A Tour through North America ... With a ... view of the Canadas and United States, as adapted for agricultural emigration

Front matter

'l A TOUR THROUGH NORTH AMERICA; TOGETHER WITH A COMPREHENSIVE VIEW OF THE CANADAS AND UNITED STATES. AS ADAPTED FOR AGRICULTURAL EMIGRATION. By PATRICK SHIRR.EFF, Farmer, MUNGOSWELLS, EAST LOTHIAN. EDINBURGH: PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE AND COMPANY, PAUL'S WORK, CANONGATE. PUBLISHED BY OLIVER AND BOYD, EDINBURGH; SIMPKLV, MARSHALL, & CO., LONDON; DAVID ROBERTSON, GLASGOW; AND WILLIAM CURRY, JUN. AND CO., DUBLIN. 1835. TO MR JOHN DEANS, PENSTON, EAST LOTHIAN. My dear Deans, I dedicate the following tour to you, who had an opportunity of judging of many of the scenes and occurrences which I have described. Your candour and honesty have long been known to me, and I hope the sentiments and the feelings expressed in the succeeding pages, will be found to accord with your own character. It has been said that I was appointed by a party of East Lothian farmers to visit and report on the Cana das and the United States ; but nothing could be more unfounded.

A younger brother having expressed a wish to try his fortune as an American farmer, I resolved to explore the country for the purpose of enabling me to give an opinion on the step which he contemplated. With this single object in view, my Transatlantic excursion was originally planned, and afterwards performed, unfettered and unassisted by any party whatever. Having been led to travel from a sense of fraternal duty, I would have willingly remained satisfied with simply accomplishing the object of my journey, being aware how recently some individuals of the highest attainments had published works on America, and how ill qualified I am, in some respects, to convey an accu rate impression of a country and people so interesting. But the solicitations of friends induced me to give my opinions to the public, and the result will, perhaps, prove their partiality to have been greater than their discernment.

Having passed much of my time apart from fashion and politics, the position which I occupied in the world may not have been favourable to an impartial view of all which came under my notice. My acquaintance with agriculture enabled me, however, to judge of American farming without reiving on the opinions of others, and, while listening patiently to much which was told me, I drew conclusions only from what I saw. In measuring the advantages of the different parts of the country by the standards of nature, and the reward of agricultural industry by produce, I hope to have departed from custom without having been led into error. Nature is the most general and invariable of agricultural tests. Ill Want of information is a complaint which has been brought against treatises on emigration, and the charge in all probability arises from diversity of human character; one mind being incapable of furnishing all requisite information to another, without previously knowing what is required.

Chapter I

Journey to Liverpool — Lady and Child — Dine at Lancaster — Impostors at Manchester — Railway — Lateness of the season — Desecration of the Sabbath — Agricultural Details — Napoleon packet-ship — Cemetery — Mr Huskisson. I left Mungoswells on the 20th of April, 1833, and pro ceeded from Haddington to Edinburgh by the Earl Grey stage-coach, drawn by a pair of thoroughbred bays, in charge of Quinten Campbell, a most excellent driver, who landed us at the end of the journey, a distance of seventeen miles, in less than an hour and a half, without an application of the whip. After spending a few hours in Edinburgh, two friends, who intended accompanying me on a transatlantic tour, and my self, were seated in a Manchester coach, and we arrived at Carlisle about five in the morning of the following day.

During a few minutes' delay which occurred in changing coaches at Carlisle, a waiter at the inn asked us to partake of breakfast ; and resented our declining to do so, by saucily refusing to exchange small silver-money for a half-crown piece. My friend and I here agreed to take an outside place alternately, to accommodate a lady and child -with an inside one. In course of the day I learned from the lady that she was booked as a passenger from Dumfries to London, and had, to her regret, been detained a whole day at Carlisle. It was A JOURNEY TO LIVERPOOL. evident that this unprotected female ancl her innocent charge had been imposed upon, and her escape from a second day's detention was entirely owing to the little concession of my friend and self in her favour. Breakfast was served at Penrith, and the party complained loudly of the fare placed before them.

The stage passengers were joined by other travellers at Lancaster, where eighteen in number dined together, carving for themselves, and several partaking of hot punch, in the space of twenty minutes, which was the whole delay at Lancaster. We reached Manchester a little after nightfall, where we spent the evening ; and one of my friends not having sufficient change to settle with the guard and driver of the coach, he soon afterwards paid them in the coffeeroom. Next morning two different individuals presented themselves, as deputed by guard and driver to receive their allowance. My friend good humouredly rallied the impostors on the hopelessness of their attempt, and they seemed to feel the force of his satire more than they perhaps would have done a scolding. I have no ticed the treatment of the lady and child at Carlisle, as well as the impostors at Manchester, in consequence of a lecture from a fellow-passenger on Yankee knavery, and a well-meant advice to guard myself against American duplicity.

Without meaning to impeach the character of my fellow-countrymen, I may remark that the natives of Britain need not illustrate moral delinquency by examples from other countries. Man kind seem to be, nationally as individually, sensible of the faults of others, although, at the same time, they are blind to their own. We travelled from Manchester to Liverpool by the railway, on the morning of the 22d, and accomplished a distance of thirty miles in an hour and a half. Several miles were per formed in two minutes, according to my stop-watch. At the request of a friend, I occupied a place on the outside of a way coach, and was much annoyed by the current of air and coke from the engine. My eyes did not recover the effects of the coke for forty-eight hours afterwards. On the east coast of Scotland the season had proved to be one of the wettest and latest on record.

At the time of our de- AGRICULTURAL DETAILS. 3 parture the vegetable kingdom had scarcely responded to the vivifying influence of spring — the buds of the hawthorn and the larch were expanding only in sheltered places. England did not present a more advanced vegetation. We were fortu nate, however, in obtaining the first good weather of the season for our journey ; and, notwithstanding the bleakness of nature, the ever varying scene afforded many objects fitted for contemplation. We crossed the line separating England from Scotland early on Sunday morning, and for many miles afterwards the roads were covered with herds of cattle and flocks of sheep, travelling towards the south. This was a novel sight to a Scotsman ; such practices on Sabbath being prohibited by the laws of his country. The desecration of the Lord's day may, perhaps, to a certain extent, be traced in the customs of every Christian country, but in no case what ever ought appearances to be regarded as the measure of religious feeling, the seat of which is hid from human eye.

Without assigning to my countrymen purity and intensity of religious emotion, I may be permitted to say, a Scottish Sab bath is marked throughout by a still, quiet, external decorum, seldom met with in other parts of the world, which fosters piety, and checks an open display of profanity. I trust her inhabitants will ever respect and preserve its solemnity of cha racter. The land from Carlisle to Manchester seemed, generally, poor and indifferently cultivated. The enclosures are small in size, often surrounded by irregular fences, formed and maintained at a sacrifice of soil and labour. Many of the grass fields were studded with lean young horses ancl cattle, industriously seeking a repast which nature still sparingly •supplied. Betwixt Manchester and Liverpool, much of the grass lands had been ploughed with a furrow slice, only two ancl three inches in deptb.

Three stout horses yoked in line, the first of which was led by a boy, were seen dragging a small harrow, kept on a narrow convex ridge, by means of a man with a rope operating like a rudder, and he was apparently the only severely worked animal engaged in the operation. The agriculturists of Britain being deemed enlightened, and her soil not producing a sufficient quantity of food for the popu- LIVERPOOL CEMETERY MR HUSKISSON. lation, it was painful to witness land so mismanaged and la bour so misapplied. This anomaly may, perhaps, be account ed for, by the genius of the inhabitants of this district having long been successfully applied to manufactures ; and neither soil nor climate being congenial to agriculture ; together with entails, tythes, and corn laws, checking the devotion of skill and capital to cultivation.

Chatmoss, through which the railway passes, seems, however, an exception, and I regretted time did not permit an examination of the interesting management it is under, with which I had become acquainted by means of periodicals devoted to rural affairs. On reaching Liverpool, our first proceeding was to search for a conveyance to New York, which we obtained in the Napoleon packet-ship; the commander, Captain Smith, resign ing his cabin to my friend and me, the other berths in the ship having been previously engaged, with exception of one which was required for our companion. Part of the 22d, 23d, and 24th, was spent in viewing the attractions of Liverpool, the chief of which, in my estimation, is the cemetery. This repository of mouldering humanity has been recently formed, and its numerous beauties have not been matured or mellowed by time.

Trees, shrubs, and flowers, were diminutive, and generally in their winter garb, which fully displayed the memorials to the gaze of visitants. The cenotaph to Mr Huskisson stands near the centre, and can seldom fail of fixing for a time the attention, and exciting the sympathies of his countrymen. The world is now enjoy ing the green fruits of his genius, with prospect of increasing ancl lasting supply, while the laurels of contemporary warriors are barren and fading. So long as the principles of free trade are cherished and acted on, the memory of Huskisson will en sure. VOYAGE TO NEW YORK. 5

Chapter II

Voyage from Liverpool to New York — Sea-sickness — Crew — Passengers — Details — Approach to New York — Washington Hotel. At noon, on the 24th April, the Napoleon got under weigh, and was towed down the Mersey by a steamer, in consequence of an adverse wind. In little more than an hour from the time of sailing, I became sea-sick, which afflicted me severely for nearly thirty days, and frustrated the little plans of recrea tion and amusement which I had formed on shore. Although appearing only once or twice at table, the attention of friends, and the situation of my berth, enabled me to know much that w*as passing on board. I shall not, however, chronicle many events which took place during the voyage, which some of my shipmates will readily pardon. The establishment of the Napoleon consisted of about thirty, embracing men of every country ancl of every clime^ There were eighty passengers in the steerage, and thirty in the cabin, eight of whom were ladies.

England and Scotland furnished each five gentlemen, cabin passengers ; Ireland, two ; and the United States of America, three, one of whom had been naturalized from Ireland. All the individuals from Eng land and Ireland, one from Scotland, and two from America, smoked. In some cases, the use of tobacco was immoderate, one gentleman smoking a hundred and fifty segars in fourteen days ; the saliva in many parts of the vessel was copious and disgusting. Some of the passengers seemed to spend much of their time in sensual gratification, there being little reading or card-playing indulged in. Breakfast was served at eight o'clock, luncheon at twelve, dinner at four, and tea at eight. The first dinner course occupied about an hour, the second fifteen minutes, and dessert about the same length of time.

The cabin, in some respects, resembled a British inn, the DESCRIPTION OF THE PASSENGERS. passengers dressing as they chose, and at all times calling for what they wished, champagne, seemingly, being the only wine restricted, and which was presented at dinner twice a week. To those not of fastidious taste, the Napoleon offered a fit opportunity for indulgence, the table being copiously stored with substantial food and a variety of liquids. The noise of calling the steward, and drawing of corks, succeeded each other at short intervals throughout the day, and generally formed my morning and evening salutations. The quantity of good things which some individuals stowed under their belts, appeared excessive. Man is apt to despise what he cannot enjoy, and sensual indulgence never appeared to me so un worthy of regard.

Champagne, sparkling in the wine-cup, did not afford a thousandth part of the pleasure I had often derived from the dewdrops glancing in the morning sunbeam, and when presented to my fevered lips by a most friendly hand, I envied my pretty Ayrshire cow, Salina, the privilege of quaffing the cool and limpid fount at Mungoswells. On 20th May, 40° 30' north latitude, 53° west longitude, and 950 miles from New York, Mrs , a cabin passen ger, gave birth to a female child. In compliment to the ship, this little nymph of the sea was to be christened Jose phine ! a name memorable for conjugal affection, and the poor return such a virtue will sometimes receive. Our commander, Captain Smith, was an American by birth, and part owner of the vessel. He was indefatigable as a seaman, spending successive nights on deck, and sel dom concluding a meal without satisfying himself, by occu lar demonstration, that all was right aloft.

To the passengers he was attentive ; and, considering the situation in which they occasionally placed him, also forbearing. Individually, I found him courteous and gentlemanly in a high degree. The wind continued adverse for the first twenty-five days ; and sometimes blew tempestuously. The weather mode rated for the last eight days of the voyage, and the bar at New York was made on the morning of the 29th May, which a dense fog prevented us crossing without a pilot. The vessel stood off and on during the clay, and towards noon, six gentlemen, accompanied by the letter-bag, set out in a APPROACH TO NEW' YORK. 7 fishing-boat for New York, where they landed in safety a few hours afterwards. The fog increasing as the day advan ced, deprived the passengers of the hope of reaching shore until next day, and all their stock of patience was required to withstand the disappointment.

Next morning I was early on deck. The fog of the pre ceding day had disappeared in course of the night, and the sun shone brilliant in a sky of cloudless blue. A bracing and favourable breeze filled our canvass, and hastened on their voyage a thousand vessels around us, which had been detained by the previous unfavourable weather. Land was seen on both sides ofthe channel, but too distant to render objects on its surface distinctly visible. At a quarter before eight, a pilot stept on board, under whose guidance the Napoleon pro ceeded merrily on her way. Under the combination of advantages we now enjoyed, our detention on the previous day seemed a fortunate occurrence, without which we should have been landed at New York, in sensible of the beauties of its approach. Having been nurtured in the country, and by profession and taste brought into fellowship with the vegetable kingdom, I anticipated much pleasure on my first introduction to Ame rica.

This feeling led me on deck early in the morning, and, with telescope in hand, I watched with anxiety our approach to the shore. My situation was like that of a famishing per son with food in view*, intense desire without gratification, and brought to feel enjoyment by gradual participation. At first the country appeared a mass of uniform vegetation ; by ancl by, the green broke into different shades, forest could be distinguished from cultivated field, kinds of trees and crops became visible, but I strained my eyeballs almost to blindness without being able to mark the minute characteristics of indi viduals. The general effect imparted delight, which was heightened, perhaps, by my having left home at the termination of a tedious winter, and crossed a wide waste of waters ; the green mantle of nature never appeared to me so rich ancl fascinating.

The general aspect of the scenery, on approaching New York, is beautiful ; consisting of hill, wood, water, island, town, villa, and hamlet, in every combination which can im- ARRIVAL WASHINGTON HOTEL. part pleasure. But blue mountains, so prominent in the landscapes of Scotland, and so dear to her children, are alto gether wanting, and the eye searches in vain for an object of sublimity. An inspecting surgeon came on board at the quarantine station, who examined the passengers and crew. On coming to anchor in the river, near the wharf, a custom-house office:, sealed up the luggage in the berths, ancl the cabin passengers were landed by means of a steam-boat. On reaching shore, we learned there was a scarcity of lodg ings at this season of the year, when the inhabitants of the Southern States travel northwards in quest of health.

Our charioteer, after two unsuccessful attempts to find accommodation, landed us at the Washington Hotel, kept by Mr Ward, who kindly supplied us with every thing we could desire. THEATRE — MRS TROLLOPE. 9

Chapter III

Theatre — Trollopes — Mrs Trollope' s Work — Custom-house Officer — Race-course — Westhouses Breeding Stud — Thunder-storm — Return to the Hotel — Excursion to Long Island — New town — Flushing — Agriculture in the neighbourhood of New York. Miss Fanny Kemble taking her benefit on the night of our arrival, it was determined that we should visit the Park theatre. We found the house well attended, the ladies greatly outnumbering the gentlemen in the boxes, while the pit con tained males only, apparently belonging to what is known in England by the operative classes, amongst whom people of colour were seen. Having peeped into Mrs Trollope's work on the Domestic Manners of the Americans, and its illus trations of those witnessed at the Cincinnati theatre recurring to memory, I watched the behaviour of the audience.

At the end of the second act, I observed a gentleman in the second tier of boxes in an indelicate posture in front of the box. Three were similarly situated, at the end of the third act, when several voices in the pit called out, " A Trollope, a Trollope," and a general hissing and hooting from the same quarter had the effect of inducing the offenders speedily to withdraw. This incident at the theatre, amusing in itself, afforded me pleasure, by exhibiting the operatives in the pit enforcing chaste manners on those considering themselves higher in the scale of humanity ; and proving that Mrs Trollope's remarks had not been altogether lost on the Americans. The clever, and to some people, amusing work of Mrs Trollope, will have different effects from what its admirers in Britain contemplate.

The many sketches of low and inci dental character which the book contains, and given as belong ing to the people generally, wounded the feelings of theinha- MISS fanny kemble. bitants of the United States ; and by drawing attention to bad practices, led to the improvement of the people reviled. From much I saw and heard, the keen satire of this authoress is likely to produce, in a few years, the usual improvement of a century. On the other hand, her caricatures of manners and institutions fostered the prejudices of many of the inhabi tants of Britain, and engendered dislike to political changes taking place in that country, more likely to be accelerated than retarded by intemperate opposition. When indelicacy flows from the pen of a female, though veiled by effusions of poetic fancy and garnished by wit, it is highly dangerous to youthful innocence, and the popularity of Mrs Trollope's work may be regarded as evidence of want of discernment, if not of vitiated religious and moral feeling, in a portion of the read ing population of Britain.

The piece of the evening was " The Wonder," in which Miss Kemble did not appear to advantage. Having formerly seen her at Edinburgh in the play of the " Hunchback," the contrast on the present occasion was painful. Whether my disappointment arose from the difference of character she re presented, or a change of feeling on my part, cannot be de termined, but I left the house long before the conclusion of the piece, for want of interest. Next morning we applied at the customhouse for our luggage, and, on paying a trifle, obtained a permit for its inspec tion. The officer on board performed his duty in the most gentlemanlike manner ; and in less than five minutes from the time of going on board, our luggage, under charge of a porter, was on the way to the Washington hotel. The New York races take place on the Union Course, Long Island, twelve miles distant from the city, and this being the last day of them, we were anxious to embrace what we conceived so good an opportunity of seeing the different ranks of society.

Accordingly, we crossed the river at Brook lyn ferry, and engaged a light four-wheeled waggon drawn by one horse. The individuals proceeding to the course in vehicles, and none were observed on foot, seemed under a racing mania, and rattled along the road expeditiously, many of the horses trotting in admirable style. On approachino* the races at long island. 11 course, our horse and waggon were put into a court, and we proceeded on foot. The Union Course is private property, and completely shut against the public by a fence of strong upright posts, or stakes, enclosing a considerable space of more ground than is occupied by the course. For a considerable distance on each side ofthe winning post, the exterior fence consists of strong boards impervious to vision, on the top of which are stands capable of containing many thousand people.

The interior margin of the raceway is fenced by a low open paling, except opposite the winning-post, where high upright stakes are sub stituted. A portion of ground including part of the raceway is thus enclosed for the accommodation of the horses, and those more immediately interested in them, by the stands on one, and close upright stakes on three sides, with large gates crossing the raceway, which are kept open during the time of running. A quarter dollar was exacted on passing the outer barrier of the course, on entering which, we found the first race concluded. Inheriting a smack of the jockey, my first object was to obtain a view of the horses ; and on applying for admission into the enclosure where they were walking, I learned a ticket was the only passport ; but preparations for starting commenced, and the first two-mile heat was run, according to my watch, in three minutes and fifty-seven seconds..

My anxiety for a sight of the horses increasing, I applied to a gentleman, seemingly of importance in the racing circle, to be allowed to approach them, and was informed that on paying three dollars, 12s. 9d. sterling, I would obtain a ticket of admission into the enclosure. The terms on which I could come near the horses appearing extravagant, I contented myself with peeping through the stakes at a distance. It would be unfair to attempt a minute description of the animals, under the circumstances in which I was placed, but they seemed not quite so strong as English race-horses, though more sprightly and graceful in the mode of carrying their heads and tails. There are few finer sights in England than a well-attended race-course in good weather. All ranks, from the king to the beggar, male and female, assemble in their best equipages RACES JOCKEYS. and gayest attire.

Splendour and beauty seem to regard the occasion granted for display ; and the more immediate actors in the scene harmonize with the general pageant, a well-trained horse and his rider being a perfect model of chaste neatness. All is, however, different at New York. In the interior ofthe race-course, there were a limited number of people, few equi pages, ancl a total want of finery or display of any kind. The stands were crowded, but amongst the assembled multitude I could not have numbered more than thirty females who, from their appearance, had no pretensions to the epithet of lady. The jockeys were of all hues, generally coloured boys, whose black faces appeared very grotesque under their bright coloured, ill-fitting dresses. One jockey, of small size and tender years, was clothed in shabby leather trowsers, which had formed knee-breeches to their original possessor ; and a second had his spindle-shanks in old boots of the largest dimensions, with strings below his knees to prevent his trowsers and boots parting company.

Bridles and saddles were covered with mould and rust, and in one instance a pair of stirrup-irons were warped with rope, to fit them for a little tawny foot. On coming up to start for the second heat, the horses displayed much impatience, being, generally, led by one, ancl sometimes two men on foot, as motley and grotesque in appearance as the riders. Two false starts were made ; and at the time of finally getting away, one horse had his tail in the direction of the others' heads. The jockeys rode all in the same style, their toes being placed near to the nose of the horse, and their heads inclining back above the tail. The second heat was run in three minutes and fifty-five seconds after which I withdrew, disappointed at what I had witnessed. On reaching a foreign land for the first time, a person is apt to judge every thing he sees by the standard of his own country, until the home-rust, which more or less accumulates on every one, is rubbed off, and a consequent expansion of mind takes place.

At first it appeared to me illiberal to exclude the poor from seeing a race, and sordid to exact money from the rich who witnessed it, particularly in a reputed free country like the United States of America. On reflection, however, I could not see any impropriety in WESTHOUSES BREEDING STOCK. 13 making those who enjoy the amusement of horse racing pay for it, more especially when the government does not squander public treasure on such an object, and where the course is private property. I could not ascertain if the course is lucrative, but the funds arising from the following sources, which are extracted from a race bill, must be considerable. Members and their (immediate) families, to pass free. For every two-horse four-wheel carriage, with not more than four passengers, gl.00 For every four-horse carriage, ..... 2.00 For every passenger over four, each ..... .25 For every gig or other two-wheeled carriage, with one passenger, .50 For every passenger over one, each 25 For every person on horseback, ...... .50 For every person on foot, .25 Public Stand, 50 ■g^* No person but a Member, or a resident of another State, invited by a Member to purchase a Ticket, can have access to the Members' Stand.

Any non-resident of New York, so invited, by paying three dollars, may procure a Ticket, for the week, of admission to the Members' Stand. Thc Pavilion will be set apart for Ladies, Members of the Club, and such Gentlemen only as have Tickets to the Members' Stand. *#* An efficient Police is provided to preserve order, and see that the. Rules are strictly adhered to and enforced. The next day we were accidently carried to the farm of Westhouses, where we saw an extensive breeding stud of thoroughbred horses, amongst which was a sister to Eclipse, the most celebrated horse in the States, and Henry, next in fame to Eclipse. The gentlemen of the turf consider their horses superior to those of England, equal distances being run in less time ; but the style of running is, however, different, the weights of America being lighter, and the horses pushed from the starting-post.

We experienced a most severe thunderstorm while at tea, but the young ladies of the party did not seem to concern themselves about the war of elements, the most vivid light nings flashing without remark. We travelled a few miles after the storm abated, and daylight had disappeared. The calls of toads and catydids were deafening, and innumerable fire-flies illuminated the face of nature, and lighted our way. The wetness of the evening induced us to remain for the night at the house of a friend, instead of returning to New EXCURSION TO LONG ISLAND. York. Next morning I was awoke from a sound sleep by a loud knocking at my bedroom window, and on answering the call, my disturber asked the hour. After looking at my watch, I answered, twenty minutes past three o'clock, and added, he had surely made a mistake in coming to me.

He sharply answered, in a disagreeable nasal twang, " I have slept too long, that is all the mistake, I guess." In a few minutes afterwards, all hands, including several of the family, were engaged in milking cows ; and the produce of about twenty was despatched for New York before five o'clock, un der charge of the person who awoke me, and I learned that he had contracted for the milk during the season. We breakfasted at six o'clock, and were immediately afterwards drawn to the city by a pair of handsome chestnut geldings, at the rate of eight miles an hour, and which would have graced any barouche in Britain. Our vehicle was the common four wheeled waggon of the country, with two deals across for temporary seats, and it was to return loaded with seed-potatoes. We drove smack up to the Washington Hotel, one of the most fashionable houses in the most celebrated street in New York ; and in course of our progress I was amused at the uneasiness of my friend, one of the best and plainest of men, at being carried to our residence in such a mean-looking carriage.