkable country. With us a foreigner, except in a few peculiar cases, is ever an alien— unre- presented, and without the right even to hold landed property ; and so it is in almost every other old country. But in the United States the settler becomes a citizen, and an organised part of the constitution. . j o Every one knows that the sovereignty of the United States is in a president and vice-president, with a Congress, consisting of two Houses— the Senate and the Representatives. The president and vice-president, as well as the Congress, are elected by the people ; and though there be some distmctions in the arrangement 84 THE UNITED STATES. M of the several states, the suffrage is virtually univerBal to all free male* twenty-one years old. The form of the ballot or secret voting has huen introduced, on the principle that each voter is responsible only to his own conscience for his vote, and that giving others an opportunity of knowing how he acts only tends to give them the means of influencing him against his conscience. No one is eligible as a member of Congress unless he have been seven years a citizen. The number of representatives varies with the population, so as to prevent, as far as possible, the members of any small community from exercising an undue influence, by having as much repre- sentation as a large population. In 1823 the representation was fixed at one member for each 40,000 inhabitants. In 1832 the number was increased to 47,700. It was still found, however, that with the ; V spects of increase in the population, the House would become too large for the convenient transacting of- business; and in 1842 an act of Congress was passed, appointing the body to consist of * one representative for every 70,680 persons in each state, and of one additional representative for each state having a fraction greater than one moiety of the said ratio.' Under this regulation there are 232 representatives, along with two delegates from Oregon and Minesota, who have a right to speak, but not to vote. Still this law was deemed dnsufficiert to keep tbe members in the House to a proper level. It was adopted as a principle that 233 members should be the utmost limit. An act of Congress was passed in 1850 for taking a census of the population in 1853, and regulating the matter of representation at the same time. It was appointed that the free population of all the States shall be esti- mated, excluding Indians not taxed, and that there shall then be added to the number three-fifths of all other persons. This aggre- gate is to be divided by 233, and the quotient, rejecting fractions, if any, is to be the ratio of the appointment of representatives among the several states. The representative population of each state is then to be ascertained, and divided by the ratio so found ; and the quotient of this last division is to be the number of repre- sentatives apportioned to each state. The president and the vice-president are chosen by ballot in the first instance. If an absolute numerical majority of the electors vote for one man, he is president. If, however, there is no such absolute majority, those at the head of the poll are chosen, not exceeding three in number, and are made a leet for the represen- tatives of the States to vote on. In this question it is not, how- ever, each member who votes, but each state. The Senate, or upper House of Congress, consists of two representatives from each state, chosen by their local legislatures. To the emigrant these local legislatures, with then- constitutions 85 AMERICA. and practice, will probably be of more immediate importance than the general federative constitution. Each state has its own gove^ment for its own internal affairs, not responsible to Congress for the exercise of the powers conferred on it by the constitution. Among the powers of the central government are, however, aU things relating to what may be called the construction of such states: and therefore, although the cultivated land ana the rights of ito inhabitants are matters for the States to deal with sepa- rately, the waste land is considered as belonging to the Union, and the legislation regarding its disposal is undertaken by Congress. This does not, however, prevent the separate states from legislat- ing on the admission of emigrants, and we shall afterwards find Hiat important agts were passed on this matter by the state of ^ew York Nor does it prevent th^ States from acquiring possession of waste lands under the public system, as many corporations may do. There are some arrangements of this character of a complicated nature, where rights are given to states as to waste lands in other states. The waste lands belonging to the Union are a sort of means of remuneration or reward, given to individuals or to com- munities; and frequently a state obtains a portion of its own waste lands for services. Thus in 1849 an act of Congress was passed, «to aid the state of Louisiana in draining the swamp lands therein, in which all swamp and overflowed lands incapable of cultivation are given to the state, on the condition of the state performmg certain improvements entirely at its own expense. In the con- struction of raUways it is .^sual to vest the waste lands requured for them in the states through which they pass. It was early predicted that the United States must faU to pieces, so heterogeneous were the materfals of which it is com- posed. It was anticipated that the local state legislatures must come into collision with the central government. The totally distinct character and interests of the northern and the southern states were, it was thought, likely to cause an msuperable division; and indeed the former, finding an interest in home manufactures, are the great advocates of a protective system agamst foreign importations; whUe the southern states, desirous to export their abundant raw produce, have an interest in encouraging a trade with other nations. The slave-holders and the abolitionists created an- other division of interests and feelings-tho old-established states on tx)e Atlantic, and the newly-constructed territories m the west, constituted to so great an extent by immigration, made still another. Yet the constitution has remained unshaken, and witli no alteration save in some petty detaUs since its adoption m x7«7. Thus the constitution made for two and a half millions of people has been found adequate for the government of nearly ten times 86 /) /) * THE UNITED STATES. that number. Whatever may be its defects, there is no better evi- dence of the truly practical and constitutional tendency of the British mind. It may be safely pronounced that it was a task quite out of the capacity of any community who had not among them a predominance of people of British origin. The republics con- structed in all other parts of the world, frequently under far more favourable auspices, have lamentably failed, while this has hved._ No part of the system is more interesting to the mtendmg emi- grant than that by which the exi'^nding western populations are graduaUy made into temporary governments, and mcorporated with the Union. Thus, in the session of 1849, an act of Congress was passed for laying out a state in that south-western territory between the Mississippi and Missouri, to which the British emi- grants passing through Canada proceed. It received the name et Mmcsota. This territory, formed of the ov#flowmg as it were of the Wisconsin and Iowa States, was appointed by the act to be thus bounded— its south-east corner to be at the Mississippi, at the point where the line of 43° 30' of north latitude crosses it ; thence running due west in this line, which is fixed as the northern boun- dary of Iowa, to the north-west corner of that state ; thence southerly along the western boundary till it strikes the Missouri; thence by the Missouri and the White-earth River to the southern boundary of the British possessions on the 49th parallel; and on from that to Lake Superior, and by the weF^ern boundary of Wisconsin to the Mississippi. The act appoints that every free white male inhabitant, twenty- one years old, may vote or be elected to office, provided he be either a citizen of the United States, or have taken an oath of his intention to become such, with the oath of allegiance to the constitution, and the observance of the act. When a local legislature is thus chosen, it fixes the qualification of voters and officers. The legislative assembly is to consist of a council and house of representatives. The council is to consist of nine members, chosen for two years ; and the repre- sentatives of eighteen members, chosen or one year. No law can be passed by this body interfering with the primary disposal of the soil, and no tax can be laid on the property of the United States. A supreme court and district courts are appomted. lo start the new state with a code cf laws which it- may alter at its leisure, it is enacted that the laws of Wisconsin, at the date of its admission as a state, are to be the laws of Minesota. _ The name of this new state has not yet found its way into the books of geography, yet in a few years it will probably be one of the most wealthy and populous territories in the new world. Nor is the name of another territory created by act of Congress in 1850 better known. It is called Utah. It is bounded on the 87 I I AMERICA. ♦ west by California, o- the north by Oregon, on the fast ^y the Bumtnit of the Kocky Mountains, and on the south by the 37th Darallel It is provided that the territory may afterwards be admitted into the Union, with or without slavery, as its constitution may prescribe at the time of admission. A similar measure .vas passed in the same session as to New Mexico. For he gold district, which has lately created so much sensation a far her and conclusive step in legislative union was made m 1850 m An Act for the admission of the State of California into the Union. The state is admitted on the condition that its legislature shal never interfere with the primary disposal of the public lands ^;thin ita limits, and shall do nothing to interfere with the right of the United States collectively to dispose of them, or to lay a tax on these lands. A jealousy of any interference with the uniformity of the system for the disposal of land is a conspicuous feature m all these acts of union or annexation. The main and most serious defect in all these new states, and one which the proposing emigi-ant will have gravely to consider is the powerlessness of the law within them. A federative republic is always feeblest, where a central government is strongest, m the outskirts. In our own colonies the power of the crown is far more irresistible than at home, where it is subject to constitutional and popular checks. Even in a society like that of New South Wales, impregnated with elements of the grossest criminality, it has been able to preserve obedience and order. In the United States the central government fixes the constitution and the laws, but leaves their practice and enforcement to the people themselves. Hence how far there is justice, freedom, and protection for life and property will depend on the character of the people who flock to the district. In the new south-western states especially, this haft by no means been of the best kind. The public have heard only too much of the reckless, profligate character of the men who have flocked especially to the gold regions; and if we may believe what travellers tell, even judges in Texas are highway robbers. Ihe emigrant who proposes to go to any of the new states must not, therefore, trust to the law and the constitution for protection; he must trust to the character of his neighbours; and he will find himself best situated in those tracts to which the peaceful hus- bandman and not the gold-seeker or the hunter resorts. MEANS OF CONVEYANCE. The means of transit to the various Atlantic ports of the United States— New York, Boston, Baltimore, Charleston, New : . THE UNITED STATES. Orleans, &c.-are, as already stated, abundant, and the cost of R passage exceedingly moderate. Those Avho go to Australia, New Zealand, or Africa, are either persons with some means of their own, out of which they hicur the expense of so long a voyage, or are taken under government or other public respon- Bibility! America, however, being the nearest emigration held, has been the destination of the most wretched; and the competition among shipowners has been, not to give good accommodation at the most moderate rate, but to bid down to the lowest sum at which it is practical to convey their human cargo. Great efforts have been made by the legislature to check the natural tendency of this practice, on the principle, in the first place, that people are not to carry on a trade in a manner to endanger human lite; and in the second place, that as the passenger is completely at the mer3y of the shipowners when he is on board, it is necessary to bind them by law to perform what is requisite for his com- fort and health, otherwise he cannot prevent them from sacrihcing it. Several Passenger Acts have been passed from tune to time for the regulation of emigrant vessels, and it may be hoped that the legislature has at last succeeded in extending a sufficient pro- tection. The latest of these was passed on Idth Jtily 184J (K^ and 14 Vict. c. 33.) Its obligations cannot easily be enforced against foreign vessels; and it must be remembered that much of the emigration of the present day is carried on m those ot the United States. The owners of the ships bringmg grain which of course is a bulky commodity, to Britain, have lound it an expedient arrangement to adapt them for return with ^"ifuTed'formerly to be the practice for those intending to pene- trate into the Far West to take their passage to New York; and the richer class of passengers whose destination was in Canada sometimes preferred this route to the dangers of the bt Lawrence passage, or the tediousness of the llideau Canal. The practice is, however, now likely to be reversed by the operations for improv- ing the navigation of the St Lawrence, which have been men- tioned under the head of Canada (p. U.) Great hopes ai^ enter- tained in that province that it will be the mam thoroughfare to the Western and Upper Mississippi districts. The Executive Council of State of Upper Canada issued a document on this sub- iect, from which the foUowhig extract is made. Though coming from 80 important an official body, it may be observed that the report has a good deal of the tone and character of an advertise- ment praising their own commodity to the depreciation of that of their neighbours :— , x • «? «f «^ in ♦It is important to call attention to the great saving effected in / "( < i \\ i i! 5 If :i AMERICA. time, as well as comfort, by taking the St Lawrence route. The dis- tance from Qiioboc to Chicago in Illinois, which is about 1600 miles, may bo performed in about ten days without transhipment ; and the steamers touch at tho ports of Cleveland, Sandusky, wlionco there is a railway to Cincinnati, and Toledo in Ohio, Detroit in Michigan, and Milwaukie in Wisconsin ; all which places can bo reached in •propor- tionate time. Tho dimensions of tho locks on the Welland Canal are 150 feet long by 264 feet wide ; and on the St Lawrence Canals, 200 feet long by 45 feet wide. The length of tho Erie Cai.al is 363 miles, with a lockage of 688 feet. The locks, eighty-four in number, are 90 feet in length by 16 feet in width, with a draught of 4 feet of water ; and the canal is navigated by vessels carrying not more than from 600 to 700 barrels of Hour [while those on the St Lawrence are stated to carry from 4000 to 5000 barrels.] The length of tho voyage from New York to Buftalo, there being at least one tranship- ment, may be stated at about ten days ; but it is very uncertain, as there are frequent delays arising from various causes. The rate of passage from Quebec to Cleveland, Ohio, without transhipment, is stated by Mr Buchanan to have been during laat season, just after the completion of the canals, six dollars, or about 24s. sterling for each adult. At this rate several German families, bound for the "Western States, obtained passages. It may, however, be fairly assumed, that even this low rate will be still further reduced by competition. The Committee of Council have no information before them of the cost of passage paid from New York to Cleveland ; but as there must be at least two transhipments, and as the time occupied in the pas- sage is fully a week longer than by the St Lawrence route, it is need- less to say that the expense must be much greater. With regard to the cost of transport of goods, an important fact has been brought under the notice of the Committee of Council. It appears that the Great Ohio Railway Company, having had occasion to import about 11,000 tons of railway iron, made special inquiries as to the relative cost of transport by the St Lawrence and New York routes; the result of which inquiries was, that a preference was given to tho former. The rate of freight on this iron from Quebec to Cleveland was about 20s. sterling per ton, and the saving on the inland trans- port alone 11,000 dollars; and there can be no doubt that a much greater amount was likewise saved on tho ocean freight. The Com- mittee of Council are of opinion, that the superior ad » antages of the St Lawrence route only require to bo made known to insure for it a preference.' It is proper to remark, that the opinions about the availability of the St Lawrence as a passage to the Western States are amply confirmed by the observations of Mr Johnston. Nay, he opens up still more important views on the subject, by representing this as the passage through which the agricultural produce of these dis- tant regions will pass to the British market. If the emigrant be possessed c*' means which he is afraid of dis- 90 (\ I' THE UNITED STATES. Bipating on tl.e passage, he may conHi.ler whether he wiU not bo flSe from pillage, by those whose function it i« to prey upon the new arriver! in a British colony, than in a place where he .8 an aUrn. If he be an emigrant seeking work, this is a question whu^h will not so seriously affect him : but the matter is treated under the head of Emigration. , • Like the British North American territories, the United States possess vast means of water-communication. The greater por ion of the line of Lakes Ontario, Erie, Huron, and Superior, is within their territories, and Lake Michigan is entirely so. Lake Superior 1500 miles in circumference, is supposed to be the largest sheet of fresh water in the world. Its waves heave like the sea, and it is subject to desolating storms. Of its islands, one is enough to make a considerable pro v-ce- it is a hundred miles long and from forty to fifty broad. The States have a portion of the rapid St Lawrence, but they possess other means of water-communication onTmuch more majestic scale. The Mississippi is calculated to be 3200 miles long ; and its availability for navigation may be under stood when it is stated that its source is but 1500 feet above the vel o7the ea-much the same as that of the River Tweed, and els thin tliat of the Spey and the Dee. ^^ -« ^ju-t the M^^^^^^ branch of the river as the proper source, it is 4500 miles long. In this river, and its great affluents the Ohio, ^^rk^ f c.J numberless steamboats are c^ntmually plying, ^^e fo^^f^^^^^^^ river navigation enable vessels to be used of a totally different character from those which sail on our stormy seas. They are tZ handsome, airy wooden palaces, with all their accommoda- don above the ;ater, on which they float with stately quietness Gaieties and jovialties proceed in these floatmg mansions, and manTpeopl 1 said^o live in them, as the Dutch do m their 3 mouWy track-boats. It is found convenient to have estab- lishments of all kinds here on the waters, ^^^^ ^^^y/ ^^^ *^^^ middle of a floating community-shops manufactories theatrical exhibitions; on the raft-like vessels which he smoothly on the wa er, high edifices of cotton bales will be piled, uncovered and Tprotected, to the value of a great many thousand pounds at S The Americans have not failed in efforts to connect heir ^ea water-systems with each other. The Erie Cana , thou^^ its Scks are now said to be inferior to those on the ^^ort cuttings for making the St Lawrence safely navigable, is a work of wonderful "xtent^ It unites the navigation of the Hudson ^^th tha^lo ^^^ Northern Lakes, having Albany at one extremity, and Buffalo at the other-a distance of 363 mUes. There are several lateral branches-' one opposite Troy connecting with the Hudson ; one at Syracuse, a mUe^nd a half in length, to Salma ; one from Syi-a- AMERICA. ; ; f r ' I ' ! \ I I cuse to Oswego, 38 miles in length ; one at Orville ; one at Chite- ningo ; one at Lukeport, extending to tiio Cuyahoga Lake 5 miles, and from thence to Seneca l^ko at (jeneva, a distance of 15 miles ; and one at Kochester, of 2 miles in length, which scrvcH the tlouble purpose of a navigable feeder and a mean of communication for boats between the canal and the (lenessee Uiver. It is 40 feet ■wide at the top, and 28 feet wide at the bottom. The water flows at the depth of 4 feet in a moderate descent of half an incii in a mile. The tow-path is elevated about 4 feet from the surface of the water, and is ten feet wide. The whole length of the canal includes 83 locks and 18 acjueducts of various extent.' — {America — its Realities and Jiesources, by Wys.^, iii. 198.) This track-route is naturally a tedious one— a jouriicy of day and night with little variety ; while fame does not iitgeneral speak encouragingly of the efforts of American sociality in dispelling the tiresoraenees of uniformity, or the still severer trial of narrow com- fortless accommodation. ' The part of the cabin,' says the author already cited, * in which we slept, was scarcely 20 feet in length. Yet in this small space, averaging about 10 feet wide, did they contrive to put up some eighteen berths or resting-places, the seats or couches in which we sat during the day being enlarged, or drawn out to an increased width, forming six— three on each side of the cabin. The other beds were made of a slight wooden frame- work, to which a hair-mattress of slender proportions was perma- nently attached. These were temporarily hooked on or fastened to the boat's side, the outward part of the frame (the entire being raised to a level or horizontal position) being hung or suspended by the upper ceiling. These shelves on which we were put to rest for the night, without the formality of undressing, offered but few inducements to sleep.' The fare, however, is on a correspondingly moderate scale. From Schenectady, where the cars from Albany, Troy, &c., join the canal to Buffalo and Oswego— 334 miles— the conveyance-lists for the summer of 1850 gave the fare as Gi dollars with board, and 5 dollars without. The list announces two daily lines to be run from either end dmring the navigation season. Our brethren of the Union, however, have not contented them- selves with this lazy semi-obsolete mode of travelling. A brisk railway-communication now exists between Albany and Buflfalo. The lists just quoted (' Disturnell's llailroad. Steamboat, and Tele- graph Book') announce six trains a day from either extreme : The first, the express train, through in thirteen hours ; next, the mail train; next, 'freight and emigrants;' next, 'first class and emi- grants;' then another express; and lastly, the 'accommodation train.' The fare statsd is 9 dollars and 75 cents— about 38s. ; but 92 TIIK UNITED 8TATK8. it i« not Btated to which train or class it applies. The cliKtanro by the railway i» 320 miles. ^, ni • «!»„♦« Another great lino of canal-communicat.on-tho Ohio State Canal—unitoH the Mississippi navigation with that of tlio lakes joining Lake Erie nt Cleveland. The vast railway Hystcm will .pcedUy have united the Hudson and the Atlantic states with the ()hio navigation, if it have not already been accomplished. Hall- ways in America are not the complete and hnished lines brought into existence by the roncentrative power of a legislative enact- ment which wc are accustomed to consiu,: them m this country. Thev are of local growth and adjustment, and thus their statistics are less '-omplet. V known. A railway in its infancy is scarcely perceptive. Benins are laid down crossways, so as to form a rough road; others are laid at right angles to them, at the gage required; and these, with a plate of iron laid along their edge nerve for a railway till a more complete one can bo afforded. In many instances there is no iron at all, and the whole is cons ructed of wood, which is abundant enough for the renewal of all parts decaying. In the American Almanac for 1851, great pains have been taken to collect the statistics of all the ra. way lines; but they are admitted to be imperfect. The total mileage collected, however, is 8439. There are enumerated as in progress at the end of the year 1850, in New England and New York states, no less than twenty-six new principal Imes. These facilities for locomotion, rough, and to a certain extent tedious as many of them are, are of great importance to the emi- grant, to whom, without them, the land journey, after ho has crossed the Atlantic, might be the most serious part of his expedi- tion. The great routes to the north-west have already been men- tioned. In the railroad lists for 1850, it is stated under tbe head •Koutes to the West and South,' that 'travellers for the west and south, via Baltimore and Cumberland (Maryland), can go through in two days from New York to Pittsburg (Pennsylvania) or Wheeling (Virginia) by the railroad and stage route to the Ohio river- thence by commodious steamboats to Cincinnati, bt Louis, New Orleans, and the intermediate landings on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.' The list states the usual time from Ba timore to Pittsburg, 34 hours, fare, 11 dollars ; usual time from Baltimore to Wheeling, 36 hours, fare, 12 dollars. It would appear, however, that through the forwarding offices at the ports, the emigrant can make arrangements for a far more economical journey than the published rates of the vehicles would indicate. Prices of convey- ance shift in America as much as they do at home. But it can do no harm to give the answer of Mr Mintoun, on exammation before the Lords' Committee on Emigration, to an inquiry about the price I AMERICA. of transmission from New York to any of the great seats of internal labour :— ' The rate of passage, without twod, from Mew York to . Buffalo, a distance of 500 miles, is 2 J dollars to 3 dollars ; from New York to Cleveland (Ohio), 700 miles, 5 dollars 50 cents; Detroit (Michigan), 850 miles, 6 dollars ; Milwaukie (Wisconsin), 1500 miles, 9 dollars 50 cents ; Chicago (Illinois), 1500 miles, 9 dollars 50 cents.' Far beyond the limits of public vehicles, the wanderer with his family may be met on the scarce-formed bridle-road, or even the open grass prairie. Day after day the wagon containing all the household possessions of the family makes its short journey, and at night all encamp— the rifle of the head of the family being alike their protection and their means of supply. But this is a species of locomotion for which the Amei:ican citizen moving westward is better adapted than the fresh immigrant. The American country roads are heartily abused by strangers —their deep mud in wet weather, the clouds of dust that pass along them in a higii wind in dry weather. Travellers often amuse their readers with the horrors of travelling in a vehicle without springs along a corduroy-road, or a road laid with trans- verse planks of wood. Biit in the places perforated by these somewhat imperfect roads, the wonder is to find a road at all; ind these rough distant lines of communication are a strong testimony of the energv and enterprise of those who are penetrating into the distant wilds of the south. In the * Notes of a For.lgner on American Agriculture,' in the ' New York American Agriculturist' for March 1851, there is an account of a new class of roads, called plank-roads, somethmg between a road and a railway. They are thus described : — * In districts sufficiently populous to pay for their construction, a spocies of road is laid down, called a " plank-road." These roads are excellent contrivances, and facilitate the communication betweoE farms and market-towns very much. Although they are of com- paratively recent introf'uction, immense tracts of country are laid with them. They are supported by tolls, tht se in tho state of New York demanding six cents (threepence) for a single-liorried gig or buggy, for a run of eight or ten miles. The mode of laying them down is vei-y simple, and may be bi :?fiy described. Tho line of road is marked out, and levellpd ao ir^ucii as possible. As they are gene- rally laid down in the track of roads previously made, the centre is raised, leaving r. hollow on each side, into which the water ma. un off from *ho plai.ks through small holes or drains. A tra^k little broaHp; than the breadth of a coach o wagon (if for a single line) is ma:k*!d out, and on each side of this, planks some eigh'o or nine feet long, eight inches broad, and three thick, are laid parallel thereto. These are laid end *o end, thns forming a double line ci planks along 94 THE UNITED STATES. the road. On the top of these side-supports the planks on which tho carriages run, formh.g the roadway, are laid. These project a little beyond the sidfj-supports. They are generally some ten to fourteen inches broad, and two or three thick. The side of the embankment is brought up so as to cover the ends, and the road is complete.* PRODUCTIONS. The productions of the United States are various as the soil and climate. The Northern States grow all the cereals and other agri- cultural productions commonly known in this country, together witli the staple grain of the western continent — Indian corn. In the Southern States the same productions are found more or less, but they give place to those of more tropical climates — rice, cotton, tobacco, indigo, the sugar - cane, olives, «S;c. Fruit is abundant, and apples especially are a considerable article of export. Mr Johnston considers the culture of the apple a very important point in American agriculture, and mentions that the western part of New York and Northern Ohio have entered into earnest competi- tion with the old orchard countries. ' Their rich soils,' he says, ' produce larger and more beautiful fruit, but inferior, it is said, in that high flavour which distinguishes the Atlantic apples. This inferiority, however, is not conceded by the western cultivators, among whom orchard - planting is rapidly extending, and who esthnate the average profit of fruit cultivation at 100 to 150 dollars an acre (£20 to £30.') Hemp, flax, and silk are pro- duced. The produce of animals, both farm and wild, is exported in the various shapes of butcher-meat, leather, skins, and wool. Timber of various valuable kinds abounds, and gives rise, not only to a trade in wood, but in bark, dye-stuffs, ashes, tar, turpentine, and rosin, besides furnishing maple -sugar. There are considerable fisheries. The mines produce iron, copper, gold, and mercury ; and the coal-fields cover a surface so large as ta exclude the possibility of naming a practical limit to the extent of the supply. The salt springs, and various stone and clay deposits, are of considerable importance. In the American statistical tables the productions are ranged xmder those of the sea, the forest, and agriculture. In the year ending 30th June 1849 the exports under the first head amounted to 2,547,654 dollars ; the products of the forest to 5,917,994. The agricultural products of animals were estimated at 13,153,302 ; those of vegetable food at 25,642,362 ; tobacco, 5,804,207 ; cotton, 66,396,967 ; hemp, 8458. The miscellaneous vegetable produc- tions were reckoned at 84,092. The tables for 1850, published in 95 AMERICA. 1851, give the following items in dollars :— Products of the sea,^ 2,824,818 ; products of the forest, 7,442,503 ; productions ot agriculture, including grain, butcher - meat, wool, and skms, ^6,371,756 ; cotton, 71,984,016 ; tobacco, 9,921,053 ; miscellanc- ous agricultural produce, 152,363. Cotton is the great staple export of the United States to this country— indeed it constitutes, out of all comparison, the largest item of general exportation. But the staple production for expor- tation to* which the British emigrant must look is grain, to feed the inhabitants of his own country, increasing, notwithstanding his departure, at the rate of a thousand a day. In the valley of the Ohio alone there is productive land adapted to this purpose, for all practical and immediate purposes, inexhaustible. There is reason to believe that the grain exports of America, considerable as they are, are yet but in their infancy. The value of the bread- stuffs exported in the year ending in June 1850 was 15,698,060 dollars. Of this the meal and wheat-flour formed 7,742,315. A return was made to parliament in 1850 of the prices of wheat per quarter at the various places of export throughout the world, from 1844 to 1849 inclusive. The lowest sum for New York in 1844 was in October, when the price came so far down as 26s. lid. This is the lowest in the whole table. The highest price during that year appears to have been 378. 2d. in April. The highest price reached during the whole course of the six years is 79s. per quarter in February 1847. This appears to have been a momentary elevation, arising from the state of the markets m Britain produced by the famine. The week previously the price was 59s. lOd. ; and in the previous month it had been as low as 40s. 4d., returning in September to a still lower sum— 39s. In 1849 the lowest prices were 34s. 2d., the highest 46s. 8d., and these may be held to be the extremes in ordinary years. New Orleans, receiving the corn of the great valleys of the Ohio and the Mississippi, gives the lowest quotations of prices in the American market, and will be likely to be the gate through which the greatest stream of grain-supply in the Avorld will pass, though there is reason to believe that as to the produce of the move northerly of the Western States, the St Lawrence may com- pete with it. The return to parliament of tlie prices of wheat, from 1844 to 1849 inclusive, embraces New Orleans. The lowest price wliich occurs in this table— and perhaps it is the lowest that has appeared anywhere— is 16s. lOd. in May 1846 ; the highest price at that time being, however, 28s. lOd. So low a sum as the neighbourhood of 178. is of pretty frequent occurrence. The highest sum during the whole period is in 1847—563. 7d. ; an elevation caused doubtless by the famine in the United Kingdom. S6 THE UNITED STATES. In 1849 the extremes were 25s. Id. and 348. Id. It will be seen that these prices are on a different scale from those of New York. One of the most remarkable, of the staple-productions of the States, and one of the most readily available to new settlers, is what is called the hog crop, entering the market in the shape of cured pork. Its chief centre is Ohio, and it is peculiar to those states which produce an abundance of Indian corn, and have stretches of acorn forest. Mr Johnston attributes the abundance of this produce to the necessity of an outlet for Indian com, which was exported until late years only in very scanty^quantities. Hence the best exit was found in the fattening of pigs. Mr Johnston enumerates six states — Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio — in which the number of pigs killed in the year 1846 exceeded a million, the number in Ohio being 420,833. ' The packing business,' he says, ' in Ohio has been gi*adually concentrating itself in Cincinnati, where, in the winter of 1847 and 1848, about 420,000 hogs were sold, killed, and packed. Tho blood is collected in tanks, and with the hair, hoofs, and other offal, is sold to the prussiate- of -potash manufactories. The carcass is cured either into barrelled pork or into bacon and hams, and the grease rendered into lard of various qualities. Some establishments cure the hams; and after cutting up the rest of the carcass, steam it in large vats, under a pressure of seventy pounds to the square inch, and thus reduce the whole to a pulp, bones and all, and draw off the fat. The residue is either thrown away or is carted off for manure. One establishment disposes in this way of 30,000 hogs.' Among the articles of export to which this produce contributes, we have not only pork, bacon, and lard, but stearine candles, bar and fancy soaps, prussiate of potash, bristles and glue, and also the finer preparations of the iat, wliich are used to adulterate spermaceti, and even olive oil. TOPOGRAPHICAL DIVISIONS AiND THEIR CAPABILITIES. There are different systematic geographical divisions of the territory of the United States. One of the most usual is to con- sider the Alleghany Mountains and the Rocky Mountains as two dividing lines, which afford three ranges of country: the north and east, or Atlantic States; those of the great valley of the Mississippi; and the western districts, sloping from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific. For the purposes of emigration, how- ever, it will be better to consider them under a different division : the Northern States, chiefly containing the old lands and the cities adapted to the purposes of the mechanic ; the Western territories, G 97 AMERICA. where the settlers seeking new land go ; and the Southern States, chiefly slave- Ber\'ed, and, for the reasons already stated, not well adapted for British emigration. I \i THE NORTHEKN ATLANTIC STATES. The northern territories may be classified as Maine, New Hamp- shire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Ehode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. It is in the large cities and rising villages of this cluster that the trained mechanic, or the person who seeks the western world for other than agricultural pursuits, wUl generally settle; and it is a common advice to the emigrant from this country, to satisfy himself well that the north- east is not the quarter best adapted to his views before he seek the more distant regions of the west or south. None of these states contain any of the public waste lands of the United States. It does not follow that there is not abundance of uncleared land, especially in New York, which stretches far west into the lake country, and in Maine ; but it is all the property of individuals or companies. A considerable portion of this affluent territory produces timber; and the chief agriculturabproductions may be generally classed as cattle, sheep, and pigs, with their exportable produce, for live- stock, and wheat, oats, barley, rye, Indian com, buckwheat, peas, beans, and potatoes, hops, and flax. Apples, growing rather in orchards than in gardens, are very abundant in the old states. Those imported to this country are deemed a great luxury from their juiciness and sweetness ; and in America they are a very important article of domestic consumption, being cooked in a variety of forms. Pear, plum, and other fruit-trees are also culti- vated. Among the luxuries of the garden character, though of field produce, may be mentioned the green Indian com, which is compared, when gathered at the right time, to green peas. Maine and New Hampshire are moderately hilly, and, especially the former, produce a considerable quantity of timber. There are extensive tracts of an unpromising character ; but the old cul- tivated grain lands render forty bushels of maize per acre, and from twenty to forty of wheat. In New Hampshire there is a great diversity of water-power; and this, with the energetic character of the population, and the somewhat low agricultural capabilities, have made it a great manufacturing state. Mr Johnston, who passed apparently rapidly through this part of the country, says : * Farming in Maine is not of itself profitable enough to satisfy the haste of the people to become rich. The ^-—^i^ittmiiit fe- THE UNITED STATES. farms are for the most part small— from 80 to 100 acres— and the land I passed through generally poor. Complaints against the climate, if 1 may judge from my own experience, abound ten times more here than when I heard them in New Brunswick — that the season is short ; that Indian com wont ripen ; and so on. Oats and potatoes, however, are allowed to be sure crops when the latter are free from disease. On the Kenebec River, which is further to the west, there are good intervale lands, and the uplands, which are a strong loam, are very productive in hay. Stock- husbandry is for this reason beginning to be attended to in that district of the state, but the turnip culture is still almost unknown.' Maine is considered as the centre of the northern lumber trade of the United States. Vermont and Maasachusetts follow in a great measure the same character. Part of the country is mountainous— the hills rising to 4000 feet above the level of the sea. Massachusetts is a rich and prosperous seat of trade and manufactures. Its agricultural capacities are limited, but they have been carefully developed. Mr Macgregor says : ' Agriculture has been carefully and skilfully attended to in this state. No extensive or alluvial tracts occur in Massachusetts ; although limited spots occur on the banks of most of the streams, and, with the adjoining elevated woodlands and pastures, have, by skilful industry, been brought under profitable cultivation, and .form the best farms in the state. There are numerous uncultivated swamps. The greater part of the soil of Massachusetts is diluvial and ungenerous. By clearing away the stones and rocks, and by the extensive application of manure, njany of the originally sterile districts have been converted into productive farms.' This is, however, too much of the old coun- try's character to make the state a popular one with agricultural emigrants. Yet if the existence of unoccupied land were all that the emigrant required, it would be here provided in considerable abundance. From the census returns of 1840, it was found that 220,000 acres were under tillage, and 440,000 in meadows ; while ^eside 730,000 acres woodland, there are 956,000 unimproved. It % peared that the number employed in agriculture bore a propor- tion of about 1 to 8i of the population. In a conmiercial and industrial sense, and for all matters connected with the United States themselves, MasEachusetts is of the highest importance, though to the agricultural emigrant it be of secondary importance to others. Mode Island and Connecticut fill together a small oblong space on the coast between Massachusetts and New York. Of the former Mr Macgregor says : ' The north-west part of the state is hilly, sterile, and rocky. Hills, though not elevated, pervade the 99 I \ AMERICA. northern third of the state ; the other parts are level, or generally undulating; especially near Narraganset Bay, and on the islands ■within it. The soil is in many parts arable, and the farmers affluent. Tlie lands are generally better adapted for grazing than for corn, and it is renowned for the excellence of its cattle and sheep, and its butter and cheese. Maize, or Indian corn, rye, barley, oats, and in some places wheat, are grown, but scarcely in sufficient quantity for home consumption. Fruits and culinary vegetables are produced in great perfection and abundance. ' The climate is healthy, and more mild, particularly on the islands, than in any other part of New England. The sea-breezes moderate the heat of summer and the cold of winter.^ The same statement is in a great measure applicable to Connecticut. New Ym-Ic—ihe greatest and wealthiest territory of the States- presents vast varieties, both in its social and physical features. It has, besides the city of New York, Avith its population of 400,000, Albany, the nominal capital, Brooklyn, Hudson, and Oswego ; while far north on the lakes which divide the States from Canada, is the city of Buffalo, containing between 30,000 and 40,000 people. The population of the state in 1845 was 2,604,495. Its railways, exceeduig 1200 miles; its canals, harbours, public buildings, towns, and manufactories, and, in general, the expendi- ture of its rich population, give large employment to artisans and labourers. What is closer to the present purpose, they cause the consumption within the province itself of an extensive agricultural produce ; while the extendinr; means of conveyance is < ver increas- ing the availability of new and distant districts. The amounts of the various kmds of produce must have greatly increased since 1840, when they are thus stated by Mr Macgregor :— • The soil in the eastern and south-eastern parts is generally f'ly, and in some parts loamy. This section is considered as best adapted to grazing, and the western to arable culture. All the hilly and mountain districts afford excellent pasturage. The soil of the allu- vions along the rivers, and of innumerable valleys, is remarkably fertile. The valleys of the Mohawk and the Gcnessee are among tlie best wheat-growing soils in the world. A clayey soil prevails round parts of Lake Champlain. Marshes, bogs, and sandy plains, are met with in some parts west of Albany. The west end of Long Island, and Dutchess and Westchester counties, are extolled for good culture and productive crops. The principal are wheat, Indian corn, grass, rye, barley, oats, buckwheat, and potatoes. Beef and pork, butter and cheese, horses and cattle, pot and pearl ashes, flax-seed, peas, beans, and lumber, form the great articles of export. Orchards abound. The apples, pears, plums, and peaches are delicious and abundant. In the state there were, in 1840, 474,543 horses and mules: 1,911^44 neat cattle; .5-118,777 sheep ; 1,900,005 swiue; 100 "^. ' itejj 'iJViSi?.^®!™*'^'^^"''^^^'*'*' '^ THE UNITED STATES. poultry to tho value of 1,153,413 dollars. There were produced 12,280,418 bushels of wheat ; 2,520,060 bushels of barley ; 20,675,847 bushels of oats ; 2,979,323 bushels of rye; 2,287,889 bushels of buck- wheat ; 10,972,286 bushels of Indian corn ; 9,84.5,295 pounds of wool ; 447,250 pounds of hops ; 30,123,614 bushels of potatoes ; 3,127,047 tons of hay ; 1735 pounds of silk cocoons ; 10,048,109 pounds of sugar. Tho products of the dairy amounted in value to 10,496,021 dollars ; and of the orchard to 1,701,935 dollars; of lumber, to 3,891,302 dol- lars. There were produced 6799 gallons of wine ; and of pot and pearl ashes, 7613 tons; tar, pitch, turpentine, &c., 402 barrels.'— 0^ cial Meturiw, kc. Mr Johnston, whose experience of the state of American agri- culture was chiefly derived from New York, has preserved some interesting particulars as to land and farming there. He observes that a great part of the western portion is damp, cold, and marshy, yet that drainage is unknown ; and he mentions having seen, at an exhibition of agricultural instruments at Syracuse, some drain-tiles exhibited as a curiosity. Yet the objections which he has to state to costly drainage in the meantime, and until the country becomes fuller, are pretty solid. * The cost of this improvement, even at the cheapest rate — say £4, or twenty dollars an acre — is equal to a large proportion of the present price of the best land in this rich district of Western New York. From 50 to 60 dollars an acre is the highest price which farms bring here ; and if 25 dollars an acre were expended upon any of it, the price in the market would not rise in proportion. Or if 40-dollar laud should actually be improved one-fourth by thorough drainage, It Avould still, it is said, not be more valuable than that which now sells at 50 dollars, so thaj: the improver would be a loser to the extent of 15 dollars an acre.' This argument seems unanswer- able, whether it apply to the native of the States or to the fresh settler. Mr Johnston, however, found that the agricultural citi- zens of this state were acutely alive to the advantages of scientific and mechanical improvements in the employment of the soil. He found good evidence of this in the exhibition where he saw the drain-tiles. ' Tlie general character of the implements,' he says, * was economy in construction and in price, and the exhibition was large and interesting.' Still they partook of what a British agriculturist considers the wasteful character of American hus- bandry. They were rather directed for the speedy realisation of produce than the improvement of the soil. Such were the reap- ing machines, calculated to cut from fifteen to twenty-five acres in a day. * Of course,' says Mr Johnston, ' it is only on flat lands that they can be advantageously employed. But where labour is scarce and unwooded prairie plenty, the owner o^" a reaping and lOi !■' AMERICA. I a tlirashing machine may cultivate as much land as he can scratdh with the plough and sprinkle with seed.' One of the superior productions of the agriculture of the New York state is called Genessee flour. Not that it is all produced in the Genessee Valley, but that the superior excellence of the wheat grown there gave its name to a certain high standard of quality. Mr Johnston naturally examined this district with interest, and found the soil to be * a rich drift clay— the ruins of the Onondaga salt group— intermixed with fragments of the Niagara and Clintou limestones.' ' A very comfortable race of farmers,' he continues, ' is located in this valley. The richest bottom or intervale land cut for hay or kept for grazing is worth 120 dollars or £26 an acre. The upland— the mixed clay and limestone-gravel land, of which I have already spoken, when sold in farms of 100 to 150 acres — the usual size on this river —brings from 35 to 70 dollars, accord- ing to the value of the buildings that are upon it. The bottoms, when ploughed up and sown to wheat, are liable to rust ; but the uplands yield very certain crops of 15 to 20 bushels an acre. Land, of which a man with a good team will plough U to 1 J acres a day, costs 6 dollars an acre to cultivate, including seed, and 3.J more to harvest and thrash. Fifteen bushels at 1 to 1 j dollars (4s. 4d. to 4s. lOd.) give a return of 15 to 17 dollars, leaving a profit of about 6 dollars or 26s. an acre for landlord and tenant's remuneration, and for interest of capital invested in farming stock. That this calculation is near the truth is shewn by the rate at which the average land, producing 16 to 18 bushels, is occasionally let, where it suits parties to make such an arrangement. In these cases 7 to 7^ bushels of wheat an acre are paid for the use of the land. In taking a farm at such a rent as this — half the produce — the tenant makes a sacrifice for the purpose of obtaining an outlet for superfluous home labour.' Here, as in the other Atlantic states, Mr Johnston animadverts on the smallness of the capital invested in farming : ' The land itself, and the labour of their families, is nearly all the capital which most of the farmers possess.' The inducements are evidently greater to the working farmer with a family of sons, and a little money besides what he requires to buy his farm, than to the large capitalist. Mr John- ston met with one of the largest laud-proprietors in the state — himself farming 1000 acres. He cleared from 3 to 7i per cent, on his whole capital, including the market value of the land and of the building and stock. ' For a gentleman farmer,' says Mr Johnston, * this would be a very fair return, but it is scarcely enough in a country where land gives no political and little social • " ' • 1 1 T 1 • J AnmsT nnthinit. a u rvn/^A O ^xr|ia«*0 infl man can obtain 7 per 102 hv lendin"" his money and certain. ZidMu^btii SBSSSi*%sS'»«8ISS^'«"" THE UNITED STATES. New Jersey is in its character very like the eastern portions of New York, to which it adjoins ; and it has to some extent the same advantages to its agriculture from so populous and rich a market. ' The northern section of New Jersey is mountainous or hilly; the central parts are diversified by hills and valleys; and the southern part is flat, sandy, and sterile. The natural growth of the soil is shrub -oaks, yellow -pines, marsh -grass, shrubs, &c. "With the exception of this barren, but, by industry and manuring, in some parts, cultivated district, the soil of New Jersey affords good pasture and arable land. The produce is chiefly wheat, rye, Indian com, buckwheat, potatoes, oats, and barley. Apples, pears, peaches, plums, and cherries, are grown in great perfection. In the mountainous districts cattle are of good breed and size, and large quantities of butter and cheese are made. The produce of this state finds a market chiefly at New York and Philadelphia. The principal exports are wheat, flour, horses, cattle, hams, cider, lumber, flax-seed, leather, and iron. Pennsylvarna — stretching far towards the western districts — is like New York, a large, wealthy, enterprising community; its population approaching, if it do not now exceed, 2,000,000. Its capital, Philadelphia*, contains nearly 300,000 people. In this territory, as in New York, there is room for artisan and engineer- ing enterprise. But agricultural pursuits occupy the greater part of the population. By the analysed census of 1841, the persons employed in agriculture were 207,533 ; while those devoted to all other pursuits (including 105,883 in manufactures and trade) amounted to 138,296. Mr Macgregor says : — * The Alleghany Mountains traverse the state from south-west to north-cast, and several ramifications branch from, or run parallel with the principal range. Mountainous tracts over the central parts of the state comprehend nearly one-seventh of its whole area. Tho south-east and north- W98t districts are generally level or undulating. The soil east of the mountains is generally fertile, and rendered highly productive. The south-east, on both sides of the Susquehanna, the lands are inch^ and having been long settled, it is nearly all under high cultivation. Between the head-waters of the Alleghany and Lake Erie the soil is also very fertile. In the mountainous region the formation of the soil is often rugged, and in many parts sterile ; excfiut in tho valleys, which are very rich — west of the AUeghanies, ai pecially near the streams of the Ohio. Some authorities con- sider Pennsylvania better adapted for grazing than for the plough. The authors of the "United States Gazetteer" are of a different opinion, and observe : " The most important production of the state by far is wheat, which grows hero in great perfection ; and next in value IS luaian com. live, oaxioy, uucKwnuac, ouvs, ucmp, una hua, 103 AMERICA. arc also extensively ctiltivated. Cherries, peaches, and apples are- abundant, and much cider is made. Although the state is better adapted to grain than to grazing, yet in many parts there arc large dairies, and fine horses and cattle are raised." ' THE WE8TEKN DISTRICTS. The western emigration states are those vast districts of prain'c and woodland watered by the Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio, ami their tributaries, the territories still west of this basin near tlu; northern lakes, and the new countries which slope to the racitic. As emigration fields, tire portion north of the old slave states Avill only be here considei'ed, but the Southern States will be noticed farther on. The emigi-ation states may be enumerated as Ohio, lllinoiB, Wisconsin, Indiana, Missouri, Iowa, and the new territory of Mini- sota, in the basin of the great central rivers. To the same system geographically belong the northern districts of Kentucky, Ten- nessee, and other states, the greater part of which are too far south for suitable emigration fields, and which are unsuitable to British emigrants from the inveterate practice of slavery, Michigan, though not properly in the basin of the great river, may be con- sidered geographically part of the same territory. The districts still farther west are the large territory called the Oregon, aiui the new government of Utah, elsewhere mentioned (p. 87.) The central valley or rather plain, watered by the great rivers, has a certain uniformity in its majestic features. It is rather a 2)lain than a valley, scarcely any part of it, even upwards of a thousand miles from the sea, rising more than 500 feet above its level. This, the largest alluvial tract probably in the world, is considered as stretching west of the slope of the Alleghany Mountains for 1500 miles, with a breadth, r- rather as valleys are spoken of, a length of 600 miles from the lakes to the mouth of the Ohio. It is a horizontal limestone stratum, covered with a thick coating of earth rich in alluvium. As there can scarcely be said to be valleys in this region, the rivers, naturally deepening their courses as they proceed, cut a trench, as it were, so narrow as only to admit of the passage of their waters between banks which thus have an abrupt and rocky appearance. In this vast territory there are incalculable masses of forest, differing according to the latitude, from the predominating pine and birch, to the varied forest of oak, elm, walnut, sycamore, .beech, hiccory, maple, and tulip tree. There are strange peculiarities in the forest, some- tirncs running in straii^'ht belts through the wide T)rairie districts, and at others surrounding the prairie with a circular forest girdle, 104 THE UNITED STATES. pplcs aro is better arc lurgu >f prairie 3hio, and near tine icitic. As will only d farther , Illinois, '^of Mini- 10 system ky/ Ten- far south BritisJi ^lichigan, 1^ be con- districts 3gon, aiui at rivers, rather a irds of a et above he world, lUeghany illeys are mouth of d with a arcely be Icepening 10 narrow 3n banks this vast iccording h, to the y, maple, ist, some- districts. 8t girdle, -like the exaggeration of some park-opening in the artificial- domain lands of England. The marvel, however, of this region, and of its great source of agricultural riches, are the prairies. It is unnecessary here to discuss the theories by which this peculiar formation is accounted for; it is sufficient to say, that it presents an alluvial surface capable of feeding a population larger than that of all Europe, and one on whiclC to all human appearance, unmigrants may pour their numbers for a century to come without exhausting the held. Part of the district is perfectly flat, but in general its character is what is expressively called rolling —not lines of hills and valleys, but buch circular mounds, with depressions between, as the bent- covered sands sometimes form along shelving coasts unprotected by rocks. The prairie is divided into the meadow air^ the weed class. The weeds are a growth of richly-coloured plants of infinite variety, making a compact thicket, sometimes eight or nine feet high. These are the tracts which produce, when set en fire, the Avild scenes which we read of in the American romances, when man, the fiercer animals, and the gentler which form the prey of both', all flee in company. The strength of the growth on this kind' of prairie attests its fertility. When burned, the weeds become a top-dressing, and the ground, if but scratched, will grow a crop. The districts most popular are not on the boundless prairie, where the eye sees no outline within the horizon, but where it is alteniatcd with timber. Of such a country an acute observer says : ' The attraction of the prairie consists in its extent, its carpet of verdure and flowers, its undulatirg surface, its groves, and the fringe of timber by which it is surrounded. Of all these the latter is the most expressive feature; it is that which gives character to the landscape, which imparts the shape, and marks the boundary of the plain. If the prairie be small, its greatest beauty consists in the vicinity of the surrounding margin of wood- land, which resembles the shore of a lake, indented with deep vistas like bays and inlets, and throwing out long points like capes and headlands; while occasionally these points approach so close on either hand, that the traveller passes through a narrow avenue or strait, where the shadows of the woodland fall upon his path, and then a^-ain emerges into another prairie.' — {Notes on tlie Westo^n Stales, by James Hall, p. 72.) Such are the lands of which an inexhaustible supply is to be obtained at the government fixed price of a dollar and a quarter an acre. Vast as the district is, its unvarying fertility leaves little of a distinguishing character to be stated about particular portions of it. Some of the prairies are wet, but their general character is diy, breezy, and healthy, the waters running in deep close ruts, or ^'■■A.: ! I ]^mx AMERICA. passing underground, bo that the wliole is naturally and cff^ntiveljr drained. Near the borders of the rivers, however, there is a lothor kind of soil, which, by its extreme riclinesH, tcm^td tho settler to brave its insalubrity. It is of the character of alluvial leposit on flat and interrupted surfaces, and exists in \n'^i tracts at the lower parts of the Mississippi, yet is also found to a considerable extent in some of the higher, and in general more salubrious tracts. In an article in * Hunt's Merchants' Magazine,' quoted by Mr Mao- gregor, there is this account of tlio * Bottoms,' as they are termed : — ' These "bottoms" constitute tho richest lands in tho west. The soil is often twonty-fivo feet doop, and wlion thrown up from tho digging of wells, produces luxuriantly tho first year. The most ex- tensive und fertile tract of this description of soil is what is called tho " American Bottom," commencing iit tho mouth of thu Kaskaskia, on the Mississippi, and extending northward to thu bluilij at Alton, a distance of ninety miles. Its average width is five miles, and it con- tains about 288,000 acres. Tho soil is an argillaceous or a siliceous loam, according as clay or sand happens to predominate in its forma- tion. This tract, which received its name when the Mississippi con- stituted the western boundary of the United States, is covered on the margin of the river witii a strip of heavy timber, having a thick undergrowth, from half a mile to two miles in width, but from thence to the bluffs it is principally prairie. It is interspersed with sloughs, lakes, and ponds, the most of which become dry in autumn. The land is highest near the margin of tho stream, and consequently, when overflowed, retains a large quantity of water, which is apt to stagnate and throw f I'ncnn rendering tho air deleterious to health. The soil is, brt\ - • ^exhausti?ly productive. Sevcnty- fivo bushels of corn < . ■ ;•' ..i an ordinary crop, and about the old French towns it has been cidtivated, and produced successive crops of corn annually for more than one hundred years. Besides the American Bottom, there are others that resemble it in its general character. On tho banks of the Mississippi there are many places where similar lands make their appearance, and also on the other rivers of the state. Tho bottoms of the Kaskaskia are generally covered with a heavy growth of timber, and are frequently inun- dated when the river is at its highest flood. Those of the Wabash are of various qualities, being less frequently submerged by tho floods of the river as you ascend from its mouth. When not inundated, they are equal in fertility to the far-famed American Bottom, and iu some instances are preferable, as they possess a soil less adhesive. * These bottoms, especially the American, are the best regions in the United States for raising stock, particularly horses, cattle, and swine. The roots and worms of tho soil, the acorns and other fruits from the trees, and the fish of the lakes, are sufficient to subsist and 4^:n the other re generally ucntly inun- the Wabash by the floods 3t inundated, ttom, and iu t adhesive. )t regions in s, cattle, and I other fruits ) subsist and S8, wild oats, THE UNITED 8TATK3. and other herbage, in tho timber in tho summer, and nishos in tho winter. Tho soil is not so well adapted to tho production of wheat and other small grain as of Indian corn. Thoy grow too rank, and fffU down before tho grain is sufficiently ripened to harvest. Thoy are also all, or nearly all, subject to tho very serious objection of being unhealthy.' Though the prairie land is of a very uniform character, yet the states in which it is chiefly found require separate notice, on account of their other peculiarities. Ohio is a rich enterprising state, with manufactures and public works. Its chief city, Cmcinnati, which in 1810 had not ^000 inhabitants, has now upwards of 60,000. In this provhice it is stated in an American authority, that 'There is no elevation which deserves the name of a mountain in the whole state. Tho intervale lands on the Ohio, and several of its tributaries, have great fertility. On both sides of the Scioto, and of the Oroat and Littlo Miami, aro tho most extensive bodies of rich and level land in the state. On tho head-waters of the Muskingum and Scioto, and between the Scioto and tho two Miami rivers, are extensive prairies, some of them low and marshy, producing a groat quantity of coarse grass, from two to iivo feet high ; other parts of tho prairies aro elevated and dry, with a very fertile soil, though they are sometimes called barrens. The height of land which divides the waters which fall into tho Ohio from those which fall into Lake Erie, is tho most marshy of any in the state ; while the land on tho margins of the rivers is generally dry. Among the forest trees aro black walnut, oak of various species, hickory, maple of several kinds, beech, birch, poplar, sycamore, ash of several kinds, pawpaw, buclc- eye, cherry, and whitewood, -which is extensively used as a substituto for pine. Wheat may be regarded as the staple production of the state, but Indian corn and other grains aro produced in great abundance. Although Ohio has already become so populous, it is surprising to the traveller to observe what an amoimt of forest is yet unsubdued. ... ♦ The summers aro warm and pretty regular, but subject at times to severe drought. The winters aro generally mild, but much less so in the northern than in the southern part of the state. Neai;Lako Erie tho winters are probably as severe as in tho same latitude on the Atlantic. In the country for fifty miles south of Lake Erie there are generally a number of weeks of good sleighing in tho winter; but in the southern part of the state, the snow is too small in quantity, or of too short continuance, to produce good sleighing for any considerable time. In the neighbourhood of Cincinnati, green peas are produced in plenty by the 20th of May. In parts of the state near marshes and stagnant waters, fevers, and agues, and bilious and rst.hp.r fovers. are '•Prevalent. W^ith this oxcention. tho climate of Ohio may be regarded as healthful.' — U. S. Gazetteer. 107 AMERICA. ■|' ■ Illinois has some slightly hilly terntci-y, and is partly co'.erca Avith timber; but the prairie land greatly predommates. Ihere are some rolling districts here, as in other prairie countries, which are honoured by old practice with the name of 'barrens. This aro«" fi-^m an opinion, founded on the scrubby copsewood covering the soil, which has not been justiticd, since these tracts are among the most fertile, and at the same time most salubrious in the United States. There predominates at the same time hi this state a species of land which the extreme richness of the soil is apt to tempt the settler to cultivate to the detriment of his health— the alluvial deposits called bottoms, already mentioned. Beef pork, and poultry are raised in abundance in this state. The author of the article in Hunt's Magazine, cited above, says : ' The cultivated vegetable productions of the field are Indian corn, wheat, oats, barley, buckwheat, Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, turnips, rye, tobacco, cotton, hemp, flax, tlie castor bean, &c Maize, or Indian corn, is the staple. No farmer can live without it, and may raise little else. It is cultivated with great ease ; produces ordinarily liftv bushels to the acre; often seventy-five ; and not unfrequent y reaches to one lumdred. Wheat is a good and sure crop, especially ill the middle part of the state, and in a few years Illinois will pro- bably send immense quantities to market. Henip grows spcnta- neouslv, but is not extensively cultivated. Cotton is raised in the 80utherli part of the state, and in 1840, 200,000 pounds were pro- duced; 30,000 pounds of rice were gathered in the same year, and 2591 pounds of hops.' Wisconsin and Iowa stretch fiir northwards, and join the British western territories, the former touching the great chain of lakes. A large portion of these tracts is unsurveyed and almost unex- plored, but enterprise is rapidly advancing on them, and the new Governmental territory of Utah was lately severed from the land A-aguely divided between them. There are prairie lands in Wis- consin ; but a great part of the country resembles the British American territory— is broken and rocky, with many torrents and wide forests. Of Iowa, Mr Macgregor says : «The surface of the country is undulated, without mountains or high hills. There is a district of rather elevated table-land, which extends over a considerable part of the territory, dividing the watei-s which fall into the Mississippi frcm those which fall into the Mis- souri. The lands near the rivers and creeks, extending hack from one to ten miles, are generally covered witli timber ; and farther back the country is an open prairie, without trees. By the frequent alternations of these two descriptions of land the face of the country is greatly diversified. The prairies occupy ncariy three-fourths of the territory, and although they are destitute of trees, present a great variety in other respects. Some are level, and others are 108, others are THE UNITED STATES. undulated; some are covered with a luriiriant grass, well suited for .'razing ; others are interspersed ^vitli hazel tluckets and sassa- fras" shrubs, and, in the proper season, decorated with beautiful ilowers. The soil, both on the bottom and prairie land, is generally good, consisting of a deep black mould, intermixed in the prames with s^ndy loam, and sometimes with a red clay and gravel. Ihe cultivated productions are Indian corn, wheat, rye, oats, buckwheat, potatoes, pumpkins, melons, and all kinds of garden vegetables. Tlie soil and climate are favourable to the cultivation ot 4ruit. Wild crab-apples, plums, strawberries, and grapes, are abundant. Missouri, reaching no farther north than 40° 36', and stretching southwards below the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi nearly to the 36th parallel, is more tropical in its character than Wis- consin, Iowa, and Michigan. It contains a consideral)le portion of the species of land which is the most productive, but at the same time the most unhealthy. ' This state presents "a great variety of surface and of soil. Allu- vial or bottom soil extends along the margin of the rivers ; receding from which the land rises in some parts imperceptibly, in others very abruptly, into elevated barrens, or rocky ric^'cs. In the inte- rior, bottoms and barrens, naked hills and prairies, heavy forests and streams of water, may often be seen at one view, presenting a diversified and beautiful landscape. The south-east part oi tiie state has a vi ry extensive tract of low, marshy country abounding in lakes, and liable to inundation. Back of this a hilly country extends as far as the Osage River. This portion of the state, though not generally distinguished for the fertility of its soil, though it is interspersed with fertile portions, is particularly celebrated for its mineral treasures.'- (t^»i^ 'Z^y Thrubs. and prickly yellow sandy clay, ^^^^''\^^^ :f^";^^\ro of soft and useless b; s^:: rottCLX^^^^^l-d willow, which are found onlv in the neighbourhood of streamy ^^^^ ^ • The climate is f l"^^"^' ^^^J^^ ^'J^ later and ends sooner uarm, and the nights cool. 1 e ^J^^2% poorly adapted to culti- tlian in the lower country. Tl"s country is p y j^„„dant in a vation,but is well suited to g^^^^J-^^Xs « are^iere reared in green or dry state through the 5^1^'^ "^^.^ ,j„ndrcds of them. Abundance by the Indians, some «/ ^ f " ^^ J^teud through the The BlueMountainsonthe eastof us c^^^ ^^^,^^„ i„,„ .hole territory .J^^^J-^^^^^^^^^^^^^ appear- several ridges. f*"^^Vi7«nrP covered with perpetual snow. • ance, and their highest peaks are con erea i ^ ^^^^ ^^^^^ . The third and last d'y^r",,^ ,^;S^^^^^ on the east. The Mountains on the west and he ^^^Jj ^J^, ,.ocky mountains, southern part of this ^epon \s a des^^^^^^ F J ^^^^ ^^^^^ deep narrow valleys, and wide plains covcrca^ ^^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ There is little snow m the ^^^^«J',;";^n'rJi,c difference between fountains. It rarely rains, and no dew fe^^^^^^ ^^^^^ the temperature at sunrise and at noon m summ degrees.' -(C^. S. Oaz) SOUTHERN STATES. Btates— rich, lertue, iiuu «»tv.^.. = 112 THE UNITED STATES. emigration field for British agriculturists or mechanics (see p. 80.) The old southern states have been in some measure laid open for new settlers by the adventurers who have wandered to Califoniia, or the other western settlements. If English capitalists should thmk fit to invest in the cleared farms and estates which are thus brought to market, the state of Maryland might be suggested as the most suitable. It is the farthest north of the slave^ states ; and though on the lower banks of the Chesapeake there is much unhealthy swamp, the upper districts are comparatively salu- brious. The social condition of the country is subject to the moral influence of the northern states, and slavery has been decreasing. A perusal of the works of Kennedy and others, who have examined the resources of the new province of Texas, can leave no doubt that it possesses great capabilties for agricultural pro- duction. It is maintained, too, by the American political econo- mists, that the stain of slavery cannot be permanently attached to it, as its agricultural character marks it as a district suited only for free labour. With so many other fields open to him, however, the cautious British emigrant will avoid Texas, until its character as a country for settlement be better cleared up. Choosing a settlement is not like joining a speculation, where the chances of success consist in being first in the field. The adaptability of this territory is so doubtful, that the Emigration Commissioners, going out of their usual path, thought it necessary, in their cir- cular for 1850, to issue the following caution : — ' Emigrants are warned that the statements recently circulated respecting the salubrity of climate, the fertility of soil, and the richness of the mineral productions of Texas, are reported by authority to be greatly exaggerated, and that the commissioners have received information that some British subjects, who were recently induced by an association in this country to emigrate to Texas, have fallen into great distress.' It may be expected that something should be said of California. This is, however, a work intended for the quiet settler seeking a new home, where health, freedom, and legal protection are to accompany the prospect of his finding a comfortable subsistence for his family. California is, by the admission even of its best supporters, as yet a place for adventurous men to flock to and make fortunes ; departhig as soon as they can, and bringing with tliem their gains, if they have made any. The disinterested adviser must add to this, that, with all the hardships and risks to be encountered, the harvest is by no means certain : it is an aftair of desperate gambling chances. Some fortunes — not many — have no doubt been made in the scramble, while multitudes II V !l AMERICA. have fled from the scene disappointed and ruined men. But in time, even the rapid gains of the lucky few will cease, and the eold-mining will be, as it is elsewhere, a hard busmess, requiring much capital, and makuig a steady but poor return. If gold were long found m lumps, it would soon cease to be the universal renresentative of value. It has acquired that position just be- cause, more than any other commodity, it is the representative of value given by labour m its production. There are great fluc- tuations in other commodities, but the supply of gold is always with onlv minute occasional oscillations, steady, and incapaole of increase,' without the continued application of capital and labour to its extraction. In a place like California, where its existence has been newly discovered by an active, impatient, energetic people, all the surface capabilities are immediately attacked. Nature has been mining away for some time, disintegrating the metal from the rock, and scattering it about ; and all this produce is pounced upon; and it is supposed that gold will be as easily obtained in the district for ever. The peculiarity of this metal, however, is-that it runs in thin tortuous veins through hard quartz rocks; and when the superficial scatterings have been removed, and the metal is got by mining, it will, to all appear- ance, be as little profitable a pursuit in California as m the old mines. I' I , PURCHASE AND EMPLOYMENT OF LAND. • The emigrant to any of the British possessions is greatly per- plexed by the complex systems for the disposal of land. There are scarcely two colonies where it is alike. It is m almost aU of them full of minute rules and restrictions, and these are fre- quently altered and readjusted. In some of them, the high uniform- price system has been adopted; and then, as this proved virtually inoperative, from people squatting in the out-districts mstead of buying land, it became necessary to form a distinct system of tenures to apply to them. In some colonies, the arrangements are fixed by the home government ; in others, they are variable, according to the views of the colonial authorities. The advan- tages of a uniform and sunple system have been well illustrated in the United States. The system for the survey and sale of the public lands was adopted by act of Congress in 1786, and has virtuaUy remained unaltered in its general features. Before being offered for sale, all unoccupied lands are surveyed in ranges of townships, each miies square, xne xuvrusiup « cuwuiTi'Ltw. — — j — 8L& 114 ags ^j,^lj(gBS^^:WP,Wt«^RffllPWR"M*^*»^- THE UNITED STATES. sections, each one mile square, and containing about 640 acres. The subdivision is made by lines crossing each other from east to west, and north to south. The sections are numbered from 1 to 36. The enumeration commences at the north-east corner, and runs west ; the next row being counted from west to east, and so on alternately. The sections are farther subdivided into quarters of 160 acres, eighths of eighty, and sixteenths of forty. The surveyors put up distinct marks in the field for indicating the corners of the townships, the sections, and the quarter sections. j t, xi. When lands have been surveyed, they are proclaimed by the president as for sale by public auction. The upset price per acre is 1 dollar 25 cents, or li dollar, equal to about Ss. 3d. When the land is not sold at the auction sale, it is ' subject to private entry,' as it is termed, and may be claimed by any one paying the upset price. It would appear that not much of the land sells for more than the upset price, or what does sell brings little more, as the whole pro- duce of the land-sales seldom greatly exceeds an average of a dollar and a quarter per acre during the year. Thus in 1848 the lands disposed of amounted in acres to 1,887,553. At the upset price, the whole would have brought 2,359,441 dollars. The actual pro-, duce-money was 2,621,615 dollars. The annual quantity of land sold can hardly be said to increase progressively like the immigra- tion. It must be subject to peculiar influences, occasionally con- tracting as well as enlarging it. The rush on California might perhaps have an influence on it. The acres of land sold in 1847 exceeded 2,500,000. The previous year shews a smaller amount; it does not much exceed 2,250,000. In 1845 the amount comes down to the level it had descended to in 1848, and is even slightly under it. In going backwards there are four years in which it vibrates between 1,250,000 and 2,000,000. In 1840 the level of 2,250,000 had been slightly exceeded. But this was in the course of descent from a sort of climax in land-sales reached in 1836. In 1839 the amount was close on 5,000,000, and the sum realised equal to £1,346,782 sterling. The previous year it had been under 3,500,000, but in 1837 it was more than 5,500,000, and realised £1,459,900 sterling. In the wonderful year 1836, however, the quantity of land sold was 20,074,870 acres, realising £5,063,297 sterling. In the preceding year the land-sales were a little more than 12,500,000. In 1834 they had been nearer the point to which they have since descended, and were considerably under 5,000,000. In the North American Almanac for 1850 there is a document instructive as to the proportional rate at which the lands after they are surveyed find purchasers. It appears to go over a space 115 I ^ (. \ AMEniCA. ■of thirty years, and applies to each individual state. The result of the whole is this : at the commencement of the period, the lands offered for sale in the manner mentioned above amounted in acres to 154 680,234, Of these it appears that there were sold within ten years 44,133,590. After the expiry of the ten, but before that of a farther five years, there were sold in addition 17,70(1,023 acres. In the next period the sales were 8,730,823. In the next quinquennial period— between twenty and twenty-five years— the sales were 3,691,067. In the concluding quinquennial period of the thirty years the sales were 2,371,757. Tliere remained at the end of the tliirty years of the lands surveyed at the commence- ment—without reference of course to the sale of lands surveyed 'before or after— 78,046,074 acres. In the papers presented to the British parliament for 1849, on the revenue and statistics of the various countries of the world, there is a statement of the public lands remaining unsold in the several states on 30th June 1845. It may be remarked, that though the statement be upwards of five years old the sales that have since taken place would not very materially reduce the total amount; and there is no doubt that the great accessiono of terri- tory have caused a vast extent of new surveys. Tl»o acres in the market, and unsold, were then 133,307,457— eoual to about four times the area of England not counting Walt ' '^'"^ territory there had stood over for more than thirty years . acres— aiearly half of them in the Mississippi. For bet^, ^nty-five and thirty years there had stood over 15,178,82i; , <.nd for more than twenty, and not more than twenty-five years, there had stood over 21,185,596. These results are not to be confounded with those of the previous calculations from the tables in the Ame- rican Almanac, since these refer to all existing surveys at the time— the others gave the history of the progress of purchase on the survey presented for sale in one particular year. A conception may be formed, from these numbers, how vastly and infinitely available are the fresh lands of this great empire. There stands at one time surveyed, and ready for sale, as much land as, were it peopled as thickly as England, would contain a population equal to double thatx)f the United Kingdom ; and these lands are independent of the unoccupied tracts in the hands of individuals. Yet surveying is a costly operation, not to be need- lessly undertaken ; and, as we shall presently see, only a sm.'\U proportion of the lands ultimately available are brought within it. It may be interesting to observe the proportions in which the un- sold area is dispersed over the several states. The enumeration does not include the new territories, nor the following old territo- ries—Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode 116 THE UNITED STATES. Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Dela- ware, Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, Tennessee, and Kentucky. It contains, however, the southern states, which are not recommended as suitable emigration fields. In the several states where there were public lands for disposal, the acres were respectively— Ohio, 885,707; Indiana, 3,729,859; Illinois, 15,830,348; Missouri, 20,798,089; Alabama, 16,970,927; Missis- sippi, 10,409,034; Louisiana, 12,412,029; Michigan, 14,611,524; Arkansas, 19,040,589; Florida, 10,317,954; Iowa, 2,558,252; Wis- consin, 5,737,085. In looking from the amoimt of surveyed land to the new territo- ries lately opened up to the progress of immigration north and west of the organised states of the Union, we come to still broader and more comprehensive masses of figures. It may here be remarked, that in their statistics the Americans carefully separate the dis- tricts naturally to be counted among the northern states, and the more fit places for the British emigrant, from those appertaining to the south— the line being at 36° 30' north latitude. In the first place, then, there is the north-west territory, bounded on the north by the British- American dominions, or by the 49th parallel ; on the east by the Mississippi ; on the south by the state of Iowa and the Platte River ; and on the west by the Rocky Mountains. It contains 402,878,720 acres, equal to 723,248 square miles— nearly six times the area of the United Kingdom. The next is the Wisconsin territory— not that of tlie old state, but the newly- acquired territory lying between it and the Mississippi, and on the cast of that river. This ' balance of the old north-western terri- tory,' as the Americans call it, contains 22,330 square miles — equal to 14,295,040 acres. These are all in the districts consti- tuthig extensions of the old territory, and in the northern depart- ment available for emigration. There is, besides, in the extension districts, a tract of nearly 200 square miles — partly in the northern, partly in the southern division, called the Indian Terri- tory, ' situated west of the states of Missouri and Arkansas, and south of the Platte or Nebraska River, held and apportioned in part for Indian purposes.' We now come to the newly -ceded or acquired districts. The area of Oregon is 341,403 square miles, or 218,530,320 acres— not much less than three times the area of the United Kingdom. All this is of course in the northern division. The next territory is Upper California and New Mexico, bounded on the north by the 42d parallel ; on the east by the Rio Grande, and by a meridian line from its source to the 42d parallel; on the south by the middle of the Gila River, from the source to the mouth, and theuee by a line to a point one marine league south from the ^ 117 «l 1 AMERICA. aouthemmost point of the port of San Diego, and west by tlio Pacific Ocean. This territory is divided between the north and Bouth department. In the former there are 321,695 square miles, or 205,884,800 acres; in the latter, 204,383 sciuare miles, or 130 806,120 acres. The state of Texas is generally considered in three divisions. The first is Texas Proper, between the Sabine and Nueces Rivers, and south of the Ensenada. This is entirely in the southern department, covering 148,569 square miles. The mean division is d(3scribed as bounded ' between the Nueces and Rio Grande Rivers, up to a line drawn from a point a short dis- tance north of the town of Paso, to the source of the Ensenada River, and along the river to its mouth.' The whole of this also, covering 52,018 square miles, is in the southern department. The third division, or Santa Fd Country, is that situated north of Paso and Ensenada River, and stretching to latitude 42° north. This is partly in the northern and partly in the southern department. In the former there are 43,537 square miles, or 27,863,680 acres ; in the latter, 81,396 square miles. The great stretches of country which we have now gone over are, it will be observed, those available beyond the boundary of the regularly organised states —the quantity of land surveyed and available in which was previously noticed. The uniform price of the dollar and quarter applies of course to the territories actually admitted within the Uniop, or provided by act of Congress with a temporary government. But if the adven- turous settler, proposing to take up his position in a new district which is not, though it is likely to be marked out as a state, it is important to him to know what position he acquires, and what land-title he holds. It is clear that, on the one hand, it would be incompatible that these squatters should be entitled to hold in property all the land they may claim as theirs before the estab- lishment of a regular government ; and, on the other hand, that it would be unjust to deprive them of all title unless they paid the States price of a dollar and quarter per acre. Hence on the incor- poration of any state with the Union, careful provision is made for an equitable settlement of the land-claims of the squatters, which are adjusted by an important ofiacer called the Surveyor-general of Public Lands. Such a measure was passed by Congress in 1850, called, * An Act to create the Office of Surveyor-general of the Public Lands in Oregon, and to provide for the Survey, and to make donations to the Settlers of the said Public Lands.' It does not require actual citizenship of the States, but extends to all who will make a declaration, before Ist December 1851, of an intention to Decomo uiuzuns. xt mwuuco iisudc icBiamg in. i"o f.iis.--j^ — the passing of the act, or who have gone to it before Ist December 118 % • Ist December THE UNITED STATES. 1850 The title to fixity of tenure is four years' Bottleraeut and cultivation. To each person having such an equitable claim, upwards of eighteen years of age there is myarded one-half aection of 320 acres, if he be a singto man ; and if he be married a section of 640 acres-one-half becommg the absolute property of his wife. If an alien make the declaration of mtention to become a citizen, but die before he is actually natin-alised, his representatives succeed to his allotment. Persons settling between l8t December 1850 and 1st December 1853, acquire rights to half as much as those who have settled earlier, under the like conditions. To prevent land -jobbing, an oath is taken by the settler that the land claimed by him is for his own use and cul- tivation-that he is not acting as agent for _ another m making the claim-and that he has made no bargain for disposing ot the land to a purchaser. Taking this oath falsely is a punishable offence ; but how far the law would be enforced must depend on circumstances. The claims of representatives, whether by law or settlement, are admitted from the beginnmg; but no sale is held valid anterior to the issuing of the patent. The waste lands held in property by the United States by no means comprise the whole of the uncleared or waste lands within the States. In those states where there are no public lands at all, there are abundant tracts of waste land in the possession ot mdi- viduals or companies; but a question of great' importance to the agricultural emigrant must necessarily be, whether he will reclaim waste land, or invest in land already cleared and cultivated ? The British emigrant, if he resolve to turn himself to waste land, should choose the dry rolling prairie. The life of the backwoodsman is one of peculiar danger ana hardship. It is not necessarily unhealthy; but the causes ot disease are so peculiar and subtle, that the stranger wdl not readily understand or discover them; whUe the American is to a certain extent acclimated to their influence, and can bear them better. The first steps towards clearing the forest may be consi- dered as already described in the account of British America (see p 3n Of the farther steps after the felling and bummg, Mr Macgregor, with peculiar reference to the United States, gives, in his ' Progress of America,' the following account :— 'The surface of the ground and the remaining wood is all black and charred; and working on it, and preparing the soil for seed, is as disagreeable at first as any labour in which a man can be engaged. Men, women, and children, must however employ themselves m gathering and burning the rubbish, and in such parts of labour as their respective strengths adapt them for. If the gi-ound bo intended for grain, it is generally sown without tillage over the surface, and the "seed covered in with a hoe. Hy some a triangular narroTv, AMERICA. : f wliich Biiortons labour, is used instead of tho hoe, and drawn by oxen. Others break up tho earth witli a ono-handled plougli -tlio old Dutch plough— which has tl»o share and coulter locked into each other drawn also by oxen, while a man attends with an axe to cut the roots in its way. Little regard is paid in this case to mako Btraiclit furrows, tho object being no nu)ro than to break up tho crouud. With such rude preparation, however, thrco successivo pood crops are raised on fertile uplands without any manure ; inter- vale lands, being fertilised by irrigation, never require any. Potatoes are planted (in new lands) in round hollows, scooped with the lioo four or five inches deep, and about forty in circumference, in which three or five sets are planted and covered over with a hoe. Indian corn, pumpkins, cucumbers, peas and beans, are cidtivated in new *lands, in the same manner as potatoes. Graiu if all kinds, turnips, hemp, flax, and grass-seeds, are sown over the surface, and covered by means of a hoe, rake, or triangular harrow ; wheat is usually Bown on tho same ground tho year after potatoes, without any tillage, but merely covering tho seed with a rake or harrow, and followed tho third year by oats. Some farmers, and it is certainly a prudent plan, BOW timothy and clover seed tho second 'car along with tho wheat, and afterwards let tlio ground remain under grass until the stumps of tho trees can bo easily got out, which usually requires three or four years. With a littlo additional labour these obstructions to ploughing might be removed the second year, and there appears little difficulty in constructing a machine on the lever principle, that ■would readily remcTvo them at once. The roots of beech, birch, and spruce, decay tho soonest : those of pine and hemlock seem to require an age. After tho stumps are removed from tho soil, and those small natural hillocks, called «cradlo hills," caused by tho ground swelling near tho roots of trees in consequence of their growth, aro levelled, the plough may always bo used, and tho system of husbandry followed that is most approved of in England or Scotland.' The subsequent steps are of a more cheerful character— 'Wherever a settlement is formed amidst tiie woodlands, and some progress is made in the clearing and cultivation of tho soil, it begins gradually to develop the usual features of an American village. First, a saw-mill, a grist-mill, and a blacksmith's shop, appear ; then a school-house and a place of worship ; and in a little time the village doctor and pedlar Avith his wares introduce them- selves. * A saw-mill of itself soon forms a settlement, for attached to it must bo a blacksmith's forge, dwellings for carpenters, millwrights, and labourers, stables, and ox-houses. A ship and tavern are also sure to spring up close to it; tailors and shoemakers are also required.' But notwithstanding the wonderful rapidity with which the iip.fvndden •wilderness is converted into smilincr fields, orchards, villages, and even cities, the British emigrant, before he joins in 120 THE UNITED 8TATE8. the task, should connuler whether he is well fitted for it. To the AmericAn citizen, clearing the Avilderness is tlie occupation which nature «eem8 to have RHsigned to him. hvcn if ho have not actually been trained to it, it is a lot which has iM^come fam.lmr to him in his thoughts. The American farmer sells his holding, coos off into the forest, and says to his brawny sons, Now, lod», clear away!' as coolly as the English shopkeeper moves to a better street and more roomy premises. An insatiable rest ess- ness pervades the class, and many of them feel an irresistible propensity to dispose of their lands when they have cleared them, Snd begin the work again. It is said to be rare to hnd an American who will not part with his farm or estate if a sufficient consideration be put in his option. This restlessness aftords good opportunities for the British emigrant investing in clcarecl land. There are always lots in abundance to be obtained, ot every variety of class and extent. ' The partially cleared ground, says Mr Prentice in his Tour in the United States, 'maybe had at a comparatively cheap rate. The current of population flows towards the prairie land of Indiana and Illinois; and numbers ot men there are who will abandon their improvements it they can sell an acre of land at a price which would purchase four or live acres of the tempting prairies of the west. This affords an excel- lent opportunity to the agricultural immigrant from the o rt country. He can buy cleared land cheaper than he can clear it : he can have a house and cattle-sheds ready for use; helds ready to yield him produce; and he will escape the fever and ague which pertinaciously follow the breaker of fresh ground (p. ill.) The price of cleared land is iniinitely varied, accordmg to the situation and productiveness of the soil. Some areas ot cleared land may be bought out and out at £2 an acre; whi e there are others that would not be obtained on lease for double that amount of rent. It is only in general close to the cities, or in pecuharly rich bottoms, as they are called, that field after field in succession is cleared. When a property is for sale, a large part ot it is generally uncultivated. Very often the cleared land is exhausted by overcropping and the want of artificial manuring. Ihe American plan is rather to go to now land than to improve and foster the old. It is remarked that both- his propensity and his qualification is for clearing and bringing in, while that of the Englishman is for cultivating and enriching ; and hence it is often considered a wise division of labour for each to follow his particular bent. The British fanner almost invariably censures the slovenliness of the American, and holds up his scanty produce per acre as a lasting reproach. But there are reasons for the one pushing iae 1 AMERICA. resources of the land to the utmost which do not exist with the other ; and the agriculturist of Norfolk or the Lothians will need to pause before he follow up his high-farming system in the Atlantic states because he has found that it pays best at home. The controversy between the systems of farming has been con- ducted with a kind of professional pedantry. On one side, as if agiiculture were one of the fine arts, and its object were to pro- duce clean fields and follow a learned rotation of cropping. The object of agriculture is to raise the greatest quantity of produce with the least expenditure of capital and labour, and it is quite natural that the farmer in the old country should find it most economical to manure, irrigate, or eat off with turnips, while the American finds it best to move on to fresh fields. There are other elements which make the agriculture of Britain in a great measure inapplicable to the United States, and render it necessary that the agricultural emigrant should abandon all prepossessions, and adapt himself to the different character of his materials. In a work of great authority on the spot, called * American Hus- bandry,' by Willis Gaylor and George Tucker, New York— who think that American farmers are only too apt to follow the prece- dents of established British culture— there are the following explanations of the American peculiarities, particularly of climate : — « Population, by justifying, or rather compelling English fanners to adopt peculiar systems of farming, may be said to create a wider difference between the agriculture of the two countries than any arising from the soil. • But it is to climate that the principal points of difference in the agriculture of the two countries must be traced ; and this is what should be kept most distinctly in view when comparisons between English agriculture and our own are instituted. England, though in the latitude, and most of it north of Quebec, has a milder climate than our middle states ; and this fact should not be lost sight of in adapting the agriculture of that country to this. In the United States (we speak particularly now of the northern and middle states, as it is these that are more influenced by English agriculture than the south), the summers are much hotter and the winters much colder than in England: hence some plants that lequire a great degree of heat will succeed better here than there ; while many plants will bear the winters of England in the open air, that perish when exposed without protection to the intense cold of our winter months. A great number of thermometrical observations shew that the average temperature of the three months of January, Feb- ruary, and March in England, is about 37°, 42', and 47°, and that of the three months of June, July, and August, about 63°, 66", and 65". The average difference between the highest and the lowest tempera- ture per month will not exceed more than 6° or 8°, those sudden and THE UNITED STATES. extreme changes to which our climate is subject teing unknown there. In the valley of the Genessee, near Lake Ontario, the average foi the IJree winter months gives about 24 , 26% and 36% and for the three summer months, 71", 73^ and 72^ ; the mean average of several years L S^ and the range of the thermometer about 100' In this country we have changes of from 30" to 40" in twenty-four hours : there the greatest rarely exceeds 6^ or 8". There, also, the thermometer seldom descends but a few degrees below the freezing-pomt, wlu e here it is below for weeks or months together. Indeed it is probable that in the colder parts of the United States, the thermometer falls belo'w zero as often as it does in England below 32". •This statement will shew that there must be a material difference between the agricultural operations proper to two countries so situa- ted as far as those operations can be affected by climate. To give a single instance : Indian corn, it is ascertained, cannot be grown m any country where the thermometer, for more than .one month, is not above 70" ; and that in a temperature of 75", or 80", it arrives at its createst perfection. This is the reason why, notwithstanding all the efforts made to introduce [Indian] corn into Great Britain, it has proved a complete failure. It is not killed with the frost there as here : but the degree of heat will not bring it to maturity during the summer months. Mr Cobbett was confident he should succeed, and did grow some tolerable crops of early Canadian ; but, like some trees which flourish and mature their seeds here, but will not ripen m ^ng- . land, the corn would not in all cases mature so as to vegetate, and, m spite of his boastings, he was compelled to abandon the culture. On the contrary, wheat is a crop that requires a lower temperature than maize, and is not adapted to a hot, dry climate. Great Britain is, therefore, one of the best wheat countries on the globe, and perhaps produces, in proportion to the land in tillage, a greater amount than any other. The low temperature and moist climate of Jl-ngland is found to agree with this plant perfectly. Scotland is too cold; but no part of the island is too hot, as is the case with a considerable portion of our southern states. ., , , „ ,.«. n « To this difference of climate must be attributed the difficulty we have found in the United States in growing hedges from such shi-ubs or trees as are used in England for this purpose. From witnessing their excellent effect and beautiful appearance there, it was perfectly natural that we should adopt the same plants for the same object here; but after the repeated and persevering efforts of fifty years, it may be questioned whether there are five miles of tolerable hedge, from imported varieties of thorn or holly plants, in the United States. Tlio difference between the moist, temperate, and equable climate of England, and the hot, dry, variable climate of this country, seems to have been overlooked, when a recollection of this fact would have convinced any one acquainted with the physiology of plants that our seasons must be fatal to English hedges. Whether there are any of our native plants that will supply this desideratum remains to be seen.' ^^^ 123 U V *J 1 H AMERICA. It will be seen already in our notices of Mr Johnston's reccni work on North America, that along with other British agricultu- rists he censures the wastefulness of the American system under which ' the land has been in many places ploughed fifty years without any manure.' Still there is no answering the native farmer or the settler who, in exhausting one tract of land and then passing on to crop another either in his immediate vicinity or on the other side of the Rocky Mountains, finds that it is the most remunerative system. Mr Johnston's remarks on the subject are, however, of the highest importance, when we look from the imme- diate prospects of the settler or agriculturist to the future pros- pects of the great western empire, and their influence on this country. He seems to think— and he is perhaps correct— that the peculiar restlessness of the States' citizens, prompting them ever to change their place of residence, makes them sometimes miscalculate their real interest, just as the English husbandman does by obstinately sticking to one spot. He looks upon this propensity as likely to interrupt the ultimate productive progress of the States, deeming that their prospects for future productive- ness would be better if the error were on the other side, and people made sacrifices in improving their holdings instead of shifting to new ground. Observing that many old exporting dis- tricts in North America require to import wheat, he says very emphatically. •The same consummation is preparing for the more newly settled parts, unless a change of system take place. The new wheat- exporting— so called— granary districts and states will by and by gradually lessen in number and extent, and probably lose altogether the ability to export, unless when unusual harvests occur. And if the population of North America continue to advance at its present rapid rate— especially in the older states of the Union— if largo mining and manufacturing populations spring up, the ability to export wheat to lilurope will lessen still more rapidly. This dimi- nution may be delayed for a time by the rapid settling of new western states, which, from their virgin soils, will draw easy returns of grain ; but every step westward adds to the cost of transporting produce to the Atlantic border, while it brings it nearer to that far western California, which, as some predict, will in a few years afford an ample market for all the corn and cattle which the western states can send it.' He adds, < in their relation to English markets, there- fore, and the prospects and profits of the British farmer, my per- suasion is, that, year by year, our transatlantic cousins will become less and less able— except in extraordinary seasons— to send large supplies of wheat to our island ports ; and that, when the virgin freshness shall have been rubbed off their new lands, they wUl be unable, with their present knowledge and methods, to send wheat to 124 THE UNITED STATES. tt,o British market so cheap as the more skilful farmers of Great Britain and Ireland can do. If any one less familiar with practical a- culture doubts that such must be the final effect of the exhausting ^^stem now followed on all the lands of North America, I "ced only Kform him that the celebrated Lothian ftxrmers, in the immediate neighbourhood of Edinburgh, who carry all then- crops off the land- ds the North American farmers now do-rcturn, on an average, ten tons of well-rotted manure every year to every acre ^vlnle the American farmer returns nothing. If the Edu.burgh fanner finds this quantity necessary to keep his land in condition, that of tlie American farmer must go out of condition, and pi-oduce inferior cro s in a time which will bear a relation to the onginal richness ot the soil, and to the weight of crop it has been in the habit ot producing. And when tliis exhaustion has come, a more costly system of gene- rous husbandry must be introduced, if the crops are to be kept up ; and in this more generous system my belief is that the British farmers Avill have the victory.' EMIGRANTS. It will naturally be expected that the emigrant who throws himself on a foreign state will be left more to his own resources, and receive less protection and attention than the colonial settlei, who merely passes from one department of the empire to another, still remaining within the circuit of its laws. It was but lately, however, that our colonial governments took any pams to smooth the wanderer's path; and the arrangements made for the recep- tion of emigrants in New York, and other great reception-ports m the United States, are not much inferior to those which our own colonial govei-nment has made. Partly the stranger is aided by the several societies for the protection of emigrants-generally consist- ng of citizens who have been natives of the British Empire The governments of the States, however, have acted on ^^^ ««,"^^ PJ"^" ciple,that they have a great interest m tbe matter Able-bod ed healthy immigrants are an infusion of new blood to them. Helpless wrecks of humanity are a corresponding encumbrance since no civilised community can systematically permit human beings to die on their streets. , , . • „'^„„«. At the entrance of the port of New York there is animmigrant hospital with more than a thousand beds, airing-grounds exceed- ing thirty acres, and a suitable medical staft. 1 here the sick, chiefly from ship-fever, are at once landed, without entering the city. The excellence of the treatment is attested by the circum- Etance,that in 1847 the deaths among 6932 p^ients admitted ^ I1,.11IJU..1.-... '' if Y! ii I i I i f ! AMERICA. amounted to 847, or 12i per cent.* The medical institutions for the reception of immigrants have been from time to time lately enlarged. The system is in some measure supported by the pay- ment of the tax on passengers, to be immediately mentioned, which gives them a title to admission. But this is insufficient to meet all the expense of the system, part of which is borne by the Before the year 1847, the masters of vessels required to give bond that their immigrants should not become chargeable on the cliaritable institutions of the country for two years after their arrival. This was fo-md meffective, however, as the parties could not always be reached with responsibility, and in 1847 the plan of laying a tax on immigrants was adopted. This was again altered by a law of the state in 1849, and an alternative principle adopted. By this act, within twenty-four hours after the landing, the master of the vessel must make a report of his passengers, statmg their age, occupation, and other particulars. He is liable to severe penalties for any omission. He is then subjected to the alternative of becoming bound with sufficient securities to the amount of 300 dollars for each pas- / senger to relieve the charitable institutions of the country, during five years, from any burthen arising from the passengers. This would be a very serious undertaking, if it were likely to be en- forced; but it appears to be merely enacted as an alternative for a real tax on immigrants ; since the shipowners are relieved from it by payment of a dollar and a half per head on their passengers to the health commissioner. It is provided, however, that the state is not, under this commutation, to be burthened with per- manent imbecUes ; and there is a separate provision, that if any lunatic, idiot, deaf, dumb, blmd, or infirm person, or any person who had been taken away in a state of permanent disease, is found in the vessel by the Commissioners of Emigration when making their inspection, the shipowners must come under security to the extent of 500 dollars to guarantee the state and all its institutions from liability for such passengers. By a similar law of the state of Massachusetts, a tax of two dollars per head is laid on aU he<hy immigrants ; and for each imbecile, bond must be given to the extent of 1000 dollars. Free as are the institutions of our transatkntio brethren, they appear to be strong enough to protect the helpless emigrant from those to whom he is natural prey. Mr Minturm, an emigration commissioner of New York, astonished the Committee of the House of Lords on Emigration by his account of the extraordi- * Of these 6032, six thousand three hundred and seventy-nine, or ?'nety-two per --,_* _ — »„~ T-«i»...i_iJt nt H.. «. Miniurin before the Committee or 1M7-4K, 126 THE UNITED STATES. nary powers vested in the magistrates to punish boarding-house ■ keepers and ' forwarders,' as those are termed who contract to pass emigrants to the interior, for frauds. ' Is not that,' he was asked, ' a very large exercise of authority granted exclusively for the benefit of emigrants?' And he answered : ' It is an extraordinary power granted from the necessity of the case, as those people cannot wait the slow process of ordinary legal proceedings. They land at New York, and wish to pass immediately into the interior. The landlords took advantage of them, and exacted exorbitant rates from them during the short time they were in New York, and held their baggage till they paid them. The parties who had made their arrangements for passing into the country could not encounter this delay. The ordinary process of law would of course be naturally too tedious for them, and therefore the legis- lature has given the authorities this summary process. The keeper of the hotel is brought before the mayor or police magis- trate, and, upon conviction, is fined, and an officer is authorised to take immediate charge of the baggage.' Legal defects were, however, found to the operation of this simple and summary measure; for it is very difficult in America to enforce any law which a class of the citizens dislike. The state legislature grappled with the matter, however, and in 1848 passed * An act for the protection of emigrants arriving in the state of New York '—establishing minute and strict regulations. By this act, enclosed docks are set apart for the exclusive landing of emigrant alien passengers. The passengers are to be conveyed, with their effects, from the emigrant vessels to these docks by lightermen, who are licensed, and who find security for their good conduct. Captains of vessels are bound, under a ptnalty of not less than 100 dollars, to take care that all steerage or second-cabm passengers— who are presumed to include the helpless emigrant class needing protec- tion—shall be landed at these docks. Persons keepmg boarding- houses for emigrants require to take out a licence, paying for it ten dollars a year, and finding security for good conduct. The keeper must hang up a list of prices for board and lodging, or for separate meals, in the English, German, Dutch, French, and Welsh languages. The boarding-house keeper is not entitled to detain the luggage of an emigrant, as his security; and if he attempt to do so, he becomes liable to penahies. It is probable that the keepers of these establishments, beuig thus deprived of a security which ordmary innkeepers enjoy, will insist on prepayment, or, at all events, on seemg that the persons they admit are able and willing to pay them. , '. No one is entitled to solicit emigrants, whether for lodging- houses or conveyances, without having a licence, for which he il i II : id it; U i Ki; ' i AMERICA. pays twenty ''hilars a vcar, and gives security. Every licensed person r i ^'">r a badge or plate, conspicuously displayed, with the nuu' his licence, and the words 'licensed emigrant runner.' / -3 is in conformity with a very useful American prac- tice. It is enacted that ' every person Avho shall solicit alien emi- grant passengers or others for the benefit of boarding-houses, passenger - offices, or forwarding - lines, upon any street, lane, alley, or upon any dock, pier, or public highway, or any other place within the corporate bounds of any city in this state, or upon any waters adjacent thereto, over which said cities may have jurisdiction, without such licence, shall be deemed guilty of a mis- demeanour, and shall be punished by imprisonment.' There is even an arrangement in the act for authorising a person appointed by the Emigi-ation Commission to go on board of the vessel, and offer v/arnings and advice to the emigrants, before any other person is permitted to have access to them. No one is entitled to book emigrant passengers, or take money from them, who does not keep a public office, paying a licence- duty of twenty-five dollars a year, and finding security. lie must have a bill of rates conspicuously posted in the English, Dutch, French, German, and Welsh languages, and applicable as well to persons as to luggage per hundredweight. The Commissioners of Emigration are to see to the enforcement of the act ; and 1^ a regulation which is pecidiarly American, each commissioner requires to make affidavit annually that he has had no concern, as a private speculation, with the boarding or conveying of any emigrants. The manner in which emigrant families usually make their way from the landing port to their final destination is by contracting with a forwarder for the distance at least to Avhich there are means of public conveyance. How far the above regulations have been effective for the protection of the class it would be perhaps difficult, to discover ; but it is clear that they must, if they are cautious and forewarned, have the matter much in their own power. They must forbear from dealing with persons who do not appear with the outward badges of their functions and privileges. The evils formerly complained of were, that the forwarder con- tracted with his dupe to convey him to a certain destination, and received the money, when he had no more right to get him admis- sion to the public vehicles in the line than any other person. In short, he took the money under the pretence of being the agent or owner of the steamboat, railway, or whatever it might be, when he had no concern with it; and ere the poor dupe discovered it, he was at a distance, and friendless. Frequently contracts were taken to convey people to destinations to which there was no puuuc conveyance as au; auu sv luc xicii^icaa ttkii^v.^.. — — 128. n.v-m'.t.r .■«^--**rr,'T^^ THE UNITED STATES. down on the outskirts of civilisation, with hundreds of miles of prairie or forest between him and the place of his ultimate des- tination. Some useful hints are given beneath on this subject. It is impossible to obtain precise knowledge of the number of immigrants who settle annually in the United States. The record of land-sales is evidently no criterion, since many American citi- zens buy land, and many immigrants do not. The entries at the ports do not comprehend the large body who pass through the British dependencies in the north. Mr Chickering of Boston who made an elaborate inquiry into the subject, filling up the blanks in the procurable returns with approximate estimates, gave as his belief that, down to 1847, the numbers, reckoning from June to June were-1842, 151,660; 1843, 112,738; 1844, 111,910; 1845, 153 622; 1846, 220,576; and 1847, 300,000. Mr Chickering believed that the whole increase of the States by immigration from 1790 to 1840 exceeded the population of the States at the foi-mer period. But Germany and France of course have borne their share in this supply— a share small in comparison with Britain, though in late years there has been a considerable amount of systematic migration from Germany. Of the arrivals of passengers in the States, lists are professed to be kept and published annually; but their completeness is very doubtful. The American Almanac for 1851 contams the lists for the year endmg 30th September 1849. The general results are tho following— Maine, 4775; New Hampshire, 142; Massachu- setts, 29,780; Khode Island, 110; New York, 213,736; Pennsyl- vania, 15,511 ; Maryland, 8072 ; Virginia, 372 ; South Carolma, 1008; Georgia, 209; Alabama, 172; Florida, .75; Louisiana, 25,209 ; Texas, 439— Total, 299,610. Of these it was known that 179,253 were males, and 1^9,915 were females, the sex of the others not being recorded. It will be seen that the arrivals in the southern states are comparatively few. The considerable number who are mentioned as entering Louisiana doubtless land at New Orleans, for the purpose of proceeding by steam up the Mississippi. k HINTS TO EMIGRANTS TO NEW YORK. The following valuable document, contaming directions for unmigrants into New York, has lately been published in that city. It is dated 'Office of the Commissioners of Emigrants of the Q.^,4,- „|? TM^«. v.^vV Vow r.Jfv TTrH Chambers Street. New York, AMERICA. I I I i ' August 1851,' and signed ' Gulian C. Verplanck, Tresident of the Commissioners of Emigration, New York :'— « Passengers arriving at the port of New York with the intention of proceeding to the interior should make their stay m the city as short as possible, in order to save money. It will generally not bo necessary for them to go to any hotel or inn, but the passage-tickets to the interior can be bought immediately, and the baggage be at once removed from the ship to the steamboat, towboat, or railway, some one of which starts every day throughout the year. This course saves not only much money for board, lodging, and carting, but also prevents many occasions for fraud. If passengers go to an inn or boarding-house, they should see at once whether a list of prices for board and lodging is posted up for their inspection, as is required by law. Never employ a cart that has no number painted on it, and be careful to note down the number. Always make a bargain for the price to be paid before engaging a cart to carry your baggage. The price allowed by law for a cartload any distance not over half a mile is 33 cents, and for each additional half mile one-third more. Among the impositions practised on emigrant- passengers none is more common than an overcharge in the rates of passage to the interior, against which there is no protection, except by a close attention to the following, remarks, and by insisting on a strict adherence on the part of forwarders to the scale of prices established by the mayor of the city of New York and the Com- missioners of Emigration, which will bo found below. Ihere are two principal routes to the interior from New York: one is by way of Albany and Buffalo, or by the New York and Erie Kailway The passage from New York to Albany costs from 25 to 60 cents (lialf a dollar.) From Albany there are two modes of conveyance to Buifalo— one by canal, which takes from 7 to 10 days, at H dollars ; the other by railway, going through in 36 hours, at 4 dollars; and no higher prices should be paid. The route to the south and west is by way of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. The pas- sage from New York to Philadelphia is 1 dollar 50 cents, and from there to Pittsburgh, 3 dollars to 5 dollars— making from New York to Pittsburgh from 4 dollars 50 cents to 6 dollars 50 cents. There is also a route to Pittsburgh by way of Albany in the summer season, which will cost 5 dollars 50 cents. On all these routes passengers have to find their own provisions, and consequently the difference in the cost between travelling by canal and railway is not as great as it appears at first, as the passengers by canal have to pay for a week's provisions more than those travelling by railway, besides losing time and being longer exposed to fraud. Passengers are advised m no event to engage their passage to distant small places that do not lie on the main route, but only to engage to the nearest main station, and from there to make a new engagement to their final place of destination. If not differently advised by the Emigration SocjftVj and in all cases when passengers have not been able to consult these 130 THE UNITED STATES. societies, they should never engage passage further than Buffalo or Pittsburgh, and tliere make a new contract. Otherwise their passage -ticltets, though paid for, may prove good for nothing. Passengers are cautioned tliat baggage is very often stohm, and the owners sliould always keep an eye upon their effects, and not allow themselves to be enticed or bullied into giving the transportation ot them to irresponsible people, or going into boarding-houses or forwarding-offices not of their own free selection. Emigrants should always decide, immediately upon their arrival, what they will do before they spend their small remaining means in the boarding- house, and they should generally proceed at once on their journey while they have the means. On their arrival hero they should not give ear to any representations nor enter into any engagements without obtaining first the advice and counsel of either the Commis- sioners of Emigration, or the Emigrant Society of the nation to which they belong, or its Consul ; and in inquiring for the office ot the Society, or Consul, or the Commissioners, they should be careful not to bo carried to tho wrong place. There are many individuals sufficiently unscrupulous intentionally to mislead the stranger. 11 the latter, for instance, inquire after the agency of the German Society, or the Irish Emigrant Society, the person applied to will say that ho is the agent, or t\iat he will take the stranger to the olhce of the German Society; but instead of doing so, will take him to a place where he is almost sure to be defrauded. As a general rule, if the emigrant is urged to take passage, or has to pay for the advice he asks, he may take it for granted that he is not at the place where ho wishes to be; and he should bear m «imd to look for the name of the persons or office he is in search of at the door of the house into which he is shewn. All the foreign consuls and the emigrant societies, as well as the Commissioners of Emigration, have signs over the doors of their offices. The office of the German Society is No. 95 Greenwich Street ; of the Irish Eniigrant Society, at No.' 29 Reade Street; and of the Commissioners of Emigration in one of the public edifices of the city in the Park. — iV. if. ine Commissioners earnestly advise all emigrants who »?"ng money with them to deposit it as soon as they arrive n the Emigrant Industrial Savin«^s' Bank, No. .51 Chambers Street, opposite the x'ark. J his institution was established by the legislature for the express purpose of affording to emigrants a safe place of deposit for their moneys, which they can draw out at pleasure whenevei they want it; and, after a certain period, with interest added to it. Never keep money about your person or in your trunks. Evil persons may rob or commit worse crimes upon you. Take it to the Savmgs Bank. Passengers while travelling should alwiys be provided with small- silver change, as they may otherwise be more easily cheated on the way. Never take bank-notes, if you can avoid it, until you are able to fudge of their value for yourselves, a., there are many counterfeit and broken bank-notes in circulation. V/hat is called a rluUing in a • • i iU^^ rxltrrspnna stfirlin"/ li! AMERICA. LABOUR. In this country the trained artisan And the mere labourer who exercises his unintelligent strength are known to te distinct classes. It is popularly supposed that in the United Plates they are all mixed up together in a general easy prosperity; but this is a great mistake. The chief distinctions in the States are niade by men's capacities for working and producing— the able, indus- trious, active, and ingenious man being well paid, while his inferior is ill paid, and has narrower chances of success. This is a primary principle which the members of the working-classes, when tliink- ing of emigration, must not forget. The prospects of the artisan or skilled worker will depend much on the question whether he intends to follow his trade, or, haviiig realised a small sum by economy at home, crosses the Atlantic to find a better investment for it. If he propobd to follow the tide of emigration westward, and observe the opportunities that turn up, he may perhaps hit on some profitable occupation, m connection with the villages increasing into towns, which accompany the perpetual progress of new settlements. A man vrho has a little money, and that free use of his hands which an artisan must possess, may, in such a case, go on prospering until he become an important authority in the new state. He may do the same if he have funds enough, along with patience and capa- city, to purchase and work an allotment near the centre of some youthful state, just supplied with a temporary government, and likely to be represented in Congress. Such and infinitely varied are the opportunities of the artisan class when they go to the States with a saved capital, however small. If they go without it, unless they are able workmen, they must contemplate a descent into the mere labour class. There is generally sufficient employ- ment for all the members of this class in the States. None of them starve, and their wages are high. But they are not among the cksses who go voluntarily abroad : they are helped over, and trust to those who have helped them away to smooth tlieir path onwards. The times when there is an impulse to send them over are those of commercial depression and want of employment, and the suddenness of their transference finds the place they are sent to so unprepared to receive them, that it might sometimes be a question whether it would not be better to keep :hem at home, waiting for better times, than to shovel them out upon the shores of another country. In time, however, they become absorbed in the population, and get work. The aitlsau would not gcueniUy wish to be huddled into this class ; but if he go out with insuffi- 132 r or. TUE UNITED STATES. cient capacities to compete with American workmen, it will be bin necessary fate. , . • *! The position of the skilled artisan is the important one in the transference of labour from Britain to the United States. It is a common belief, tiiat if a man does not receive the wages of a supe- rior workman here, he had better go to America, where the people are less fastidious. He is dreadfully mistaken } and it is a mistake which has been the ruin of many tolerable workmen, of sober, saving habits, who have laid by enough to carry them over to the States, and have there found that they were nearly useless, and that they must sink into a subsidiary grade or come back. The artisan who goes to America with the expectation of being employed in his own trade, should be a firstrate workman. If he be so, and if his trade be followed there, he is sure of employment and high wages. A good skilled artisan, however, is valuable here as well as in America; and before he leave the old country, he wiU do well to consider whether his trade, if it be a taiiiug one on this side of the Atlantic, may not be utterly useless on the other. It is unsatisfactory to take lists of wages, since they shift rapidly, and are different in the several towns. An mtelli- gcnt artisan will generally have some brother of the trade who has gone before him, and can give him information. If be ha« not some such means of acquiring distinct knowledge of the remuneration of his profession before emigratmg to the States, he had better stay at home, as he may find that his occupation is • overdone, or that he is far excelled by the local workers, and will be obliged to descend to the rank of the unskilled labourer. The American cities have communication with all the worm; and the newest shapes of workmanship, whether they may be caUed fashions or impro /ements, reach them much more rapidly than they do the secondary English towns. A bootmaker goes out to America from an English market-town-he finds that the merchants and the neighbouring farmers have got the Farsian fashions which had not been heard of in his native town, and wiU wear nothing else. -\ clockmaker becomes discontented with his fate, and goes io the States, where he finds tliat the reason why he has been slack of work at home is because the American clocks undersell the British. The advice is repeated-that the workman should take no general statements, but ^n^y p /J ^^^ United States on ascertaming from good authority that he is wanted— that he can get employment at a high remuneration. A high remuneration, speaking in a pecuniary sense, is necessary to the workman in the States. Unless he can make at least 40 „„„* „.r.r.a tv,a« Via fan in this countrv, he is not substantially better off. All natural productions are cheaper than they are at AMEUICA. home; but as to everything that obtains its vahie from industry-- he must recollect that the inducement to liis proceediig thither ia the high remuneration of industry, and so he mu»t be prepared to pay highly every one who works for him, in keeping house, in preparing his victuals, in making his clothefl, and in keeping them clean. Jn fact, in the cities of the United States, all people who work are vvoU paid, and tlicrefore all who desire to participate in the general advantage must work hard and effectually themselves, and must be ready to afford a satisfactory proportion of what they 80 gain to those who minister in any shape to their wants. It would scarcely serve any useful purpose on this occasion to go over the various trades, and endeavour to describe those most wanted. There are general rules, however, that seem' to apply in the States, thus : that first-class workers in all the departments coTinected with dress and the furnishing of houses— as tailors, finishing hatters, French polishers, cabinetmakers, carvers and gilders, looking-glass framers, and the like— are sure of work if they he firstrate hands ; but they may have persuaded themselves on this side of the Atlantic that they will be so on the other, and may find themselves wanting. When they are disappointed, they either find some inferior occupation in the States, from which, if they take heart and are prudent, they may rise to follow out some more lucrative calling— or they get disheartened, and either spend a miserable existence in some of the Atlantic cities, or, coming home, rail against democracy, and become turbulent and trouble- some. The rapidity with which they work and do everything else is a characteristic of the inhabitants of the States. The artisan must be prepared, if he be better off there, to put more work through his hand. The number of hours given to the employers has been long a matter of dispute there. In fact, hours of labour are so impor- tant in America that either party fights about them as a very valu- able commodity. The employer wanting the hours increased— the workman wishing them decreased. For highly-skilled artisans, indefinite remuneration would be given if they could indefinitely prolong their hours of work. Unfortunately the employers, in the spirit of cupidity, sought to fix the remuneration while they pro- longed the hours, and a wretched conflict between the • workies,' as they were called, and the capitalists was the consequence. Both parties had the same interests, and it would have been better for them to have found out a means of mutual aggrandise- , ment than of mutual injury. The rapidity with which everything is done in the States is a feature that it will be fatal in the artisan to overlook. If he can- not work fast he need not go there. An intelligent artisan, who 134 THE UNITED 8TATK8. had been flome years in tbo Wtatos, and published in 1840 * The British Mechanics' and Labourers' Handbook,' si)oak8 descriptively of tlio rapid and ' ridding ' way in which the American mechanio gets through his work. He acts, not like a man who wants em- ployment, l)Ut like one who wants to get through with what he i» at. The Englishman makes the best inmiigrant mechanic ; the Irishman the worst. In fact the Irish, who are almost all from the south, and sent across the Atlantic to be got rid ot, are sub- jected to the humblest labours, or to the menial occupation of the domestic servant. The Irishman is now the Swiss ot the States. The situation of the Scottish artisan is peculiai-he is not so rapid a workman as the Englishman, but his knowledge beyond his merely handwork, and his adaptability to the habits of strangers, generally tempt him out of his trade into higher occupations. . . . ^i *• There is one essential question to be kept m view by the artisan before he proceeds to the States— Can he trust to himself absolutely in the matter of sobriety? If he cannot, he is a gone man there. The temptations to excess are great and ceaseless, the hnest spirits being procurable for less than half the price of the most wretched English gin. At the same time drunkards are not so calmly tolerated as they are at home. The tone and habits ot the artisan order are against them ; and instead of being supported by their fellow -workmen, they are trampled under foot. The American is not always utterly abstemious, but he is in general moderate; and he despises the sot who cannot preserve his week s pay. He himself preserves it not only for the wants of the next week, but for the savings' bank. America is the home of the industrious, the enterprising, the temperate, the steady. Where is intelli- gence or good conduct more highly prized. Idleness, pride of birth, and depravity, meet no countenance. In a word, no one need cross the Atlantic unless possessing hands and a will to work, along with an earnest determination to achieve respecta- bility of character. 135 W. & R. CHAMKBRS'S MISCELLANEOUS PUBUCATIONS. V CHAMBEBS'9 JOURNAL VkA-nrrTin T Tm VD t ifHT) V OnTWrilt kUJi ARTS. iMoed In Weahfy If umiMn, at IJKt ... „. M(wUiIjrP»rto,at7Ai*n«8||4 ... ... Batf*yearijyoi CHAMBERS'S PAPERS FOE THE PEOPLE. In Tw«lvo TfilunuM, at l«»6(l each, fancy bo>.Tda t aindM Kumban, aft lid «a^ CHAMBERS'S MISCELLANY OF USEFUL AND ENTERTAINING TRACTS. tat twan^ TOlaflHi, at 1«. aaofa. dona np in teuqr boarda{ or In t« vekau^ dotb, at tr. aaoh. CHAMBERS'S LIBRARY FDR YOUNG PEOPLE. Thta a«ria^ wWc* ambfacaa Moral and lUllgfoy M«»l HIttwry, Pyfay.. m^ ■a1daeta70Mi«al tofonnation. to oompTctea in TwrntyTotaaM*. atotlt l a tftw wM t , priaa U. aaoii, Oloatsatad with FNntiapto^M^ CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. A Vew ant imprnvad BdRioa. now mmt!tU la Two Volunw, pttao 18t. doUti te^HPvla at 74. ; or ia 10& NnnAara at Hd, aafita. CYCLOPJEDIA OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. ▲ CMUoal and RiQ(»i^tdii(!id HMnnr of BnRliril Wrtton^ to all depatteMSta