Volume 10 — TWO YEARS' RESIDENCE, &c. &c. (continued 3)

{182} The sheep of this country, and indeed of the whole of America, as far as I have seen, are mean, when compared to those of England. They are of different sorts, but much mixed. If I can judge of their origin, I think the Lincolnshire and Welsh sheep are the nearest to their original breeds; but many of them have had a little Merino blood mixed with them of late years. I have seen no sign of the South-down sheep. There are but few sheep at the prairies, and the greater part of them are very mean ones. But there a few good Merinoes, and some few others tolerable; but in general they are coarse, with very hollow coarse wool; and there are some that have a hairy kind of wool. Nor do I think sheep will be of much service in this part of the country, till more land is brought into culture, and laid down in cultivated grasses, as prairie grass is of a coarse nature, and will not bear much feeding, as it is apt to die if eaten down very bare.

Few of the American flocks exceed {183} twenty; but most of those who keep a few, shut them up at night to protect them from the wolves. Bears, I believe, never destroy sheep, at least I never heard of it.

The Americans keep sheep for the sake of their wool, which is manufactured into various articles of clothing; and at most of their cabins you may see carding, spinning, and weaving going forward; for to give the American women their due, many of them are truly industrious, as they manufacture most parts of their dress; and as they grow the cotton, flax, and wool, it comes reasonable.

These Americans hold mutton in the utmost contempt, and I have heard them say, people who eat it belong to the family of wolves. And many of them, who in the summer are sometimes short of meat, when their bacon is exhausted, would live on corn-bread for a month, rather than eat an ounce of mutton, veal, rabbit, goose, or duck. Their dislike arises from prejudice, {184} as many of them have never tasted these things. But I have heard a few of them say they like mutton; but even if fond of it, they will never purchase it, for fear of the scoffs of their neighbours. I do not intend to keep any sheep till I am better prepared for them. Wool sells, on a small scale, for half a dollar a lb., without much regard to its fineness, which is the reason why sheep are higher than mutton, as a sheep of fifty lbs. weight will fetch from two dollars fifty cents to three dollars; whereas, at five cents per lb., the very top price for mutton, the same sheep would only fetch two dollars fifty cents. Very few sheep are therefore killed here, as the butcher cannot afford to sell for five cents per lb., the same as beef, as their skins are of little or no value. Fat for candles sells high, ten cents a lb., twice the price of meat.

Pigs are numerous, being easily raised: they are of various sorts; but many of them {185} are of a sandy colour, and some with wattles; that is, a piece of flesh, about two inches long and half an inch thick, growing out on their cheeks. They are of middling size, but from very hard keep, they do not rise to much weight. It is not uncommon for one person to have from sixty to a hundred running in the woods, and left to shift for themselves, except giving them now and then a little salt. During the summer, when grass and herbs are dry, and before the masts begin to fall, it is almost impossible to describe how excessively poor they are. Most of them run till they are two, and sometimes three years old, before they are killed; and, in general, they have but little fattening. Some years, when there is a large quantity of acorns, hiccory-nuts, &c., they are said to get good pork. A hog of two hundred lbs. weight is here called a fine chunk of a fellow, and few exceed that weight; though many, if well kept and made fat, would weigh three hundred lbs. weight, {186} and some of them are large enough to weigh four hundred lbs. weight. They do not, in general, produce many at a time; I do not recollect I ever saw more than nine, and this number is very unusual. We frequently lose some, as the bears and wild cats make free with them. Many of the Americans tie a bell round the neck of one of their old hogs, to keep the gang, as they call it, together. It is also common to bell horses and cows, when running at large. The price of pigs varies very much: it is generally very low; but much dearer in September and October than in any other part of the year, as the masts are then near falling. Pork last year from four to five dollars per hundred lbs. weight, which, on an average, is less than two-pence halfpenny a lb.; and in Indiana it was cheaper than with us. Pigs are generally killed by the seller, and after they are scalded, they are carried to the buyer, as it is very difficult to drive wild pigs in a country like this. And as to the fattening bestowed on them, it only {187} enables them to run much faster than ever they could before.

A farrier and cow-leech are here nearly unknown, as most people doctor their own horses and cattle; they are subject to many disorders unknown in England, particularly to sore mouths; it first comes in the tongue, and proceeds towards the throat. The first mare I purchased was taken with it soon after I had her; I was on a journey; I found it first by her foaming much at the mouth; I examined her tongue, and found it was getting a little sore. I had heard of a remedy for this complaint, and I determined to apply it as soon as possible. I called on Mr. Slocum, whom I knew, and procured some alum and copperas, and pounding a small quantity of each, I tied it in a rag round the bit of my bridle, and when I got home I renewed the application. As horses with this disease can seldom eat corn, I tied mine up out of doors on a piece of timothy grass, and gave her as many pompions as {188} she would eat. Once a-day I put on her bridle, as before, and kept it on an hour. She soon got well, without losing any flesh; but many horses that have had it have been reduced almost to skeletons before they were cured, and some have died of it. I think it is a very dangerous disorder if neglected at first; and it is catching, by horses eating at the same manger. Some cows and pigs have caught it by eating the remainder of the corn left by horses. Some geese likewise had it. The fret is sometimes fatal. I have not seen one broken-winded, and but very few blind horses in America.

The poultry are—fowls, geese, and ducks; I have seen but few turkeys or guinea-fowls. Fowls are in very great abundance, and now sell for 12½ cents, (6¾ d.) A dozen of eggs is, generally, the price of one chicken. Geese and ducks are kept by the Americans for the sake of their feathers, and not for sale or to eat. They pick them six or eight times in a year, nearly naked {189} except their wings; they look extremely bad for some time after they are picked, but, in the summer, they get full feathered in about a month. I last year saw some very naked late in November. We have not picked ours, at which the Americans express much surprise, as the feathers are their only motive for keeping them. The geese are, I think, finer flavoured than in England, as they are not so strong tasted.

Fowl-feathers the Americans do not save, but scald their fowls to fetch them off. Geese and duck feathers are 50 cents per pound. We brought several beds with us, and we have purchased three since we have been here; they cost us 5l. 12s. 6d. each; it is, therefore, cheaper to buy them here than to bring them from England; but a person might, perhaps, have some time to wait before any could be procured, as, I believe, not ten beds have been offered for sale, in this settlement, since September last.

I have now given an account of all the {190} live stock, with the exception of dogs and cats; the latter we find very useful, having plenty of mice; and as to dogs we have a numerous collection of every size, sort, and colour, lap-dogs, I believe, only excepted; and as we have no dog-tax in this country, we much miss that useful thing.

The woods and prairies contain the following wild animals (but there are but few of those that are most dangerous);—viz. bears, wolves, panthers, wild-cats, foxes, opossums, racoons, ground-hogs, ground-squirrels, tree or common squirrels, deer, buffaloes, elks, beavers, otters, and rabbits. Bears and wolves are not numerous; but the latter, sometimes, kill pigs and sheep; a person at Birks' Prairie lately lost several sheep by the wolves. I have never heard of a wolf being killed, but I have frequently heard them howl of a night, and sometimes near us. Parties are frequently formed to hunt the bears, and some are often killed; yet I have never seen one, except that one in the Ohio. Their skins sell from one to two {191} dollars. Of panthers I have seen nothing, and heard but little; a noted hunter told me, he had followed hunting steadily (an American phrase) for twenty years, and had never seen one; but that others, who had hunted but little, had sometimes killed one. It is said to be a very fierce animal.

Wild cats are often destructive to young pigs; it is a bold animal, about twice the size of the common cat. Foxes are very scarce; I saw one near Robertson's Mill, it was much like an English fox. Racoons are numerous, and frequently destroy poultry; my sons have killed several; they are larger than a large cat; their skins, when good, sell for 25 cents each. Opossums are plentiful, and also destructive to poultry. They are easily taken, as they will not run away; but they are hard to kill, and often get away after they are left for dead.

The pole-cat is an offensive animal, and some dogs will not touch them, and those that do are frequently obliged to put their noses into the earth to get rid of the scent; {192} they are not so numerous as the two last mentioned. Ground-hogs are scarcer; I have seen but one; it was larger than a large cat; it had a large head, that a little resembled the head of a pig; in colour like an English badger; the legs very short, with long strong claws. It was fat, and said to be good eating; the person who had it did not eat it, but stripped it for the sake of its skin, which he was going to tan, to make shoes for his wife. He put it into some very strong lye, to take off the hair, and afterwards he intended to put it into a vat with some oak-bark. I have seen several of the Americans tanning hides and skins, in a trough made from a large tree, the inside hollowed out, and the skins put in and covered with some small pieces of oak-bark and water. These troughs are covered to keep off the sun and rain. I do not know how long they are in tanning their skins, but I have not, any where in America, seen any good leather of their own manufacturing.

{193} Ground-squirrels are handsome little animals, mostly running on the earth, fallen trees, and rails, and are as mischievous as rats. Tree-squirrels are of two or more sorts, and are eaten here. A party of eight Americans, in May this year, had a squirrel hunt, for a trifling wager. They were equally divided, and started at day-light with their rifles; and that party which produced most squirrels by the middle of the next day, was to win the wager. They each took a different ground to hunt on, each had a man to attend him to see all was fair. Three of them hunted on and near my land. I knew them all; and I saw one of them several times during the hunt; he was of the winning side, he killed 41; the whole number killed by his party was 152; by the other, 141; total 293. Although more than 100 squirrels were killed on my farm and near it, it did not appear greatly to lessen them.

Deer are not very numerous. I suppose, I have seen about 100, but never more than {194} five or six together. I bought several in the winter, the greater part without their skins, at one dollar each, but one or two higher; one weighed more than 100 lb. weight. They generally weigh from 60 lb. to 100 lb. A good skin is worth 50 cents: their horns, though large, are of no value here.

To the north of us there are buffaloes and elks; also beavers and otters on the rivers.

Rabbits are tolerably plentiful, smaller than the English rabbit; their skins are weaker, and their flesh is not so white, but it is more moist and tender. They do not burrow in the earth, but when hunted run into the hollow trees, so that an axe is necessary in rabbit hunting. The weakness of their claws is, I suppose, the reason they do not burrow in the earth.

I before mentioned picking up a land-tortoise in my journey to the Prairies, but tortoises are not numerous by any means. I have never seen one more than seven {195} inches over. Their shells are hard, strong, and beautifully clouded. I kept one several days in a tub; it had a young one, about an inch over; but somebody overturned the tub, and I lost my tortoises. There are a few moles, much like the English.

We have the following reptiles; namely, rattle-snakes, copper-heads, black, garter, and water-snakes; and a great quantity of frogs in wet places, and they make a great noise in a warm evening, but in a dry season we see or hear but little of them.

A few rattle-snakes and copper-heads are sometimes seen, but I have not heard of any person or animal being hurt by them.

The black, water, and garter-snakes, all said to be harmless: the black snakes are often six feet long. I have heard of their twining themselves round a man's leg so hard that he could scarcely move. I have seen many of them, and two dead rattle-snakes. But wild beasts and reptiles are but little more thought of or dreaded than in England.

{196} The birds are turkeys, turkey-buzzards, prairie-fowls, quails, pigeons, doves, wild-geese, wild-ducks, wood-cocks, snipes, blackbirds, mocking-birds, red-birds, yellow-birds, humming-birds, wipperwills, blue-jays, paroquets, larks, wood-peckers, black-martins, and a few other small birds. But birds are not so numerous as in England; some of them have very beautiful plumage, but not many of them are birds of song.

Turkeys are of a large size; we bought many during the winter for 25 cents each. At that time they were, in general, thin, but in the spring they get very fat; we bought one in April that weighed more than 20 lb. for 1s. 8¼ d. Prairie-fowls visit us in cold weather, but go to the north in the summer. They are nearly as large as a pheasant, and quite as heavy; they are short legged, their colour brown, with some feathers that look like ears. They are sometimes difficult to get near, but in severe weather they are very dull; their flesh is dark, but extremely palatable: they are a kind of grouse.

{197} Quails are here called partridges; they are small, and uncommonly fine flavoured. Pigeons are sometimes in immense flocks, smaller than the wild pigeons, but larger than the tame ones of England. A great number of doves, much like turtle doves.

Wild geese frequent the Prairies in a wet season; they much resemble some I saw at the Earl of Egremont's, at Petworth, in Sussex. Wild ducks also, in a wet season, larger than English wild-ducks. There are woodcocks and snipes on the creeks.

Blackbirds,—often seen in large flocks, much like starlings. Mocking-birds;—all I know of them is, they mock the notes of others. Red-bird,—a most beautiful scarlet bird, the size of a blackbird. Yellow-bird,—a handsome yellow bird with dark wings. Humming-birds are scarce; I mentioned one on our journey. Wipperwill, or whip-poor-will, or wippervill,—a brown bird that is named from the cry it makes, of "whip-poor-will;" it is generally heard of an evening in spring and summer.

{198} Paroquets are the same as are seen in cages in England,—a mischievous bird.146 Blue-jays are a very noisy busy bird. The larks are much larger than those of England; but the most common birds are wood-peckers, of many sorts.

The Americans frequently fix boxes on poles, or on the cabin, in which the black-martins build. I have seen them begin their nests in a few minutes after the boxes were fixt up.

Having given a short account of the animal, I shall now proceed to the vegetable, productions of this country; and, first, begin with the different sorts of natural grasses. Prairie-grass,—a very coarse strong grass; cattle are fond of it, but feeding or mowing it soon destroys it. Nimble-will,—a kind of fiorin-grass, or running couch-grass; it springs up in land that is fed bare of prairie-grass; cattle do not much like it.

Crab-grass comes on ground that is cultivated, (a soft kind of meadow-grass,) {199} likely to succeed as a meadow-grass for hay.

Yard-grass comes on land that has been much trodden; it is something like cock's-foot-grass, except the seed. Horses and cattle are fond of it, and, I think, it will answer as a cultivated grass, as it bears drought. Buffalo-clover resembles white-clover, but does not run on the ground; the leaf as large as red-clover. Cattle will eat it, if cut and given them, but they are not fond of it, as I have often seen bunches of it left where the other wild grasses have been eaten bare. The seed, like clover-seed, but chiefly of a pale yellow. There are a few other sorts of wild grasses, but I do not know their names or qualities; I believe they are of no great value.

Red or white-clover I have not seen; but I have heard there are some small patches of the latter in the prairies. Both sorts are said to be extremely pernicious to horses, cattle, and pigs. I have not seen trefoil, rye-grass, saintfoin, and cock's-foot, {200} or any English grass, with the exception of a little lucern, just come up, which I think likely to succeed. Saintfoin and cock's-foot are, in my opinion, most likely to answer, and bear the heat of the climate, of any English grasses.

The grass that is most commonly cultivated here, is timothy-grass. It belongs to the English meadow-grass, but grows here to a larger size; it does not appear to be a good pasture-grass.

Blue-grass is highly prized, but as a pasture-grass is, I believe, unknown in England. It resembles young rye-grass more than any other English grass; the seed is much like fiorin seed: cattle are fond of it. It comes early in the spring, and dies early in the fall. Timothy and blue-grass are the only sorts cultivated near us; but I think yard-grass would improve our pastures, as it keeps green much longer than blue-grass. In my opinion, crab-grass would answer well for pasture-grass in moist situations.

{201} But little cultivation amongst the English settlers took place till this year, but most of the Americans raised some Indian corn from their first settling; and this year a little wheat, oats, &c. This year, perhaps, 200 acres of wheat have been harvested in the different prairies; that which was sown in good time, and with good seed, produced a productive crop, and of good quality; but as good seed-wheat was difficult to be obtained last season, many were forced to put up with such as they could procure, and some from Vincennes and Indiana turned out very bad: those who sowed it had but little come up; and the wheat at spring being very thin on the ground, it branched out in a very extraordinary manner. I heard from several people, to whom I think credit might be given, that, in cutting a piece of wheat, they found a root that had 66 ears of corn on it; and that 40 and upwards were very common. I went over the field, after the wheat was cut, and saw many of the stems {202} of an immense size, but I did not count any of them. The wheat was, however, much too thin; it was blighted with the black and red blight, and of little value. I have been much surprised with the smallness of the quantity of wheat and oats sown per acre, and yet found the corn, (or as it is here called, grain,) thick enough on the ground. One bushel of wheat, or two of oats, is the quantity usually sown, and I have seen wheat thus sown too thick. I suppose the dryness of the seed, newness of the land, and its kindness in working, are the causes of so much less seed being required than I had been accustomed to.

Most of the wheat sown in 1819 by the Americans, was after Indian corn: it was sown before the corn was gathered, and plowed in between the rows of corn; it was sown in September or early in October. They sowed some after oats or flax, and for some they made fallows. That they sowed after the three last, was generally better than that after Indian-corn, when sown in {203} good time. Most of the backward wheat was touched with the blight, more or less, chiefly according to its thickness on the ground. I have not yet heard of any being thrashed for sale near us; but 75 cents per bushel is expected to be the price for good wheat. Most of that sown by the English, was after fallows; they having, in general, no other land to sow it on. The price given for reaping this year was about 11s. 3d. an acre, where paid in money; but some was cut to receive three bushels of wheat per acre, and some was cut by the day. The Americans usually help each other to cut their wheat, as they are fond of company when at work: this they return at some future time in the same way.

I believe much more wheat will be sown this autumn than last, possibly a double quantity. As I did not buy my land till October, and none of it being prepared for wheat, I could not sow any with a prospect of success if I could have {204} obtained seed wheat. This year, I think of sowing a few acres; probably, six or seven. I have bespoke some seed-wheat of the bearded kind; this is generally sown in this neighbourhood, and said to answer the best of any sort.

But few oats sown, as seed was not to be procured for money for many miles; but I think sufficient to raise seed for another year. I did not try much to get any seed, as I wished to see how they succeeded, particularly on new prairie-land. I have bespoke some seed for next year. The oats I have seen this year were but indifferent; they were much hurt by the dry weather, and the quality of them was bad. I think they will never be much cultivated in this country, unless it be on new prairie-land; and that for the sake of mellowing it, to prepare it for a crop of wheat or Indian corn another year.

The Americans reap and bind their oats the same as wheat, and stack them in very small stacks, without any covering. I have {205} heard no price for oats lately, but 37½ cents was the price per bushel some time ago. Wheat was begun cutting this year about the 20th of June, and oats the 26th of July. I believe no barley has yet been cultivated near us, nor have I seen any growing any where in America; but I saw some winter barley in a barn, at Harmonie, in Indiana, and I understood some was cultivated by the Harmonic society, for the purpose of making malt. I hope to procure a little seed barley and rye the next time I go to Harmonie.

I have seen no rye or peas near us, except garden peas, which do not grow so strong as in England, but yield well. I saw some fit to gather on the 10th of May; how early they were planted I do not know. Vegetation is much quicker here than in England. Some peas I planted on the 1st of April, were quite ripe for seed by the middle of June; and French-beans were also fit for seed in June. There was some snow and a smart frost, with scarce {206} any thing green on the 1st of April, yet on the 6th of May there were ripe strawberries in Birk's Prairie.

Flax is cultivated, on a small scale, by most of the Americans near us, for home-use. It is sown in April; and after the flax is pulled, the land is often ploughed and sowed with turnips, about the end of July or the beginning of August: this year, the land was too dry to plough it at that time.

I have seen no buck-wheat at the Prairies, with the exception of about 20 rods of my own. I dug a piece of prairie-land to sow it on; part of it had some hazle-brush on it; and where it was grubbed, it looks well, but where it was only dug it is but indifferent; however, I hope to raise enough for seed another year: I sowed it the 5th of July.

Cotton is planted in rows, near four feet apart, the end of April or the beginning of May. It soon comes up, and at first looks much like buck-wheat, except that the {207} leaves are larger, and it continues to grow much like it, only it has a larger blossom. Some round pods are afterwards formed, as large as a fine walnut in its husk. When ripe, the pods burst open, and the cotton then appears like white wool. When they gather it, the cotton contains many seeds, about the size of a large pea, either blue or green. The seeds are so light, it is very troublesome to separate them from the cotton by hand. Where it is cultivated on a large scale, they have machines to clear it from the seeds, which, I believe, are of no value only to plant again. I planted a little this year, but rather too late, and, as the weather was dry at the time, but little of it came up. It now looks pretty well, and is in full blossom. Here it seldom exceeds two feet in height, but in the southern states, it grows much higher. A dry soil is said to suit much better than richer land. I have heard, from those who came from South Carolina and Georgia, that it is there common to see several hundred {208} acres of it in one field; and from one to six hundred negroes working together, in the planting and gathering season. One thousand pounds of cotton, in the seed, is a good average crop. I suppose it will lose half of its weight in getting out the seeds; therefore, about 500 lbs. of cleaned cotton is thus raised per acre. I think half that quantity is as much as we can raise, as we are not warm enough for cotton.

Some few Americans, near us, raise tobacco in small quantities, for home consumption. It is thought the land round us is as good for tobacco as in any part of the United States. I have a little of it in my garden; but, as the first I sowed failed, it is rather backward. The seed is sown in February or March, and transplanted in June, in rows like cabbages; it requires to be kept very clean. I know but little of the manner of curing it, but understand it is attended with some difficulty, at least to strangers.

{209} Hemp is cultivated in this country, but I have not seen any in this neighbourhood, with the exception of a few rods of my own; I brought the seed from the Big Prairie, as I thought a small quantity would be useful for lines, &c.

I now come to the most important article of this country's growth, I mean Indian corn, which, with the Americans, is cultivated on a far more extensive scale than any thing else; and, I believe, it is rising much in the estimation of the Europeans, except as a bread corn. The corn I took of Mr. Collins was on new Prairie-land, thin on the ground, had been badly cultured, and much injured by cattle and pigs getting into it; yet I had very near 50 bushels per acre. I have heard of 132 bushels per acre, but from 60 to 80 is considered a good crop. The husks that cover the corn-ears, and the flags or leaves, are all good for fodder. Horses, cattle, and sheep, all seem as fond of it as of the best {210} hay. Horses and cattle will eat part of the stalk after the corn is ripe; but in a green state, they, and pigs, will eat it all up. Horses and pigs will eat the corn, and leave the cob or inside of the ear; but cattle will eat inside and all. The time of planting is from April to the middle of June; the middle of May is considered the most proper season. It is planted in rows, of about four feet in each direction; and after it is up they plough between the rows, first one way, and in a week or two in the other direction; a third ploughing is sometimes given to it. An extremely light plough, drawn by one horse, is used. Between the corn they hoe up the weeds left near the corners that escape the plough; so that the land is made very clean. Generally two or three plants are left at each angle. Pompions are often planted at the angles with the corn, but only in every fifth or sixth row, and at some distance apart in the rows. They also plant a small {211} kind of French-bean with part of their corn, the stalks serving instead of sticks for the beans to run on.

There are several sorts of Indian corn, and of different colours; namely, white, red, yellow, mixt, &c. A small sort of yellow corn is ripe much sooner than most of the other sorts, but yields a smaller produce. White and yellow are the most common sorts, but there are several kinds of these. A good ear of corn contains from 14 to 20 rows, and from 40 to 50 grains of corn in each row. A hundred middling ears of corn will yield a bushel of clear corn. The Americans live mostly on corn-bread; the English eat but little of it. I have now growing 12 acres of it; it is in general very stout, but, from the dryness of the season, I do not expect it will yield well. I planted some of it six feet between the rows, and the plants near three feet apart, as I wished to keep it particularly clean and in good order for wheat; and so ploughed it all one way, and ran a harrow {212} between the rows. I do not see but it comes on as well as that I planted on the square. I have not seen any corn near us so large as mine; much of it is upwards of twelve feet high. It was planted between the 10th and 20th of May, but the weather being dry, it did not come up very soon.

The green ears are eaten boiled or roasted, the latter mostly by the Americans, who call all green ears roasting ears. The price of corn last fall was mostly 50 cents a bushel delivered, and now 50 cents in the place. But near us there is very little to be procured at any price. On the Wabash, where the country has been longer settled, it is lower and plentiful. It is gathered in October and November, when they only take off the ears; but as the ears are covered with a large husk, they carry them as they are to the corn-crib, and then all the neighbours collect together to help to husk it, and put it into the corn-crib. This is a high day with the Americans, and is called a Husking Frolic; plenty of whiskey {213} is generally to be found at one of these frolics. I never was present but at one; I suppose there were near forty people present; I did not stop, but I understood it concluded with a dance. We did not make any frolic in husking our corn, but did it ourselves; but the Americans seldom do any thing without having one. Thus, they have husking, reaping, rolling frolics, &c. &c. Among the females, they have picking, sewing, and quilting frolics. Reaping frolics, are parties to reap the whole growth of wheat, &c. in one day. Rolling frolics, are clearing wood-land, when many trees are cut down, and into lengths, to roll them up together, so as to burn them, and to pile up the brushwood and roots on the trees. I think this one is useful, as one man or his family can do but little in moving a large quantity of heavy timber. Picking cotton, sewing, and quilting frolics, are meetings to pick cotton from the seeds, make clothes, or quilt quilts; in the latter, the American women pride {214} themselves. Whiskey is here too in request, and they generally conclude with a dance.

Raisings, are a number of men getting together to raise a piece of building, that is, to lift the logs on each other; this is practised by the English as well as the Americans; nor is whiskey here omitted.

Pompions, or pumpkins, is another highly prized production of this country; they often grow to an immense size, and weigh from 40 to 60 lbs. I have heard of a single vine that, in 1818, grew a load of pumpkins. It grew in the Big Prairie, about 30 miles to the south of us, on some rotten chaff, where some wheat had been trodden out the year before. I find they do best where the ground is moved or very mellow to run on, as they strike root at every joint as they run. A load is forty bushels; I have never seen them measured, but I judge from the waggons I have seen them in. I last year sold three waggon loads, in the place, at four dollars {215} a-load. Cattle of all descriptions, pigs, and poultry, are fond of them; but all prefer the inside and seeds to the outside. They make good sauce and excellent pies, and are much eaten here; they are sliced and dried for winter use, for pies and sauce. They will keep till the frosts come, but will soon rot when frozen. At Major Phillips's, I once tasted some molasses made from them, and liked them very much, not being so sweet as the real molasses, but very pleasant flavoured.

Swede turnips but little known here; a person who resides at Birk's Prairie, sowed an acre in May, on a piece of land that had been in cultivation for two or three years; they are thin on the ground, but seem likely to be of a good size, notwithstanding the dryness of the season. They have been twice hoed, but were sown on one ploughing only.

Common turnips are sometimes sown after a crop of flax; the time of sowing the beginning of August, but many of the {216} Americans are very particular as to the age of the moon, in this and many other things; and if they should be put by in doing it, they will not do it that year, as many of them are very superstitious, having great faith with regard to the moon's age, &c. Hoeing turnips is not practised by them.

Broom-corn; the seed is much like the seed of crop-weed: it is planted in rows on the sides of corn-fields, and is frequently ploughed between. It resembles Indian corn, but is slighter. I have seen it upwards of ten feet high, the corn comes on the top of it, on long slender fibres that unite at the stalk. The corn is useful for poultry, and the stalks or fibres make excellent brooms, the same as carpet-brooms. I have a large quantity of it growing at Birk's Prairie. Many of the English have none; and as brooms are much wanted, I shall soon dispose of all I have to spare.

We have some uncommonly fine hops in the woods, and in some of the prairies; {217} we found them very convenient for making yeast. They are of the white-bine sort, like the grape-hop of England. I intend to plant a few hills in the spring, as I can get plenty from the woods; and I have saved a few seeds, to see if it will improve them or not. They usually grow on the sides of creeks, and on low rich bottoms that are not liable to be flooded, that is always on the best soil.

The wild flowers of the prairies are numerous, and many of them are beautiful; and there is a succession of them from April to October or November. Most of them are new to me, and as I am no botanist I can give but a poor description of them. I have noticed the following, but not exactly like those of England: sun-flowers, goldenrod, larkspurs, sweet-williams, pinks, lilies, blue cowslips, roses, briers, persicaries, and violets, white, blue, and yellow, but without scent.

My daughters brought some flower-seeds from England, but few of them grew; {218} some of them came up, but did not in general flourish. Stocks, sweet-peas, &c. were weak; on the contrary, princes-feathers and convolvulus grew stronger than in England. Mignonette grew, but not very strong, nor was the scent so fine or powerful; which, I believe, is generally the case with flowers in America: this I attribute to the heat of the climate. But the prairie-roses, balm, here called bergamot, and sassafras-wood, are exceptions, and have all powerful scents.

I have seen sun-flowers near twelve feet high, and I have heard in Ohio they plant them for the seed, from which they extract oil; and there are some in the prairies, from which turpentine distils, in the same manner as from fir-trees. I have also seen growing, in some gardens near us, a plant from which an oil may be extracted, like castor-oil. I had some marigold plants that came into blossom, of a very pale colour, and did not produce any seed.

{219} There are many small flowering shrubs that are new to me, in the woods and prairies.

The herbs I have met with are balm, horehound, pennyroyal, fennel, coriander, peppermint, and spearmint; but the last two are scarce; sage is extremely plentiful, but unlike English sage of any kind. I have not seen any thyme or wormwood.

The following trees and herbs are used in medicine—snake-root, gentian, genseng, Columbia-root, and sumach, and sassafras trees.

We found many morels in the spring, but the weather has been too dry for mushrooms, and I have seen but few.

Most of the weeds are new to me; and I believe to most of the Americans they are but little known, as this part of the country is almost as little known to the American settlers as to the European, and many of its productions differ from those to the eastward or southward. I have seen a few docks, sow-thistles, plaintain, dunghill-weed, {220} and water-pepper; but land in cultivation here is easily kept clear of weeds.

I have seen no sweet potatoes; but Irish, or common potatoes, grow tolerably in a wet season, but in a dry summer come to little. The early ones are planted in April, but those intended for winter use not till June; but neither will answer this season. In this year, at different times, I have planted about sixty rods, but I shall have but little more than the seed again. They are not so good here as in England; their present price is fifty-five cents a bushel, and not many to be procured for that. Last fall they were from thirty-three to fifty cents. Very few parsnips or carrots; but they are said to be good in a wet season. Indian corn ears, I have before said, are eaten as a vegetable.

Small beans, of the kidney kind, are cultivated by the Americans; they are generally planted to climb on the corn, and are of many sorts, and different colours. There are some dwarf ones, {221} called bunch-beans, and they all appear to do better than in England. I brought some scarlet-runners, and some dwarf ones with me; the climate appears too warm for the former, the latter succeeded much better. Beans and vegetables require to be planted thinner here than in England, that the earth may be moved between them, as they then receive much more benefit from the heavy dews of this country than when the ground is hard. Here are a few Indian peas in growth, leaf and blossom, much like a kidney-bean; the pods are very long, and contain from nine to sixteen peas in each; but they resemble but little either peas or beans. I had a very few given me; and when first planted they grew but slowly, but afterwards rapidly.

Cabbages grow well; the Americans plant a large backward sort, and make but one sowing and planting out in a year. In the fall they dig them up and bury them in the ground, or rather, they plant them underneath {222} it; as they dig a deep trench, and set a row of cabbages with their roots in it, then, bending the outward leaves over the top of the cabbage, cover them with earth, and thus preserve them, in the most severe frosts of this country. I believe, the great heat of the sun in the day, falling on the frozen vegetables, is the principal cause of their dying, as it completely scorches every thing that is green. Broad-beans fail in a great measure; they may sometimes succeed, but, I believe, the seed again is the usual crop.

Onions are two years coming to perfection; the first year they are sown very thick, and the next they are transplanted, at about eight inches apart, when they grow to a middling size. Prairie onions are common in moist situations, and are very good early in the spring, but soon get hard; the root is very small. As they come up early in the spring before other vegetables, cows eat them with great {223} avidity, and it gives their milk and butter a disagreeable flavour; this lasts for two or three weeks.

Shalots grow to great perfection, and are planted by the Americans in preference to onions.

I have a few asparagus plants that look well; I have heard they succeed admirably more to the eastward. Here the plants are all young. Squashes are a sort of gourd frequently boiled for sauce, and much relished by many. There are a variety of gourds, but, I believe, of little use, except one sort, which has a hard rind or shell, which serves for many uses; as bottles, pans, ladles, and tunnels. Their form is round, tapering off towards the tail. By cutting off the end next the tail, a bottle is formed; the pulp and seeds may be easily shaken or washed out, and the top being flat, it will stand upright. By cutting off the neck, a pan or jar is made. By cutting a slice from one side it makes a ladle, much used to lade water with, and to drink out {224} of; and, lastly, by cutting off the top, and the end of the neck near the tail, a tunnel is formed: they hold water well, and will last a considerable time.

Cucumbers grow well, and, I believe, are more wholesome than in England, and far more productive.

Parsley and radishes thrive; and, I believe, lettuce, but I have seen but few of them; horse-raddish is very scarce. Capsicum is cultivated for seasoning soups, &c.

The woods round the prairies are not so thick, nor the timber so large, as on the river bottoms, but they contain a great variety of trees; viz. oak of many sorts, as, white, black, red, post, swamp, laurel, pin, Spanish, and blackjack, and some others; three kinds of hiccory; two of ash; two of elm; two of maple; black-walnut, cherry, sycamore, persimon, gum, hack-berry, cotton-wood, mulberry, serve, honey-locust, sassafras, dog-wood, crab, &c. On the creek bottoms, coffee-berry, poplar, pecan, white walnut, &c. &c. The undergrowth {225} in the woods is, hazel, spice-wood, red-bud, haws, sumach, plum, and brambles. Willows grow on the water-courses.

The woods and prairies produce many fruits; some of them excellent, others but indifferent: I will briefly describe them. The grape-vines run over the tallest trees in a very extraordinary manner, sometimes reaching from the ground to the boughs of trees forty or fifty feet high, without touching the bodies of the trees. I suppose they must have first fixed to the boughs when the trees were very young, and continued growing with them; otherwise I cannot think how they could reach so great a height without support. These vines are of so strong a nature, that I have frequently seen them fixed on a high sweep to draw water from wells, some of them 30 feet deep, and they seem to answer as well as a rope. This method of drawing water is common with the Americans near us, and is the same that is practised by the market-gardeners in the neighbourhood of London. {226} There are several sorts of grapes, but not in general very good; soon after our arrival we found some, nearly dried to raisins, good eating, and we used some for tarts and sweet-sauce. I suppose they would make wine, with sugar; but I do not know that any one has tried the experiment. Pomegranates grow on a vine much like a cucumber, the size of an orange or rather larger: a beautiful fruit, of a yellow or orange colour, of a most fragrant smell, but I have never tasted one; they are said to be most delicious when preserved. There are many sorts of sweet melons, and much difference of size in the various kinds. I have only noticed musk, of a large size; and nutmeg, a smaller one; and a small pale-coloured melon of a rich taste; but there are other sorts with which I am unacquainted. Watermelons are also in great plenty, of vast size; some, I suppose, weigh twenty pounds: they are more like pumpkins, in outward appearance, than melons; they are round or oblong, generally green, {227} or a green and whitish colour on the outside, and white or pale on the inside, with many black seeds in them; very juicy; in flavour, like a rich water; not sweet and mawkish, but cool and pleasant. After people are accustomed to them, they generally prefer them to sweet melons; they are considered extremely wholesome in warm climates, as they quench thirst, and are not feverish.

Persimon is a fruit many people are fond of; it is something like a medlar. Papaws, or pawpaws, grow in clusters of three or four on a shrub 20 feet high; the fruit is three inches long and about an inch thick; in shape something like a cucumber, of a yellow colour; in flavour something like a pine, but not so rich. Strawberries nearly the same as scarlets, excellent, and in some places in great abundance. We one day gathered more than a peck of beautiful strawberries in my orchard, and we got a great many at other times: they made excellent pies. Raspberries are small and {228} dry. Cherries grow in bunches, the same as currants, very small and bitter. May-apple is a yearly plant, of only two leaves; the stalk one foot high; the fruit the size of a small apple, of a straw-colour, with some small seeds; very pleasant tasted. Plums are mostly small and sour; but there are some whose flavour resembles that of a gooseberry. I have before remarked on the excellence of the blackberries. The elderberries are fine, but generally eaten by the birds as soon as coloured. Pecan is a sort of walnut, said to be the finest nut in this country. White-walnut, or butter-nut, and black-walnut, are not so good as the English walnut. Hazel-nuts are in vast quantities; the shells hard, but the kernels good. I have some earth-nuts growing in my garden; the green of them something like clover, or rather lucern; they blow with a small yellow blossom: I planted them in rows, and earthed them like potatoes; they have two kernels inclosed in a husk, about one inch long, and as large round.

{229} Fruit, and all other trees, are of much more rapid growth here than in England. There are not many orchards yet planted, and none of them yet come to bear much, as the oldest settlement round the prairies has not been made more than four years. I planted, in March and April, a hundred and twenty apple, twenty-five peach, and eight cherry trees; the summer having been so dry, it has killed many of my apple and cherry trees, but my peach-trees are all alive. I suppose, I have about hundred live trees. I have some peach-trees, two years old, to put out in the autumn.

Having thus fulfilled my promise, by a brief description of the animal and vegetable productions, I will now mention a few particulars respecting the land. The soil is a light vegetable mould, of no great depth in general; the under soil is a fat loam or clay, of considerable depth, that retains moisture, and prevents the land from burning. The land is easy of culture, much more so than any I was ever accustomed {230} to, and dry enough to plough in a day after heavy rain; this is the case with most of the land round the prairies. Prairie land is hard to break up the first time, and requires four horses to do it effectually, it being so full of strong roots; in particular, one, called red-root, that runs a great deal: and, in moist places, there is a small shrub, named white-root, which must be grubbed up before it can be ploughed; and sometimes there is a little brushwood, of different sorts, to clear off. Land planted with corn is attended with some trouble the first year of breaking it up, as the furrows are too tough to work with a plough, but it is managed with a hoe. When it has been thoroughly broken up, in a wet or dry season, it will work well; but it is injurious to work it in very wet weather. The land differs, in several particulars, from any I ever saw before: if used with wheel-carriages, in wet weather, it retains no sign of ruts for any length of time; and, although the soil is light, it is firm to walk on; as it contains but {231} little sand, and that little of so fine a grain, as scarce to be found to grit, if handled ever so closely.

The roads are all natural roads, yet always free from ruts, and perfectly smooth when dry. I have heard the land round us is much like some in Lincolnshire; but of this I cannot judge, as I never was there. I never found any land in Surry that hoed or dug so light as this does, when it has once been well broken up. The colour of it is rather brown, but much blacker when wet; and in appearance it bears the most resemblance to peat-mould, of any soil I ever saw in England.

Many of the people here have been extensive travellers; and to have resided in three or four states, and several places in each state, is not uncommon. A man, who boarded a short time at my house, said, he was born in Old Virginia; that he removed, with his father, over the mountains into New Virginia, but left his father before he was twenty; that he married, and took up {232} his abode in the wild parts of South Carolina, and built a cabin, the first in that part of Carolina. People settling round him, he sold his land, and removed into Kentucky; and on the land he disposed of in Carolina, a town soon sprang up of 300 houses and seven large stores. In Kentucky he staid some years; but settlers arriving and seating themselves near him, he again moved off into the wild part of Indiana, near Rockport, where he now resides; but expressed a wish to come into the Illinois, as, he said, the country round him was not healthy for cattle.

A person who lives in Birks' Prairie, who has been there four years, and who has planted a small orchard, had a few apples last year, the first he ever grew, although he had planted six orchards before the present one. His wife says she has had twelve children, but never had two born in one house; and does not remember how many houses they have inhabited since they were married: yet they think they are now fixed {233} for life; but several of their sons are gone to the Red River, 700 miles to the south-west. Since I have been here, I have travelled more than I ever did in the same space of time in England. In a journey I took to Palmyra, to record my own and my sons cattle-marks, I saw a muster of Edwards' county militia, near Bonpas bridge. They amounted to several hundred men, under the command of Colonel Jourdan; there were five or six companies, but much the largest one was from our township, under Captain Cadwalleder Jones. The militia, at this muster, did not cut a very warlike appearance, being all drest in their customary clothes, except some of the officers, who had uniforms. They all find their own arms, mostly rifles; a few had fowling-pieces, and a very few only sticks. There are four musters, besides this general yearly one, of the whole county. Captain Jones's company mustered in the English Prairie, on the 1st of April, upwards of one hundred strong, from a township, where, {234} four years before, there were not six families in the whole township.

I have been several times to Shawneetown, and in these journeys I have lodged at the houses of a clergyman, a judge, a colonel, a justice, and a captain. First, at the Reverend S. Slocum's, a clergyman and justice; next, at Major Pomeroy's, late a judge in the state of Indiana; at Captain, now Major Phillips's; and lastly, at Colonel Williams's, a native of Wales, but he left it when an infant, with his father. He is a colonel in the militia.

In February, accompanied by my wife and two gentlemen from the English Prairie, I paid a visit to Harmonie. We set out late in the day, and only reached Bonpas that night; here we found the waters of the Big Wabash so much out we could not get to the ferry, but were told we might go to another, 10 miles lower down the river. This we did, by passing a slue, or bayou (that is, where the water breaks out over a low place, and again enters the river several {235} miles lower down), on a drift-wood bridge, formed of fallen trees and drifted together; our horses swimming the bayou: two of the horses ran away, as soon as they were over the bayou, and obliged our companions to walk three or four miles before they could catch them. Mrs. W. and myself were well loaded with their saddles, bridles, great coats, blankets, and saddle-bags. We caught their horses near the ferry, and passed the Big Wabash, in the ferry-boat, and had a watery road to Harmonie, which we reached at dark. In passing some woods, we saw some sugar-maple trees that were tapped, with the liquor then running into some troughs; we dismounted, and had a good draught or two of the liquor; it was pleasant-tasted.

Harmonie belongs to a society of Germans, here called Dutch, under the direction of Mr. Rapp. This society first took its rise in Germany, but being opposed by the Lutheran clergy, they emigrated to America, and settled in Pennsylvania; but {236} removed to this place, in Indiana, five or six years since. Here they have purchased some hundred acres of land: much is now cleared, but a great deal still remains in a state of nature. This society now consists of upwards of eight hundred members; they carry on many branches of business; amongst which are carpenters, wheelwrights, smiths, tanners, saddlers and harness-makers, shoe-makers, linen and woollen manufacturers, curriers; distilleries, malt and brew-houses, two water-mills, and one steam one.

They have planted a considerable number of acres with apple and peach trees; and several acres of vineyards, from which they make a small quantity of wine, not of the best quality. They have 2000 sheep, and a large quantity of stock of every description. Their store-goods are of very considerable value, and report estimates their property at 1,000,000 of dollars: this belongs to the society in general, as they have all things in common, like the Apostles; {237} and their society is said to be formed on that part of Scripture. Each lives at his own house; but all dine at the same hour, and, I believe, all take their meals in the same manner. Most of them only speak German, and divine service is performed in that language: the Reverend George Rapp is their priest; but their business is carried on in the name of his son Mr. Frederick Rapp; all accompts being made in the name of F. Rapp only. Many of the buildings are of logs; but there are some good brick houses, and a neat frame-church painted white, with a large clock. There are many brick-buildings going on; and the log-cabins are so placed, that they will serve for outhouses to the new brick-houses. Each cabin has a small garden to it; most of them are in good order, much more so than American gardens generally are. I understand brick-houses are built for those to whom the lot falls, without any regard to persons; with the exception of Mr. Rapp, who has a {238} large one. The tavern, stores, and a few others, are also brick.

The next day the tavern-keeper showed us the manufactories, distilleries, malt and brew-houses, steam, corn, and fulling mills; also a large barn, in which was a powerful eight-horse threshing-machine, with a winnowing one attached to it, so that the grain was cleaned at one operation. Many men were employed putting up the wheat and taking away the straw. Near the barn there was a capacious granary, that would contain some thousand quarters of grain. We saw more than fifty women and girls breaking flax in the streets, and all seemed fully employed. They are a most industrious people; but the greater part of them are not very enlightened. We staid two nights, and on the third morning set out for the prairies; one of the gentlemen, who accompanied us to Harmonie, we left there; and on our return a fine journey we had of it. As the water had risen much, we could {239} not reach the ferry by the same road we went by, but were forced to climb a steep hill much over-run by brush-wood; nor was the descent on the other side much better. We reached and passed the ferry: here we found the water had risen so much, as to have carried away the drift-wood bridge we had crossed in our road out, so that we could not proceed home that way. We then had the choice of returning to Harmonie, and remaining there till the water abated, which might be a fortnight or more; or agree with the ferryman to take us and our horses, nine miles down the river, and land us on the side of a pond, below the bayou, and just above another that there runs out of the river and continues out some miles. For this the man demanded eight dollars, and with this extravagant demand we were under the necessity of complying. We proceeded briskly down the river, and soon reached the entrance of the pond; where we found some large trees stumped down to keep back the fish. It took us two hours {240} to move the trees before we could enter the pond; but we at length got in, and rowed up above the bayou; where we landed, and proceeded through a wild country for some miles. We passed many small slues, and an hour after sunset reached the house of Major Phillips, only five miles west of Harmonie; but, I think, we made thirty miles of it, as we left Harmonie at eight o'clock in the morning. Here we slept, and the next day reached home, having only twenty-two miles to go. In March I visited it a second, and in May a third time, when I took a nearer road; the water was now low; it was not any where deep enough to swim my horse, but in two places nearly so.

The Wabash, at the ferry, is, I think, as wide as the Thames at London Bridge. In my two journeys I saw a great number of wild-ducks and pigeons on the banks of the Wabash; although a bad shot, I think if I had had a gun, I could have killed a great many. I was much pleased with the appearance of the gardens at this season, {241} at Harmonie. They were in excellent order, and filled with a variety of vegetables and fruit-trees; and some of them contained some beautiful flowers. Among the fruit-trees, I observed wild plum-trees grafted with prunes.

In July, I went again, and crossed the Big Wabash, by a new ferry, near the mouth of the Bonpas. The land on the Indiana side is extremely low, and I went four miles through the woods, before I saw a house, or any kind of cultivation. Some cane, an evergreen, grew the greater part of the way; it is the only evergreen in this part of the State, save mistletoe; but I have heard there are pines in the north of the Illinois. I saw in these wilds numbers of turkeys. As I approached Harmonie, I met their plow-teams, sixteen in number, just entering a field of wheat-stubble; I was much pleased with their appearance, all the horses looking well; nor did I see one blemish in the thirty-two horses.

I took a look at their vineyards; part {242} of the vines were trained on frames, and part tied up to small poles; there was a good show of grapes on many of them. The vineyards are on a steep hill, and planted round the hill, so as to have several different aspects. Trees are laid to keep the earth from washing down. The paths between the trees are sown with blue-grass.

As I returned from the vineyards to the town, I met their milch-cows going out to field; I counted eighty-seven, most of them were but indifferent cows, with a few good ones mixed with them. The dress of the Harmonites is uncommonly plain, mostly of their own manufacturing. The men wear jackets and pantaloons, with coarse hats. The women a kind of jacket and petticoat, with a particular kind of skull-cap, and a straw hat made peculiarly flat.

There is a hat-manufactory, both of fur and wool hats; they also make their straw ones. As this society do not marry, I suppose they must depend on emigration from Germany to keep up their number; as the {243} Americans are not likely to join them, as most of them regard them with jealousy, on account of their engrossing most of the business of this part of the country.

I will now give a slight and very brief sketch of the American character; but in speaking of our American neighbours, it must be recollected, that the greater part of them are backwoodsmen. Mr. Collins, of whom I bought some land, behaved in the most honourable manner, for which I shall ever respect him. Mr. Anderson, of whom I purchased my other farm, I never saw; Mr. Birkbeck transacting the business while I was at Shawneetown. My family have several American neighbours at Birks' Prairie, from whom they have received the most friendly treatment; and those with whom I have had dealings, have been uniformly civil and obliging. As we live at the entrance of Wanborough, we have frequently the first offer of game and other provisions brought for sale, and whether we buy or not, we never receive the {244} slightest incivility from them. In selling, they always take care to ask enough, as they can fall their price with a good grace; in short, they are Jews in this respect, nor are they very punctual in their payments.

Most of them are well acquainted with law, and fond of it on the most trifling occasions: I have known a law-suit brought for a piggin or pail, of the value of 25 cents. (1s. 1½d.) Another failing in their character is drunkenness; and they are extremely quarrelsome when intoxicated. Many of them are sometimes truly industrious, and at other times excessively idle. Numbers of them can turn their hands to many things, having been accustomed to do for themselves in small societies. They are a most determined set of republicans, well versed in politics, and thoroughly independent. A man who has only half a shirt, and without shoes and stockings, is as independent as the first man in the States; and interests himself in the choice of men to serve his country, as much as the {245} highest man in it, and often from as pure motives,—the general good, without any private views of his own. Most of them are from the south, from North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee; and though now living in a free State, they retain many of the prejudices they imbibed in infancy, and still hold negroes in the utmost contempt; not allowing them to be of the same species of themselves, but look on negers, as they call them, and Indians, as an inferior race of beings, and treat them as such.

Those of whom I purchased my farms, and some others, are moved off to the Red River, 700 miles to the south-west, and, as I have said before, many of our neighbours are true backwoodsmen, always fond of moving: there are others, who wish to sell their land, with its improvements, to go to the Sagamond river, 150 miles towards the north-west. This river runs into the Illinois river, and the country near it is highly spoken of, as to soil, timber, and water. {246} They have but few diversions amongst them except hunting and shooting, here both called hunting; they use rifles, and many of them are excellent shots. In this employment or amusement, they spend much of their time, and depend partly on what they kill in making a livelihood.

I will now mention something of the religion of this part of the United States. At Albion, there is a place of worship in part of the market-house, in which divine service is performed every Sunday in the forenoon; prayers and a sermon are read by one of the inhabitants. I twice attended; the service was from the church of England, with some variations: I think they style themselves Unitarians. At Wanborough, a Baptist held meetings at his own house, but few of the inhabitants attended them. An American of the Methodist persuasion, who resides near Wanborough, holds meetings at his house; but none of the English, and but few of the Americans ever frequent them. Many {247} people wished for a place of worship; but being of different religions, it was some time before there was one established; but in April 1820, it was agreed to have public worship at Wanborough; and on Sunday, the 25th of April, divine service was first held in a log-cabin, that was built for a school-room. Prayers from the service of the church of England, with a few omissions, were read by one of the inhabitants, and a sermon by another. This meeting was well attended, and has been continued every Sunday, in the forenoon, at eleven o'clock; and those of the church of England and Quakers both frequent it. It was proposed to erect a brick meetinghouse, and a subscription was set on foot, in May, but falling short of the estimate, it was agreed to continue the use of the present room, till a sufficient sum can be collected for a brick one. There is a piece of ground set apart for a burial-ground, and several persons have been interred in it; three since I have been here.

{248} There have been four or five weddings, and five or six births, so that the English have rather increased, exclusive of new arrivals from Europe.

At Albion there have been several marriages, births, and deaths.

The Americans most commonly bury their dead near the place where they die, and erect a small pale fence round the grave, to prevent its being disturbed. I believe it is seldom they have any service read over them, except the Methodists, who have prayers at their funerals.

As there is no church established by law, of course there are no tithes. I was much struck at Baltimore, to find in what harmony people of different religions lived together, and I have since had no reason to alter my opinion. I have had much conversation with Baptists, Methodists, and Quakers. They all expressed much charity for those of other sects, although most of them seemed to have a high opinion of their own.

I will now give a few of my reasons for {249} my fixing in the Illinois. I set out with the intention of visiting it, and had my luggage with me. In my journey, from Baltimore to Wheeling, I saw but few places I should like to settle at, till near Wheeling. I was much pleased with the country a few miles above it, but that being in a slave State, I could not think of settling there; besides, the land was taken up: this was the case with many of the most desirable situations on the Ohio river; and I had no opportunity of seeing the interior of the States of Ohio and Indiana, but, I understood, much of the best parts of them were occupied.

When I reached the Prairies, I was greatly pleased to find myself in an open country, with a great deal of pretty good land for sale, at a low rate, and not very distant from water-carriage: and having the offer of some of the first selected quarter-sections, at a small advance of price, in an extremely healthy situation, containing both wood and prairie, with {250} some of it brought into cultivation, I took a situation much to my satisfaction, and still remain well pleased with it.

Our land is not so rich, nor the timber so large as on the river-bottoms; but it will bear as good wheat, corn, and grass, as a person would wish; besides having that great advantage, health. It is true we are not so well watered as in some situations, yet through an unusually dry and hot summer, our stock have found plenty of water, in some creeks, about a mile below us, and have done uncommonly well. Our having plenty of open prairie-land, for pasture or breaking up, is, in my estimation, far preferable to clearing of woodland, which is attended with much trouble and expence. Had I removed to the west side of this State, on the Mississippi river, I might, perhaps, have found as good or better land, and nearer water-carriage; but, by all accounts, not so favourable to health. Then the expence of getting my luggage there would have been considerable, and I should, {251} most probably, have been surrounded by total strangers: it is true, I knew but few at the prairies, but I had heard of many of them; and here my family were not quite in the midst of people they had never seen or heard of, as they would have been, in almost every other part of America.

There is an English settlement in Indiana, about ten miles back from Evansville, I have heard, better watered, and nearer markets than we are; but it is in the woods, and the land is inferior to ours. This is the account I have received of it, but I know nothing, only from the report of those who had no interest in either settlement. I have no personal knowledge of Mr. Hornbrook, or Mr. Maidlow, the heads of that settlement; and should any person see my account of this part of the country and come to America, I would advise him to see both settlements before he fixed in either. But I do not invite any one to leave England and come hither; for, although well pleased with the exchange of countries myself, another {252} might not be so. And many Englishmen, if they were to come here, would be much disappointed, as there is no want of tradesmen. A man with some property, and a large family, may, perhaps, do better here than in England; and a person with a considerable property might here lay the foundation of a noble fortune for his descendants, provided he laid out his money with caution, and lived on a moderate establishment. But this is not the country for fine gentlemen, or those who live in a grand style, nor for tradesmen at present; but hard-working people, who are sober, may do well, and settle their families in a plain way.

On the 7th August we had an election in this county, for the following offices, (in conjunction with Wayne county, formerly part of Edwards county):147—one member of congress, one member of the senate, and two members of the assembly of the State of Illinois; one sheriff, three county commissioners, and a coroner for Edwards county.

{253} The State of Illinois returns one member to congress, but it is supposed it will shortly return two; the number of the members depending on the population of the State. There were two candidates for congress, namely, Daniel P. Cooke, the present member, and Mr. K. Kane;148 as Mr. Cooke had given general satisfaction, it is supposed Mr. Kane did not expect to come in at this election, but that he might be known at another, as a second member to congress. As the counties are divided into districts, there is an election in each district, all held on the same day. In ours there were 168 people who voted, but not all for every office. Mr. Cooke had 136 votes, Mr. Kane 18; so there remained 14 who did not vote for a member of congress. Here every person, who has attained the age of 21 years, has a vote; and there can be no perjury, as there is no oath required. All strangers or emigrants from Europe, or elsewhere, have a vote, if resident six months before the election. There was but {254} one vote refused, and that was of a person under age.

Three judges are appointed by the magistrate to receive the votes, which each person delivers in writing to the judges, who have two assistants to record the names of the voters, as they deliver in their lists, as the voters do not sign their names to the lists. When a list is delivered to the judges, it is folded up and put into a locked box, by a hole in the lid, and there remains till six o'clock in the evening, when the election closes; and afterwards the box is opened, and the votes are counted up.

There were three candidates for the senate, seven or eight for the assembly, and the same number for county commissioners, two for sheriff, also two for coroner.

The voters for a member of congress are from all the counties of the state of Illinois; but for the senate and assembly, from the counties of Edwards and Wayne only; and for county commissioners, sheriff, and coroner, from Edwards county {255} only; Wayne county choosing its own coroner, &c.

I think there are about twelve districts in Wayne and Edwards county where elections were held. I was present, in the evening, at the opening of the box and counting up the votes. The two assistants to the judges had each a paper with the names of the several candidates written thereon, one of the judges took out a list, and proclaimed aloud the names of the candidates mentioned therein, and then delivered the list to the other judges, who retained the same. And the assistants each entered the votes against the name of the candidate voted for, in the following form:—

"D. P. Cooke: Congress.149 ."

When a vote is told out, one of the assistants calls out "One," "two," "three," "four," or "tally," and so continues till the whole number is counted out. When the box that contains the lists is empty, the {256} number of names of the voters kept by the assistants is compared with the lists, to see if they agree. And then all the lists, and one of the papers with the candidates' names, and the number of voters, are again locked up in the box, and kept by the judges in case of a scrutiny. But the other papers with the names of the voters, &c. are sent to the county seat; where all the districts send their lists, and from these a general one is made out, and those candidates who have the highest number of votes are elected to their respective trusts.

The election was held at the house of Allen Emerson, Esq., a mile west of Wanborough, in an arm of Birks' Prairie.

One unpleasant circumstance is the paper currency of this part of the United States, and it requires some experience to know what notes to take. The paper money is of two kinds, called land-office and current money; land-office money is bank paper that will pass at the land-office, but this money frequently changes. Current-money {257} is bank-paper that will pass in trade, but is not payable at the land-office, and is often from 10 to 20 per cent. below the value of land-office money. It is common to make a price according to the sort of money to be paid, and there are some articles in most stores that are only sold for land-office money.

The United States bank notes and silver are mostly sought for, as the credit of that bank is better than that of any other, and they will sometimes bear a premium of two per cent. above the price of silver, as notes are more convenient to send to the eastern states to pay for merchandise, &c.

But there are many people who prefer silver, and I find I can purchase many articles a great deal more reasonable with silver than with the best paper money.

I have never yet lost but one dollar-note, nor have I discounted a single one. Discounting of notes is called shearing, and is sometimes much practised.

As I have before described the boundaries {258} of the state of Illinois, and mentioned most of the rivers in it, I will now attempt to show you our situation with regard to other places; but having no map of the Illinois, I shall place them according to the best accounts I have heard of them, but I do not pretend to be exact as to distances, &c. I have, however, been more particular on the east side of the state, as that shows our situation with regard to the Wabash rivers, and also our road to Shawneetown on the Ohio, to Harmonie and Princetown in the state of Indiana. And northward, by Palmyra, the seat of justice for Edward's county, to Vincennes in Indiana. My map should extend much further to the left or west side, as Kaskaskai town is upwards of 100 miles west, and Coffee Island only 18 miles east of Wanbro'; but the country between Wanbro' and Kaskaskai is but little settled, and much of it is prairie or open land.

Kaskaskai is at present the seat of the legislature of Illinois; but its next meeting {259} is expected to be at the town of Vandalia,150 on the Ochka river, as being a more central situation; that place, or rather spot of land, was fixed on for the seat of government, for the Illinois, two years ago. The country near it was then a wilderness, with a single cabin inhabited by a person of the name of Vandalia. A town is now laid out, and much building begun. The town lots sell very high. One thousand dollars and upwards for the best lots of only a few rods of land.

Vandalia, by the Ochka, Kaskaskai, and Mississippi rivers, has a water communication with New Orleans, the grand outlet of all the western country.

I will now mention a few of the places of most note at present, and those reported likely to rise into notice.

Kaskaskai is at this time of most consequence in the state, and is said to be situated in the richest spot of land in the United States, called the American Bottom, but is said to be unhealthy; and the {260} removing the seat of government to Vandalia has much checked the growth of the town. It has a land-office for the sale of public land: it is six miles in a direct line from the Mississippi river. A road from it runs through the state of Illinois, to Vincennes in Indiana: this lies higher than it is placed in my map.

The inhabitants are many of them of French origin, as it was first settled by the French from Lower Canada. There are also several villages on the Mississippi river, that were also settled by the French many years ago; and the inhabitants still speak the French language, and profess the Roman Catholic religion. But within the last ten years, many Americans are settled amongst them, and the English language begins to be spoken.

By an order of congress a road is to be surveyed from Wheeling, on the Ohio, through the states of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, to the mouth of the Illinois river, or near it, and to the town of St. Louis on {261} the Missouri river.151 This road is expected to pass by or near to Cincinnatti, Vincennes, and Vandalia, and to go about 30 miles north of the English Prairie.

Shawneetown, I have noticed before, as a place likely to be of some consideration, notwithstanding its low situation.

Golconda is a town, on the Ohio river, upwards of 30 miles below Shawneetown; said to be a thriving place, as many people cross the Ohio from the lower parts of the states of Kentucky and Tennessee, for St. Louis, and the Missouri states.

America is a new town, near the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers; being out of the reach of the floods, and in a good situation for trade; it is a rising place, and people are fast settling at it.

Edwardsville, near the Mississippi river, has a land-office. I never heard the place highly spoken of.152

Carmi, on the Little Wabash, is an unhealthy place, and so is Newhaven, a few miles further down the same river; and, I {262} believe, most low situations on sluggish streams are so.

Palmyra, though placed on a high sandy bank of the Wabash, a county town, and settled six years since, does not contain more than twelve houses, and not more than half of them inhabited, owing to its being so unhealthy; this arises from some rocks that lie in the bed of the river, some distance below it, and by thus penning the water back it becomes stagnant. I saw a man who said he came there six years before, with several others; that most of them were taken ill soon after their arrival; that they then removed about three miles into the fork, between the Wabash and White rivers, but their illness increasing, they returned to Palmyra, and continued there for twelve months, during which time most of his family continued very unwell; he then removed with them into a prairie, a few miles to the north, where he had remained ever since; where they recovered, and continued in good health.

{263} Oxford is a fine situation for a town, being on a high bank of the Wabash, that is never inundated; the land good, and the timber fine, with some springs of excellent water. The road from it to the prairies is a good natural road, there being no creeks of any account between them and Oxford; as it is on the Wabash, and near the Bonpas river; it is well situated for trade; but this I have mentioned before. Bonpas possesses many of the same advantages, and is near a mile from it.

Carlisle is a town on the road from Shawneetown to Kaskaskai; its inhabitants are mostly English. The greater part of the land round it is rich prairie land, and report says it is likely to succeed well.153

In the state of Illinois there are a great number of other towns of late date, but I know nothing of them. Towns are often rising up in this new country, as almost every person, who imagines he has a good site for one on his land; has it surveyed and laid out for a town, and offers the lots {264} for public sale. Many of these speculations are extremely wild, and often fail, but those that succeed are a source of great profit to the proprietors. As a lot of half an acre of land, that cost the purchaser one dollar, frequently sells from 50 to 500 dollars, and in a few instances much higher.

As Edwards' county is very large, it is expected to be divided; and should a division take place, it is supposed the county-town will be near the prairies, for the southern division; and for the northern division, in some of the prairies to the north of Palmyra, as most of the inhabitants dislike Palmyra for the county seat, as it is situated on the eastern side of the county, besides its being so unhealthy.

Shawneetown, is the seat of justice for Gallatin county.

Carmi, for White county.

Fairfield, for Wayne county.

Palmyra, for Edward's county.

Many of the American towns are named {265} from Scripture, Ancient and Modern History; and many of them are French, viz. Mount Carmel, Lebanon, Galliopolis, Athens, Herculaneum, Troy, Greece, Paris, Madrid, Vienna, Newport, York, Venice, Terre Haute, St. Louis, Vincennes, Illinois, &c. &c.

In surveying the land on the north side of the Ohio river, a point was taken on the river, and a line run from that point due north, till it reached the north side of the United States, as far as the Indian title to the land was extinct. This line was called the first principal meridian, and was begun somewhere in the state of Ohio. The second principal meridian, I believe, was in the state of Indiana; and the third principal meridian, in the state of Illinois, at the mouth of the Ohio. This third meridian was first run north till it reached the Indian boundary line, about seven miles to the north of the English Prairie. And the land was laid out into ranges of six miles wide, on the east and west side of the meridian {266} line; these ranges running from the Ohio river to the Indian boundary line, and the ranges are called first, second, third; and range east or west, as the case may be.

Next the ranges were ran into townships, six miles wide, beginning at the Indian boundary, called the base line, the townships running the width of the ranges, and the first line of townships from the base line is called town one. The second line town two, and so on to the Ohio river.

The townships are then laid out in sections of one mile square; thus a township contains six square miles, and thirty-six sections in each township: they are named section one, two, three, and so on. If the sections are in the woods, they are marked near the corners on the trees, and if in the prairies by stakes.

They are offered for sale in quarter sections, of a hundred and sixty acres; and are called north-east, north-west, south-east, and south-west quarters.

{267} When a part of the country is surveyed and offered for sale, notice is given in the public papers, for some months previous, with the time and place of sale. At the sale the lots are put up, beginning with the lowest number, at two dollars per acre; and if there be no bidder, another lot is put up, and so continued till the sale is ended. If a bidding be made the lot is sold; if more than one bidder, then the highest is the purchaser. He must then pay down one fourth part of the purchase money, one fourth more at the end of two years, one fourth more at the end of three years, and the remaining fourth at the end of four years; and if it be not then paid the land reverts to the government, and the money paid down forfeited. At the time of sale the purchaser receives a certificate of the quarter purchased, and of the money paid thereon, with the times of payment of the other instalments. These instalments bear interest, from the day of purchasing, at six per cent., but if they be paid on or {268} before they respectively become due, no interest is demanded thereon. But should the payment be delayed, only one day, after it becomes due, interest is demanded from the day of sale. If a person at the time of sale should pay the whole of the instalments, after the first, he receives eight per cent. discount on the sum so paid, according to the length of time of each instalment; or if at any time before the instalments are due, discount is allowed according to time.

As many people, who have speculated in land, have let their interest run, much will be due at the end of four years; but should the instalments and interest be paid on the day the last instalment becomes due, the interest will be saved on the fourth instalment; but four years' interest are due on the second and third instalments, that is 38 dollars 40 cents, but one day later will make it 57 dollars 60 cents.

If not paid at the end of four years, I have reason to think some time is allowed {269} before the land reverts to the government. But the interest still runs on till the day of payment; and if the arrears be not paid, the land and all its improvements, if any, return to the government.

The above was the plan on which the public lands were disposed of; but by an act of congress passed last spring,154 a new plan has been adopted, and took place on the 1st of July, by which all credit on public land is done away, and the price reduced to 1 dollar 25 cents per acre, or 200 dollars for a quarter-section; that is, for land that has been offered by public auction.

I have every reason to conclude, that much remains due on the land entered in most of the western states, and some will, most probably, be forfeited to government, as much of it was entered on speculation, and still remains in a state of nature.

The alteration in the price of land, the large quantities lately offered for sale, with the shortness of money, will, I think, prove {270} extremely hurtful to some of the large speculators; but, in my opinion, will in the end be beneficial to the country at large, as it will oblige those who enter land to bring it into cultivation, instead of taking up large quantities, as it will now require a greater capital to speculate than it has hitherto done. Many of the speculators calculate to sell again without paying any of the instalments, after the first deposit, but some of them are now greatly dispirited, and would be happy to dispose of their land on almost any terms, at least to recover what it at first and since has cost them.

I will now endeavour to give a small sketch of the plan of the survey of the country near us, and likewise of the township in which we live.

From the third principal meridian, which begins at the mouth of the Ohio river, and runs north to the Indian boundary, called the Base Line, there is one range to {271} the west called Range 1, West of the 3d Principal Meridian; eleven ranges east, called Range 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, East of the 3d Principal Meridian; and three ranges, called Range 12, 13, 14, West of the 2d Principal Meridian; this survey was continued from the State of Indiana, and met the survey from the 3d Meridian at Range 11 East, which was the reason Range 11 was so narrow, and is called a fractional range.

The townships run from east to west, beginning at the Base Line; the upper line of townships, called Town 1, the second line Town 2, and so on down to Town 15, near the mouth of the Ohio; and the Townships and Ranges are called as follows; suppose at Albion, as marked in the map, in looking on the top is seen Range 10 and Town 2, East of the 3d Principal Meridian: or at Carmi, on the Little Wabash, Range 10, Town 5, East of the 3d Principal Meridian: or at Golconda, on the Ohio River, Range 6, Town 12, {272} East of the 3d Principal Meridian. The Townships are each six miles square, and are divided in sections of one mile square, 36 of which make a Township, and are marked and numbered as in the plate.