Written anonymously by ‘An American’, this is a remarkable work on the climate, soil and agriculture of the British colonies in North America immediately prior to the outbreak of the American War of Independence. It looks not only at the environment of the colonies but also at which plants had been successfully cultivated, the value of different commodities to Britain and recommendations on how to improve farming methods.

Beyond the bulk of the text, there are numerous references to the region’s unsettled state of affairs and the threat of American independence. The author states that a declaration of independence is inevitable.