14th. Happiness.—Must be found in your own family; the fruits of your farm will supply every want, and whilst the government of the United States continues as at present, you will be secured in that happiness.
[442] 15th.—One matter I had almost forgot, which I must not omit to mention, as you most likely will be asked questions on the subject by many of that most useful and invaluable class, English husbandmen.
1st. Wages.—The highest wages given at this time for harvest are, 2s. 3d. per day, English money, and found in provision and bad whiskey.
2nd. Working hours.—From sunrise to sunset, full sixteen hours.
3d. How long does the harvest last?—About three weeks.
4th. Is it warm in harvest time?—Excessively so. The thermometer ranges from 86 to 120. It is impossible to have a just idea of it without actual experience. And, what is of more consequence, an English husbandman would be more debilitated in three years in the United States, than in sixteen years in England.
5th. How long in the year can labour be procured?—About six months.
6th. Are wages paid regularly?—Very rarely. Mostly defrauded.
7th. Then who are the persons that can do?—A man with a family of hard-working children, possessing 300l. sterling, and who should reside twelve months in the States before he purchases land. And it is greatly to be feared that both the emigrant and his family must lay in all the low cunning, and [l]earn to defraud and cheat, as practised [443] here, and entirely forget old English principles and society, or else ruin and misery will be his portion.
8th. Mechanics.—Any part of the world before the United States, for, whatever they may earn, they will be sure to be defrauded out of half.