The Ellices owned a considerable amount of land in New York State, centring around the town of Little Falls. The correspondence consists chiefly of letters of agents who administered the property, and of letters from friends of Ellice who inspected their administration. There was considerable dissatisfaction on both sides. The Ellices felt that their agents were not drawing enough profit from the estates, and the local American authorities thought that not enough money was being put into developing the property, which, they considered, should either be developed or sold to those who would settle it.