Agricultural notes for the settlers. - Observations on farming and business in America. - Not everyone is in a position to do well there.

The work of clearing primitive woodland is actually very simple and far easier than one imagines here. One chops off most of the trees that are not too thick one or two feet above the root and drags them off or burns them on the spot; the branches are always burned immediately.

One does not fell the thickest trees but rather one peels off the bark down around the trunk to a good hand's breadth. If this takes place around Christmas or New Year, it is sufficient to kill the tree; but if it takes place later, then one cannot let it at that if the tree is not supposed to blossom again and continue growing, but rather has to cut a ring with the axe so deep that it goes through the white sapwood, then the tree will die off and will not blossom again next spring. Here and there one lets a thick walnut, hickory or chestnut tree stand undisturbed too, in part for its nuts, but chiefly for this reason, so that sometimes the cattle grazing in the fields might find shade under its limbs.

Since the forest trees there do not as here have the characteristic of spreading their thick roots far around on the surface of the earth, but rather almost all of the roots lie deep under the surface of earth; since too the forests there do not have any stumps from cut off undergrowth and except for tree roots no other wood is found there that would make clearing harder; since further the forests there are not as matted as here and one has to concern himself only with cutting down and carrying away trees; thus the clearing of the same also demands not a tenth of the effort and work which the same undertaking would cause here with us. A man charged with the same work makes an acre so clean of wood within eight days that it can be plowed.

The straightest and best of the felled wood the new farmer uses to build a log house and for the fencing in of his estate. Such a log house for first use is the work of several days with the help of the neighbors who are very willing to do it and do it without pay.

When the wood is taken away from the land, plowing is immediately done between the remaining stumps and trees. Often there is no need for this and the earth is so loose that it is sufficient to prepare it for seeding just here and there with a hoe; this is especially often the case in the state of Ohio. The plows there work out well for this purpose, for up front they have no frame as ours do and the horses are hitched in front of the plow beam. With this plow, which, by the way, I also liked very much, one can satisfactorily plow up small corners too.

The implements for clearing the forests there generally contribute greatly towards the facilitation of this business too. They are all more favorably adapted to such work than ours.

The surface of the new acreage usually consists of a layer of deep, black earth from five to seven inches, even where the ground is stony or sandy. This surface is unbelievably fat and fruitful so that one may plant the new land with wheat or rye for the first time only at high mountains, for on level surfaces or in valleys this grain would grow too strongly into straw. In new land no grain grows better and none has a higher yield than corn; for one acre often produces over a hundred bushels in one harvest.

In the first year the return for his work is totally sufficient for the new farmer's subsistence. Of course he may not let effort and work depress him and also not live so loosely as the American around him is used to doing. Yet in many regions hunting and fishing have their place for him and I believe that in general the new farmer there lives three times better than is the case with the usual small peasant here. They usually get small animals as a gift from their neighbors, it is the custom and usage there; and the larger they can buy for a cheap price. In western Pennsylvania, Ohio, and still farther west the animals find their nourishment completely in the forest in summer as well as wintertime. One does not need horses in the first year, but rather the neighbors plow the land for him gratis if he bestows good words. In the second year the new farmer expands and improves his dwelling, continues with the clearing of his land and fences it in with the felled wood. After the lapse of three to at the most four years he has, if he is an industrious, steady man, gotten back his small outlay and the worth of his property has increased at least four-fold. Every family that emigrates from here over to there and has several able-bodied members can attain to a considerable estate with little capital in a few years. There is also constant opportunity to lease small and large plantations and there are many examples known to me of people who have become well-to-do in this way and rich too. Every German farmer who thinks of emigrating there should indeed take the help for his goal there along from here, otherwise he will go wrong; for it is much too expensive to keep American workers; but also he will know beforehand for a certainty that his countrymen will remain loyal to him there and not run away.

In America the farmer knows of no vassalage and compulsory labor, no tithes, no monthly contributions and no taxes at all to the state. He pays his property and poor tax once annually and then he is done. These taxes are only community taxes and are collected for the needs of the municipality. They are insignificant and often come to not over five dollars from 100 acres annually.

In addition to his chief occupation everyone there has the freedom to carry on any kind of his favored avocation without paying taxes on it. Thus, for example, every big farmer has on his plantation a brandy distillery and distills grain and apple brandy which he sells to the innkeepers in the country or sends into the cities. Whoever wants to run a hotel has nothing further to do than equip his house for it and hang a big sign out front; so also whoever wants to get into trade. The tradesmen there are free of all companies and guilds. They know nothing of registering and dismissing apprentices, nothing of becoming journeyman and master. Instead of an apprentice learning many years and on top of that having to pay the teacher thirty to forty thaler, as here, the master there often gives the apprentice thirty dollars annually and still more and in addition free board, bed and clothing. Everyone, be he native or foreign, has the right to carry on what he pleases without cost, also to move and to live where he wants to. No one, be he native or foreign, rich or poor, needs a passport from the police if he wants to travel; statutes of that kind are totally unknown there. Every traveler may lodge where he wants to, also every inhabitant may give every traveler lodging unhindered and every innkeeper has to do this; even if the traveler has nothing with which he can pay, the innkeeper is nevertheless responsible and bound to give such a one food and drink and lodging for one night. The laws order this.

Experience teaches that the freedom in the United States of North America rewards and blesses the diligence of the farmer and the industry of the tradesman more than in any other land. In that land the big and small farmer and also the day laborer live better in regard to physical need than do the rich here; and the tradesman better from a quarter of his pay than in Germany from all of it. In the western regions he can earn more in one day than he uses up in a whole week if he is no spendthrift, of which there are also a great number there. In general he earns one and a half dollars every day. Some tailors, shoemakers, etc. can make up to two dollars and even more if they are diligent. Because they do piece work, masons, carpenters, joiners, wheelwrights etc. are primarily sought after. The day laborer in Pennsylvania earns one dollar in the summertime and somewhat less in the winter. German day laborers, menservants and maids are preferred, especially though the latter and they are really preferred if they understand cooking well or possess other skills too; they are preferred to all others on account of their work and their diligence and make their fortune most easily. Good German menservants earn from 80 to 120 dollars annually, and the best maids almost as much too. This is also just the reason why so many Germans and others who have thought of leading a colony into the western regions of the United States give up their plans; for often, before they have ended the journey through the state of Pennsylvania, the people have either all or to within a few of them run away for them; the reason for this was mentioned earlier already. Such entrepreneurs cannot be admonished enough to caution because the temptation to infidelity is too great there.

It cannot be refuted that such entrepreneurs are still offered great prospects there; and if they assure themselves in regard to the point mentioned and can follow that which was presented in the previous chapter as necessary for it, then I would not counsel against such an undertaking.

The examples of single individuals from abroad who in such a short time as before attain to huge wealth are now becoming more seldom, of course, since in the land itself everything is taking on more and more of an autonomous consistency and the population and native industry in it increase. But with the huge yet unpopulated lands which comprise the territory of the United States, those auspicious prospects, even if they are no longer as enticing as in the first times of the colonies, will nevertheless continue.

The very great advantages of the United States in so many respects; the general welfare that prevails there; the easier fruition of human activity; the very easy and far better material life with less work; the absence of all concern for food and concern for the future of the children; the possibility to marry early; the insignificant taxes; the domestic freedom; the security against wars etc. are important motivating reasons for Europeans to move into that free land. But the difficulties of the vast journey, the tremendous effort and also the dangers of the same, then also the innummerable hindrances which arise out of the unfamiliarity with that land and the language there; and oh the strangeness of the customs and practices there and, if one has to live singly among those people, the impossibility of communicating oneself - these evils are also far greater than one thought beforehand.

Good advice is costly there or, far more, not to be found at all; whoever does not know how to advise himself is in a very bad way, for among Americans one looks for good advice in vain every time. It also takes far more getting used to the obtuseness, simplicity, unsociableness and coarseness of the American than many a person thinks and can imagine.

Raw, uneducated, uncivilized and phlegmatic indifferent young persons are best suited for that land if they are farmers or craftsmen of the coarser kind, for they become used to the life style there most easily, whereto the tables set three times daily with tasty dishes contribute not a little; then too men and women of mature age who are capable and good craftsmen, the more uneducated the better. Only such are in a position soon to feel themselves, lucky among the Americans; but no one who is educated here to a moderately fine life style can really feel good among those people, far more he feels very unfortunate for a considerable time; and only little by little such a one accustoms himself to the coarseness and sluggishness of this nation if he builds his own circle of friends or if the gradually awakened feeling of pride as a free citizen extinguishes in him the contemplation of the advantages of his fatherland.



The American has not the least conception of the customary style of life in Germany. One misses almost everything there that beautifies life here: every diversity of a good conversation. Even if the German cannot and does not wish to praise much in his fatherland, he must nevertheless loudly admit that likewise much is better here. Indeed with right the Americans are proud of their civil freedom, of their freedom in belief, speech, press and in their collective life; but with all their freedom they are still slaves of their narrowness and lack of knowledge in everything that is not local and practical. One has to speak the truth and not intentionally be silent about either the good or the bad, either the pleasant or the unpleasant.

Source: Edited by Bryan Wright