THE UNITED STATES AS A FIELD FOR AGRICULTURAL SETTLERS.

THE subject of this paper is not only a large one, but it is one on which much has been said and written already. It is also true that a most able and exhaustive report on the agricultural capacity of America has been recently issued by the commission which was appointed by the late Government to inquire into the causes of agricultural distress in this country. But I approach the subject from a somewhat different point of view. The purpose for which the assistant-commissioners were sent to America was to inquire into and report as to the probable effect of American competition on the owners and occupiers of land in this country. My object is rather to inquire what are the prospects of those who contemplate emigrating to America. with a view to bettering their condition, and to point out what in my judgment are the localities best suited for intending emigrants.

I shall confine myself, as the title of this paper indicates, to the United States, not because I wish to ignore or disparage in any way the claims of Canada, but because I am not a competent witness with respect to that country. When I was last in America I was not on Canadian soil at all, with the exception of a few hours which I passed on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. As regards the great and fertile district of Manitoba I could say nothing which had not appeared already in books or newspapers. And even in respect of the United States the knowledge which I have acquired from personal observation is limited to two regions, Western Oregon and Colorado, though I have endeavoured to avail myself of the best sources of information within my reach as to other parts of the country.

Agricultural emigrants may be divided into two classes: first, those who intend to cultivate their farms by the labour of their own hands; second, persons possessed of more or less capital, or perhaps, I should rather say, a class of larger capitalists, for, as I think I shall show presently, every one who goes to the United States with the intention of owning land, ought to be possessed of a certain amount of capital.

The class of larger capitalists may be again subdivided into arable and pastoral farmers. In the more newly settled Western states this line is much more sharply drawn than it is in this country. In Illinois and the other middle states there are many persons who pursue a system of mixed husbandry, who raise grain crops and who A few months ago.

also own fine herds of cattle. But in the more newly settled states the arable farmers for the most part possess very little live stock except their horses and a few cows, while those who apply themselves to rearing cattle or sheep do very little with the plough.

As regards the agricultural labourer I doubt whether a man who has been bred to agricultural labour only, and who has not the command of some little capital, is likely to do himself much good by emigrating to the United States. Wages, no doubt, are high while there is work to be done, but there is not so much constant employment as in this country. It is very much the practice in the United States to take men on by the job and to discharge them after the work has been done. And as there is very little green crop grown in the United States, there is much less employment there for women and children than there is here. These observations are borne out by the Report of the assistant-commissioners which has lately been issued. They say:

The farm labourer can hardly be said to exist as a distinct class in the United States, unless it be among the coloured people in the middle and Southern states. In the large farms of the west the bothy system is carried out, and buildings are put up in which the summer men mess and sleep. In winter they are off to the towns and cities, and it is seldom the same faces are seen two years running on the farm.

It should be remarked that though wages may appear high, the hours of labour from spring to autumn are long, and winter is a period of almost complete cessation from work for man and beast on the American farm. The very few labourers that are required upon a great wheat-growing farm in America during the dead winter months is surprising. In one instance we were told that only two men were kept upon 5,000 acres. When the longer days and the harder work of the American labourer, together with his being employed only when he is wanted. are taken into account, the annual cost of labour per acre is much less than the amount paid in England.

At the same time there is no doubt that an energetic active man, who can put his hand to anything, who can, for instance, take a spell at lumbering or at carpenter work when agricultural employment is scarce, is likely to do exceedingly well in the United States.

To return to the classes who are possessed of some capital. The emigrant who wishes to cultivate his farm with his own hands may either enter on the Government land which is reserved for homesteads, in which case he has nothing to pay beyond the cost of the survey, amounting only to a few pounds, or he may purchase land and pay for it by instalments spread over a term of years. In the case of the Government lands he cannot homestead more than 160 acres, but he may also pre-empt, as it is called, 160 acres more, paying for it at the rate of $1 an acre if more than 20 miles from a railroad, or $2, or a little more than 10s. an acre, if within 20 miles. He has to pay about 18. an acre down, and the balance at the end of five years, by which time he must have executed certain improvements. In some states he may pre-empt 640 acres of what are called desert lands, that is, lands which will not grow crops without irrigation. He must in this case

at the end of five years produce a certificate that he has irrigated the land so as to make it grow crops.

And in some states the settlers may acquire from the Government 160 acres by planting 10 acres, and producing a certificate at the end of eight years that a certain number of trees are in a healthy growing state.

It may perhaps be asked what amount of money a settler ought to have to start with. To begin at the beginning, the journey out from Liverpool, say of a man with a wife and two children. to the place where they intend to locate themselves, will cost some 45l., more or less.2 As to the rest I will take the estimate of Mr. Eaton, a successful farmer who owns a considerable quantity of land in Colorado. Mr. Eaton's letter, which gives the amount required in detail, and which, besides, contains a great deal of valuable information, may be found in a pamphlet entitled 'Farm Lands in Colorado,' published by the Colorado Company, of which Mr. Barclay, M.P. for Forfarshire, is chairman. Mr. Eaton calculates that a man with a wife and two children will require 3261. to support himself and family, and bring a farm of 80 acres, which is about as much as a man with a pair of horses can till, into cultivation. If we add 45l. for the cost of the journey out, we have a sum of 3711. as the amount which is required to support the family, and meet the necessary outgoings of the farm until the first crop has been reaped and marketed. In the case of the man who enters on a homestead we have to deduct 42l., which Mr. Eaton puts down as the first instalment of the purchase money, because the homesteader has nothing to pay for the land, and we thus get 3291., or say, including the cost of survey, 335l., as the amount required. The man who enters on a homestead with this sum in his possession ought, if this estimate is correct, to be free from debt and able to invest the proceeds of his crop, beyond what he may require for the support of himself and his family, in any way that may seem best to him. But there are some drawbacks. In order to get a homestead a man must now go very far West. He will in all probability not be very favourably situated as regards access to markets, and consequently the prices he will obtain will be low. the same reason he may probably have difficulty in procuring many comforts that he has come to look upon almost as necessaries of life, and he may have to pay very high prices for them. In the Northwestern states the winters are very long, the cold is intense, and the winds are piercing. Lastly, even in the remote North-west, great part of the best lands has been taken up already. When I was returning from San Francisco to New York, I met a man who told me that he had gone into the territory of Dakotah to look for land, and that there was no good land to be had, except by purchase, within 500 miles of Bismarck, which is the furthest point to which the

For

The above is about the cost of the journey to Denver; to Western Minnesota it will be somewhat less.

Northern Pacific Railroad has yet been extended, and which is some 1,200 miles north-west of Chicago. On the other hand, the emigrant who purchases can choose his own location, and the payment is generally made easy to him by being spread over a term of years.

Hitherto I have been referring to those who intend to till their farms themselves. I now come to the class who are possessed of more capital, and who would desire to obtain land in larger quantities. If the settler's capital is large enough, I think it is better to buy not less than a section, i.e. a square mile, or 640 acres. A smaller lot costs more to fence in proportion to its size. Land can be purchased from the railway companies to whom the Government has made grants, or from parties who have acquired land from them. In Western Oregon improved farms, that is, farms with a house and some fences on them, may be purchased at from 5l. to 81. an acre if near a railroad. Unimproved and uncleared lands can be had at all prices down to $2.50 an acre. The land in the valley is open prairie; on the rolling ground at the foot of the hills a good deal of it is covered with oak scrub. The cost of clearing is said to vary from $5 to $15 per acre. The average yield is reckoned at about 20 bushels an acre, and it is said the crop can almost always be depended upon. The whole of Western Oregon is within comparatively easy reach of Portland, whence the grain is shipped. The valley is drained by the Williamette river, which is navigable for a great part of its course; there are also two railroads, and another is in course of being constructed. Land at some little distance from the existing railroads can be purchased, I believe, for about 51. an acre. The settler in Western Oregon has the great advantage of an abundant and cheap supply of timber. The sides of the mountains and the edges of the streams are covered with splendid firs, some of them 200 feet high. When I was going over the proposed line of the Oregonian railway, I came across a splendid fir tree which was being burned down by means of a live coal put into the heart of it. I asked to have it measured, and found it squared 7 feet. They told me that there was not enough timber in the strip where this tree stood to make it worth while to put up a sawmill, and that the cheapest mode of getting the tree out of the way was to burn it.

In Eastern Oregon land may be bought of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company for $2.60, or about 128. an acre. In some seasons this land is said to be very productive, yielding as much as 40 bushels of wheat per acre, but the country is sometimes subject to droughts, water is scarce in some places, and there is a deficiency of timber. The rates. to Portland are also very high, but this will probably be remedied in time by the construction of a new line of railroad, and I think there can be no doubt that those who purchase land at present prices will find their property rise considerably in value in the course of the next few years.

The only other state as to which I can speak from personal know

ledge is Colorado. Good land can be bought there at present for about $10, or a little over 2l. an acre. The right to take water for irrigation from one of the canals costs about 1. an acre. Land in Colorado, from the extreme dryness of the climate, is of little use unless it is either irrigated artificially or flooded in winter by a stream. A section of good land with the necessary water rights will cost about 2,000l. The price may be spread over a term of years, but the rate of interest in Colorado is high, not less than 10 per cent. on farming lands, so that those who possess the requisite amount of capital will probably prefer to pay the money down. Mr. Barclay puts the cost of bringing the land into cultivation, not including interest on the purchase money, and charging contract prices for the work done, at about 21. per acre for the first year, so that the whole outlay on 640 acres, including the purchase money, will be about 3,300l. To this estimate of Mr. Barclay's I think some other items should be added, as, for example, from 80l. to 100l. for a house and the cost of fencing, which, for 640 acres, should probably be about 2001. But with a capital of something less than 4,000l. a man ought to be able to make a very good start on a farm of 640 acres. As regards the question whether a settler had better locate himself in Oregon or in Colorado, or in one of the North-western states, perhaps I shall best answer it, so far as my opinion is worth anything, by stating what I have done myself. After having traversed the United States from New York to Puget Sound, and having obtained the best information which I could procure, I have purchased land in Colorado for a near relation of my own, who intends to go out as a settler. My reasons are, (1) the yield on irrigated land is larger than either in Western Oregon or the North-western states, (2) prices of agricultural produce are higher. Mr. Barclay and Mr. Eaton both concur in stating that after the first year 25 bushels of wheat an acre may fairly be looked for on irrigated land in Colorado. In Western Oregon the average yield is put at 20 bushels an acre. In the North-western states it is a good deal less. Sixteen bushels an acre is looked upon as a large crop in Minnesota, one of the great wheat-growing states. In Iowa it is less. In Dakotah 25 and sometimes even 28 bushels are raised, but these cases are exceptional, and are found on the monster farms, where the cultivation of wheat is brought to great perfection. From the best information I can obtain, the average production of Dakotah does not much exceed 15 or 16 bushels. Then as to prices. When I was in Portland, wheat was selling for 87 cents a bushel. In Denver the price was at one time $1.20, and it has never, I believe, been below $1.10 this year. When we look at the prices in the North-western states, the difference is even greater. In Western Minnesota and Dakotah 75 cents a bushel is considered a good price for wheat. Without going into elaborate calculations, I think any one who will work the figures out for himself will see that it will pay better to give $15 an acre for land that will