log hut until he was well able to afford a more comfortable house;
selling his "most profitable grain, which is wheat" and "eating that
which is less profitable but more nourishing, that is, rye or Indian
corn"; breeding the best of livestock so that "a German horse is known
in every part of the State" for his "extraordinary size or fat";
clearing his land thoroughly, not "as his English or Irish neighbors";
cultivating the most bountiful gardens and orchards; living frugally,
working constantly, fearing God and debt, and rearing large families.
"A German farm may be distinguished," concludes this writer, "from the
farms of other citizens by the superior size of their barns, the plain
but compact form of their houses, the height of their enclosures, the
extent of their orchards, the fertility of their fields, the
luxuriance of their meadows, and a general appearance of plenty and
neatness in everything that belongs to them."[26] Rush's praise of the
German mechanics is not less stinted. They were found in that day
mainly as "weavers, taylors, tanners, shoe-makers, comb-makers, smiths
of all kinds, butchers, paper makers, watchmakers, and sugar bakers."
Their first desire was "to become freeholders," and they almost
invariably succeeded. German merchants and bankers also prospered in
Philadelphia, Germantown, Lancaster, and other Pennsylvania towns.
One-third of the population of Pennsylvania, Rush says, was of German
origin, and for their convenience a German edition of the laws of the
State was printed.

After the Revolution, a number of the Hessian hirelings who had been
brought over by the British settled in America. They usually became
farmers, although some of the officers taught school. They joined the
German settlements, avoiding the English-speaking communities in the
United States because of the resentment shown towards them. Their
number is unknown. Frederick Kapp, a German writer, estimates that, of