deprives him of hay; and he has no fodder laid up for the winter except the blades of Indian corn, which are much withered, and do not appear to be nutritious food. The poor animals are forced to range the forests in winter, where they can scarcely procure any thing which is green, except {208} the buds of underwood on which they browse.--Trees are sometimes cut down that the cattle may eat the buds. Want of shelter in the winter completes the sum of misery. Hogs suffer famine during the droughts of summer, and the frosts and snows of winter; but they become fat by feeding on the acorns and beech nuts which strow the ground in autumn. Horses are not exempted from their share in these common sufferings, with the addition of labour, which most of them are not very able to undergo. This second rate class of farmers are to be seen in the markets of towns, retailing vegetables, fruits, poultry, and dairy produce. One of them came lately into this place on horseback, with ten pounds of butter to sell; but as he could not obtain a price to his mind, he crossed the river to Louisville market. In going and returning he must have paid twenty-five cents to the ferryman--a considerable expense, when it is considered that he had travelled twelve miles with his little cargo. Another, who lives at the distance of eight miles from this place, brought a barrel of whisky, containing about thirty-three gallons. He employed neither horse nor vehicle in the transportation, but rolled the cask along the road, which, by the by, is none of the smoothest. Incidents of this kind may, perhaps, cause you to suppose that the condition of the second rate settler is similar to that of subtenants in the north of Scotland, or in Ireland; but the high price of labour in America explains the apparent parity. Men perform offices for themselves that, in Britain, would be done by hiring others. The American farmer, it must be observed, is commonly the proprietor of the land he occupies; and, in the _hauteur_ of independence, is not surpassed by the proudest freeholders of Britain. The settler of the grade under consideration, is only able to bring a {209} small portion of his land into cultivation, his success, therefore, does not so much depend on the quantity of produce which he raises, as on the gradual increase in the value of his property. When the neighbourhood becomes more populous, he in general has it in his power to sell his property at a high price, and to remove to a new settlement, where he can purchase a more extensive tract of land, or commence farming on a larger scale than formerly. The next occupier is a capitalist, who immediately builds a larger barn than the former, and then a brick or a frame house. He either pulls down the dwelling of his predecessor, or converts it into a stable. He erects better fences, and enlarges the quantity of cultivated land; sows down pasture fields, introduces an improved stock of horses, cattle, sheep, and these