Gazette Of The United States And Daily Evening Advertiser

From the OTSEGO HERALD.

To EUROPEAN FARMERS.

No circumstance can be more interesting to a stranger, in a country where he has few or no acquaintance to assist him, than that of meeting with a candid statement of facts, relative to the several advantages or disadvantages attending the different situations of the great scope of country which offers itself to his choice, and on which choice, his future happiness or misery is closely connected.

You generally land in Philadelphia or New-York:—Your first business is to take lodgings, and make such enquiries as are suited to your pursuits and situations, in order that you may save and not spend the monies you have on hand. You soon find lodging and house-rent very high; the markets more so; and, in short, every article you may want seems to cost two prices. Those circumstances are to you rather alarming:—some incline to return; others hastily sit down on farms near the cities, at high rents or dear purchases. Now, if I have pointed out nearly your present situation, it is but reasonable that you should believe what I am about to state for your future advancement.

The county of Otsego will still accommodate ten thousand families; its situation is from fifty to ninety miles from Albany; thirty-two miles land-carriage; the soil deep and strong, excellent for wheat, corn, peas, barley, oats, turnips, carrots, potatoes, &c. and exceeding natural to grass; so that our primary objects are beef, cheese, butter, and horses; and altho' wheat, on account of its heavy carriage, is least advantageous, yet it is more so to the farmer here, than in the old settled parts of Pennsylvania or this state, even within twenty miles of the capitals; as there the farmer is content with, nay he calls 12 bushels of wheat per acre a good crop; the average price of which, on the farm, is at most nine shillings, so that the whole produce is but L.5 8 Here we receive per acre 25 bushels, the average price 7 shillings, the whole produce per acre is L.8 15 Profit in favour of the farmer of this county, more than those of the old settlements of Pennsylvania and New-York, per acre, is L.3 7

In fat beef, butter and cheese, the advantage is more obvious, as two horses will draw to Albany, of butter and cheese, for 3s., to the value of L.50; in wheat not more than one fourth of that sum. If then we possess this manifest advantage over the old settlements, in raising wheat, which to us is the least profitable produce, why should not the price of our lands be equal to, or even higher than those situated from ten to thirty miles from New-York or Philadelphia, where farms which will yield twelve bushels will cost L.8 per acre. Here, for land which will yield 25 bushels, or produce a ton and an half of hay, L.4 per acre, another striking advantage to an European farmer. But it must be admitted, that on an old farm you will have fruit, grounds cleared to your hands, fences, &c. yet here the ashes only, which you may collect from the timber burnt in clearing, will nearly pay for the necessary labor; add to which the proceeds of the first crop, and you will find your land cleared with a handsome remaining profit. Houses are erected here with great facility and cheapness, from the great plenty of timber and other materials; and those who wish for improved farms, may purchase them or from three to five pounds per acre.

Another important consideration in favor of the soil of this country is its duration: First, the frequent rains in the summer, give such a force to vegetation, that the pasture fields are in continual verdure, through the driest season, producing a strong sward, and fertilizing the surface of the earth;—while the frequent droughts nearer the ocean, render the pastures little more than dusty plains. Again, the snows, which are the blessings of our country, as well on account of transportation, as of nourishing the soil, keeping out the frost, and preserving vegetation, which, as soon as the snow is dissolved, is in immediate action, and soon covers the ground with nourishing herbage; while the more southern climes are exposed to the bleak winds of April, and part of May, which, together with the drought in summer, and the hard frost, which pierces the ground to the depth of 12 inches in the winter, impoverishes the earth more than the usual tillage; while here we know nothing of losing a crop by the frost's heaving the ground in winter, or by drought in summer. The water of our country is as pure as any in the world, and well stocked with fish, and our air and climate salubrious and healthy. We begin to fodder the middle of November, and turn out our cattle in the middle of April; our days are somewhat longer in summer, and shorter in winter, than in Philadelphia or New York. The air is not so damp here in the winter as it is there; and of course not so disagreeably cold or chilly. Mills, roads, bridges, schools and other conveniences, are already established, in all the different quarters of the county; so that all the most obvious objections and difficulties attending a new settlement are surmounted. Provisions are plenty and cheap. We sent 1240 oxen to Philadelphia market last year.—We make our own sugar, and some seasons much more. We have been a county but four years, and a settlement but eight: Coopertown, at the source of the Susquehannah, is the capital:—to which place all sober and industrious persons, either with or without money, are cordially invited, by the

PROPRIETOR.