The Sun.
London, England, 1846-07-02 00:00:00

THE EMIGRANT'S LIFE.

The following article is extracted from an interesting
Letter which appeared in last week's Stamford lifer-

cury :--

" Deerfield Cottage, Rattons Prairie,
March 24, 1846.
"We have had rather a long winter here, and much
more severe than the preceding one: cold weather pre-
vailed from the last week in November to the first of
this month, with a great deal of snow : it is now mo.

derate.
" I will now endeavour to give you a brief sketch of
the manners and customs of this people, whose social
arrangements are so different to yours. It is very
frequently the case that the settler selects his location
in the midst of the unbroken forest, though there
are thousands of miles of rich prairie altogether
unencumbered with trees : he does so on account of
the facility thus afforded him in timber fir building,
fencing. and firewood, by which he is saved a great
deal of labour. The settler (particularlarly if a Yanked)
is generally very expert with the axe, and commences
his clearing by cutting down such trees as are most
proper for building his house, which in most cases con-
sists only of one room for all purposes, built of square
logs piled one upon another, and often without a win-
dow ; he consoles himself by promising that in a few
years he will build himself a better one, though he fre-
quently spends the whole of his life in this, unless, in.
deed, his family become large ; in which event he con-
structs another room similar to the one already de-
scribed. In such a situation, you may conceive how
slow his progress must be ; yet he soon contrives to
break up land sufficient to raise corn for the Use of his
family. He has one great advantage in being able to
keep his stock of every desoription on the lands re-
maining unenclosed around him: his hogs will thrive
well on the acorns, nuts, and roots, to be found
in the woods; and he does not pen them up till he wishes
to fatten them in the fall of the year. He generally
plants an orchard, which soon becomes useful and pro-
duces him plenty of peaches in the course of three or
four years from the time of planting; while these are
coming to maturity, he grows melons of several kinds,
which do extremely well here, and are very nice and
cooling in the hot weather. The apples in this country
are in great variety, and, generally speaking, far supe-
rior in size and flavour to those of England. The settler
keeps cows, poultry, one or more horses (for go where
he may he invariably rides), and a small flick of sheep,
the wool from which his wife spins, dyes, and in many
cases weaves and manufactures into clothing for the
whole family; this article, which is generally dyed blue,
makes up into very neat dresses, and I assure you the
fitting of these garments reflects great credit on the fair
artiste,' whose life is by no means a sinecure.
" In the old country, from the crowded state of many
of the trades and professions, competition makes it diffi-
cult for a new beginner to succeed ; business will, no
doubt, be considerably depressed until the corn-law
question is settled : the farmers will be for a time panic-
struck, and have as little work done as pod sible ; but
this will right itself in the course of a short time.
" As to the advisibility of persons coming out to this
country, it entirely depends upon circumstances : I
believe this to be a locality in which, in point of money,
few men get rich ; but it is certainly one in which-no
industrious sober man need fear to obtain a livelihood :
nevertheless, I speak from experience when I say, let
all those who have a comfortable home, and acquire a
good living, with a reasonable prospect of continuing to
do so, be content to remain where they are. It is a
very easy thing to break up a home, but often difficult
to establish a better : early associations never fail to
crowd upon us : we often think of our old and far distant
home, and more, much more than all, of those kind
and dear friends from whom we are separated perhaps
for ever.
The class of persons to whom this country offers the
most decided advantages is the one whose early life has
been devoted to the cultivation of land ; the young agri-
cultural labourer in England, though he bo ever so in-
dustrious and frugal, if he marries and has a family,
with all his striving, can scarcely keep himself above
pauperism ; he could manage a little land, but that is
not to be got ; and it is a thousand to one if ever he gets
to occupy an acre. He must work, always work, for a
master, and think himself fortunate that he can be so
employed : he must sometimes submit to the most de-
grading servility, and be studiously careful not to-offend
even by accident: in short, he must be the patient drudge
toiling on through life with scarcely a hope of bettering his
condition. Here the case is widely different; if em-
ployed as a labourer, his employer treats him as an
rclual ; he always takes his meals at the same table
with his master, and is treated with respect and cour-
tesy ; his wages too he can spend more to the advantage
of his family, and as soon as he wishes to commence
farming on his own account he finds but little diffi-
culty respecting land, for he can get here, at a low rent,
as much he wishes; or if he be able to purchase, he has
plenty of choice : he may thus acquire a good living,
with something more in time, besides having the plea-
sure of seeing a good prospect for his children around
him,
" With respect to the expense incurred in coming out
here, it is difficult to say what it amounts to; much de-
pends upon the distance the emigrant may have to travel
in the country after he has crossed the ocean: unex-
pected delays will sometimes occur, which occasion much
trouble, expense, and vexation. I think the cost from
first to last might be set clown at about ten pounds per
individual ; for though it cost me considerably more, I
hare no doubt tilers Ekro scale who perform the journey
for less,
" The natural productions of this climate in the way
of wild fruit are the vine, which flourishes here in the
greatest luxuriance, bearing grapes of excellent flavour ;
wild plums are also found in the woods. I urn sorry to
add that currants and gooseberries do not thrive well
Ihere: the summer I think is too hot for them."

NEW ENGINE.—We hear that a new engine, on Mr
Crompton's principle, with seven feet driving wheels and
some 1,000 squire feet of heating surface, is building for
the narrow gauge by the Messrs. Rennie. Iferapatles
Journal.