equal chance to live 30. years according to Buffon's table; so that you lose your principal in 30. years. Then say. Int. of £75. annually.. One thirtieth annually of the principal... There must be some addition to this to make the labour equal to that of a white man, as I believe the negro does not perform quite as much work, nor with as much intelligence.-But Mr. Young reckons a laboring man in England £8. & his board £16. making £24. Pa. 5. "In the instances of mountain land, the expressions seem to indicate waste land unbuilt & uninclosed." If Mr. Young has reference here to the notes which Th: J. gave to the President on the subject of mountain land, the following explanation is necessary. The lands therein contemplated are generally about one half cleared of the timber which grew on them, say all the land of the first quality & half that of the middling quality. This half is for the most part inclosed with rail fences which do not last long (except where they are of chestnut) but are easily repaired or renewed. The houses on them for the use of the farm are so slight and of so little worth that they are thrown into the bargain without a separate estimate. The same may be said of the farmer's house, unless it be better than common. When it is of considerable value, it adds to the price of the land, but by no means it's whole value. With respect to the soil I saw no uplands in England comparable to it. My travels there were from Dover to London, & on to Birmingham, making excursions of 20. or 30. miles each way. At Edgehill in Warwickshire my road led me over a red soil sometimes like this, as well as I recollect. But it is too long ago to speak with certainty. with precision to the measures of the ground, and to the product, which may, perhaps, give you something hereafter to communicate to Mr. Young, which may gratify him; but I will furnish the ensuing winter, what was desired in Mr. Young's letter of January 17, 1793." Pa. 7. That "in America farmers look to labour much more than to land, is new to me."—But it is an important circumstance. Where land is cheap, & rich, & labour dear, the same labour, spread in a slighter culture over 100. acres, will produce more profit than if concentrated by the highest degree of cultivation on a small portion of the lands. When the virgin fertility of the soil becomes exhausted, it becomes better to cultivate less & well. The only difficulty is to know at what point of deterioration in the land, the culture should be increased, and in what degree. Pa. 10. "Can you sell your beef & mutton readily?" The market for them, fresh and in quantity, is not certain in Virginia. Beef well salted will generally find a market, but salted mutton is perhaps unknown. Pa. 11. "Mutton dearer than beef." Sheep are subject to many diseases which carry them off in great numbers. In the middle & upper parts of Virginia they are subject to the wolf, & in all parts of it to dogs. These are great obstacles to their multiplication. In the middle & upper parts of the country the carcase of the beef is raised on the spontaneous food of the forests, and is delivered to the farmer in good plight in the fall, often fat enough for slaughter. Hence it's cheapness. Probably however sheep, properly attended to, would be more profitable than cattle as Mr. Young says they have not been attended to as they merited. Pa. 13. Mr Young calculates the employment of £5040. worth of land and £1200. farmer's capital, making an aggregate capital of £6240. in England, which he makes yield 5. p cent extra, or 10. p cent on y whole. I will calculate, in the Virginia way, the employment of the same capital, on a supposition of good management, in the manner of the country. 1. Supposing negro laborers to be hired. 2. Supposing them to be bought. 1. Suppose labourers to be hired, one half men @ £18. the other half women @ £14. for labor, cloths (I always mean sterlg money). Int. of £4160. for 3310. as of land @ 25/ye acre... of 98 for farmer's capital of stock, tools, &c.... Taxes @79 the acre (I do not know what they are). Hire of 33. labourers @ £16. £208—0—0 104- 0-0 96-10-0 528-0-0 936-10 Net profit over & above the 5. p! cent above charged. 219-10 Add annual rise in the value of lands....... 165-10 Real profit over & above the 3. p! cent above charged. . 385 Which is 6 per cent extra, or II p! cent on the whole capital. 2. Suppose labourers to be bought, one half men, & one half women @ £60. sterl. on an average. £ Int. of £3125. for 2500. aș of land @ 25/...... 156—5—0 of 1562-10. farmer's capital of stock, utensils, &c. ....... 78—2—6 £ 500 75 of 10 for purchase of 25. laborers.. Subsistence, clothing, &c..... ..150 225—0—0 [I allow nothing for losses by death, but on the contrary shall [presently take credit 4. p! cent p! annum for their increase over & above keeps up their own numbers.] Taxes @7d the acre 72-18-4 532-5-10 .... Wheat 5000 bush. @ 3/.. 342-15-10 Net profit over & above the 5. p! cent above charged. 156-5-0 60- o 559-0-10 In the preceding estimate I have supposed that 200. bushels of wheat may be sold for every labourer employed, which may be thought too high. I know it is too high for common land, & common management, but I know also on good land & with good management it has been done thro' a considerable neighborhood and for many years. On the other hand I have overrated the cost of laboring negroes, and I presume the taxes also are overrated. I have observed that our families of negroes double in about 25. years, which is an increase of the capital, invested in them, of 4. per cent over & above keeping up the original number. as to the expen I am unable to answer the queries on page diture necessary to make an acre of forest land maintain one, two, or three sheep. I began an experiment of that kind in the year 1783. clearing out the under-growth, cutting up the fallen wood but leaving all the good trees. I got through about 20. or 30. acres and sowed it with white clover & green wood, and intended to have gone on through a forest of 4. or 500. acres. The land was excessively rich, but too steep to be cultivated. In spite of total neglect during my absence from that time to this, most of it has done well. I did not note how much labour it took to prepare it; but I am sure it was repaid by the fuel it yielded for the family. The richness of the pasture to be thus obtained, will always be proportioned to that of the land. Most of our forest is either middling, or poor. It's enclosure with a wood fence costs little, as the wood is on the spot. TO THOMAS PAINE. J.MSS. PHILADELPHIA, June 19. 1792. DEAR SIR,-I received with great pleasure the present of your pamphlets, as well for the thing itself as that it was a testimony of your recollection. Would you believe it possible that in this country there should be high & important characters who need your lessons in republicanism, & who do not heed them? It is but too true that we have a sect preaching up & pouting after an English constitution of king, lords, & commons, & whose heads are itching for crowns, coronets & mitres. But our people, my good friend, are firm and unanimous in their principles of republicanism & there is no better proof of it than that they love what you write and read it with delight. The printers season every newspaper with extracts from your last, as they did before from your first part of the Rights of Man. They have both served here to separate the wheat from the chaff, and to prove that tho' the latter appears on the surface, it is on the surface only. The bulk below is sound & pure. Go on then in doing with your pen what in other times was done with the sword: shew that reformation is more practicable by operating on the mind than on the body of man, and be assured that it has not a more sincere votary nor you a more ardent wellwisher than Yrs. &c. TO JOEL BARLOW. J.MSS. PHILADELPHIA June 20, 1792. DEAR SIR, Tho' I am in hopes you are now on the Ocean home-bound, yet I cannot omit the chance of my thanks reaching you for your Conspiracy of kings and advice to the privileged orders, the second part of which I am in hopes is out by this time. Be assured that your endeavors to bring the Transatlantic world into the road of reason, are not without their effect here. Some here are disposed to move retrograde and to take their stand in the rear of Europe now advancing to the high ground of natural right. But of all this your friend Mr. Baldwin gives you information, and doubtless paints to you the indignation with which the heresies of some people here fill us. This will be conveyed by Mr. Pinckney, an honest sensible man & good republican. He goes our Min. Plen. to London. He will arrive at an interesting moment in Europe. God send that all the nations |