44
To have a proper idea of the progress and present state of agriculture in the territory of this Republick, it is necessary to bear in mind, that the Americans have a passion for frequently abandoning one piece of land for another, and for always preferring new to old lands. Notwithstanding this, there were scarcely forty millions of acres under cultivation in the whole United States, in the year 1805; fifteen millions of these were in grain fields and gardens; ten millions in meadows and pastures; and the rest in fallow. Mr. Beaujour, five years afterwards, calculated them at fifty millions at most; and I do not believe that they exceed seventy at the present moment, for the calculation of Beaujour, as the Americans themselves acknowledge, was very much exaggerated.
The smallest product of an acre of ground (the acre contains about 7000 Spanish feet) in the United States, is valued at four dollars; but the acre is generally purchased at five or six dollars. Deducting from this product two thirds, for the expenses of cultivation and harvest, it follows that the nett produce is 166 1-2 or 233 cents per acre, which in our money is equal to 32 reals vellon and maravedises, or 45 rs. vn. & m. By this calculation, it appears that the land in the United States produces more than a fifth of its value; and this flattering illusion[1] it is, that has induced so many
- ↑ He demonstrates the result by his own calculation, and calls it illusion! T.
